By BOB KECSKEMETY
The Earlier the Better
Most doctors feel that early detection tests for breast cancer save many thousands of lives each year, and that many more lives could be saved if even more women and their health care providers took advantage of these tests. Following the American Cancer Society’s guidelines for the early detection of breast cancer improves the chances that breast cancer can be diagnosed at an early stage and treated successfully.
Risk Factors
Having a risk factor, or even several, does not mean that you will get the disease. Most women who have one or more breast cancer risk factors never develop the disease, while many women with breast cancer have no apparent risk factors (other than being a woman and growing older). Even when a woman with risk factors develops breast cancer, it is hard to know just how much these factors may have contributed to her cancer.
Risk factors you cannot change: Simply being a woman is the main risk factor for developing breast cancer. Your risk of developing breast cancer increases as you get older. About 5% – 10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be hereditary. Women whose close blood relatives have had breast cancer have a higher risk. A woman with cancer in one breast has a 3 to 4 fold increased risk of developing a new cancer. Denser breast tissue which has more glandular tissue and less fatty tissue. Women diagnosed with certain benign breast conditions may have an increased risk. Women who have had more menstrual cycles because they started menstruating at an early age and/or went through menopause at a later age have a slightly higher risk of breast cancer. Women, who as children or young adults, had radiation therapy to the chest area as treatment for another cancer. Women who have been exposed to Diethylstilbestrol have a slightly increased risk.
Lifestyle-related factors: Women who have not had children or who had their first child after age 30. Women using oral contraceptives. Using estrogen before menopause. Consumption of alcohol is clearly linked to an increased risk as does being overweight or obese.
Detection Mammogram:
The American Cancer Society recommends women age 40 and older should have a mammogram every year and should continue to do so for as long as they are in good health. Recent evidence has confirmed that mammograms offer substantial benefit for women in their 40s. Women can feel confident about the benefits associated with regular mammograms for finding cancer early. However, mammograms also have limitations. A mammogram can miss some cancers, and it may lead to follow up of findings that are not cancer.
Clinical breast exam:
Women in their 20s and 30s should have a clinical breast exam (CBE) as part of a regular health exam by a health professional preferably every 3 years. Starting at age 40, women should have a CBE by a health professional every year. For this exam, you undress from the waist up. The health professional will first look at the breasts for abnormalities in size or shape, or changes in the skin of the breasts or nipple. Then, using the pads of the fingers, the examiner will gently palpate the breasts. The CBE is a good time for women who don’t know how to examine their breasts to learn the right way to do it from their health care professionals and should ask their doctor or nurse to teach them and watch the technique.
Breast awareness and self-exam:
Beginning in their 20s, women should be told about the benefits and limitations of breast self-exam (BSE). Women should be aware of how their breasts normally look and feel and report any new breast changes to a health professional as soon as they are found. Finding a breast change does not necessarily mean there is a cancer. A woman can notice changes by knowing how her breasts normally look and feel and feeling her breasts for changes (breast awareness), or by choosing to use a step-by-step approach and using a specific schedule to examine her breasts.
Signs and symptoms of breast cancer:
Although widespread use of screening mammograms has increased the number of breast cancers found before they cause any symptoms, some breast cancers are not found by mammograms, either because the test was not done or because even under ideal conditions mammograms do not find every breast cancer. The most common sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. A mass that is painless, hard, and has irregular edges is more likely to be cancerous, but breast cancers can be tender, soft, or rounded. For this reason, it is important that any new mass, lump, or breast change is checked by a health care professional with experience in diagnosing breast diseases.
Other possible signs of breast cancer include: Swelling of all or part of a breast (even if no distinct lump is felt), skin irritation or dimpling, breast or nipple pain, nipple retraction, redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin or a nipple discharge other than breast milk. Sometimes a breast cancer can spread to underarm lymph nodes and cause a lump or swelling there, even before the original tumor in the breast tissue is large enough to be felt. Swollen lymph nodes should also be reported to your doctor.
(Source: American Cancer Society)
