Breast Cancer Diagnosed

Yes, 1 in 8 US women will develop breast cancer. This means the average risk of a woman in the United States developing breast cancer sometime in her life is about 13%. So 7 out of 8 won’t! There are many types some more aggressive than others. Family history is a risk factor but in approximately 80% of cases, there is no family history. Men are not spared incidence in men 1 in 10 will develop mostly in their 60-70 age groups. Although at any age it can present. Abnormal hormone levels and gene mutations.

FAMILY HISTORY

I mentioned above family history is a factor in some cases. It has been shown that if a ‘first-degree relative’ (a parent, sibling, or child) has had or has breast cancer, you are twice as likely to develop breast disease. Makes sense if you happen to have two first-degree relatives with breast disease your chances are higher.

AGE IS A FACTOR 

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found a measurable increase of cases each year since 1970. This was noted in American women ages 25 to 39. The cases were found to be advanced.  Young women’s tumors are likely to be more dangerous than older women’s cancers.

ABOUT MAMMOGRAPHY

It is known that up to age 50 women’s breasts are quite dense and typical ‘mammos’ testing would miss tiny cancers. Today we have digital technology which has tremendously improved making an accurate diagnosis. Even more recent is 3D mammography the makes slices thru the layers of breast tissue. Fewer cancers can be overlooked. Naturally, there are those concerned by the ‘higher’ number, does it mean more radiation? It thanks to programming only slightly more exposure.

Balancing exposure to radiation and the chance of missing cancer or delaying finding cancer and going thru surgery, chemo and/or radiation. The breast images of 3D mammograms are so much clearer, hence the false positives are far lower than with digital mammograms.

3D detects up to 41 percent more invasive cancers than 2D, according to large-scale clinical research published in the JAMA.