9 October 2022
By- Josh Flynn.
The news article I am sharing today is again focusing on a subject matter that I have regularly raised but this piece really does raise concerns about the vital necessity of breast cancer screening for the very first paragraph of the article reveals startling information highly relevant to the situation in the Solomon islands in the absence of a screening programme for breast cancer evaluation and without a functioning mammogram machine at the National Referral Hospital’s Cancer Unit.
Quote.,
Early detection of breast cancer can decrease a woman's chance of death by 34%.
Todd Weinstein, MD, general surgeon and medical director of the Logansport Memorial Hospital Breast Care Center, along with Greg Descoteaux, director of medical imaging for Logansport Memorial Hospital, stressed the importance of keeping up on checkups, examinations and screenings.
Weinstein suggested that women should begin talking to their physicians about breast cancer screenings when they are 40. They should have started those screenings by the time they are 45.
Women with a family history of cancer should begin sooner, he said.
"The sooner you can get that program started the better," said Descoteaux. "You don't want to put if off. And with the technology we have today I think yearly screening is appropriate since we can see things much smaller. That makes a difference in catching things earlier."
Cancer discovered in stage one has a 99% cure rate. In stage two there is a 93% cure rate and stage three has a 72% cure rate. The rate drops to just 225 when cancer is discovered at Cancer discovered at stage four.
A mammogram is the best way to catch breast cancer early.
The hospital purchased a 3D Tomosynthesis mammography machine in the past year.
"That's upped the ante and become the gold standard for care," Weinstein said. "It detects things much earlier. We are able to quantify findings much easier with less call backs. If you find something that is questionable that will often lead to additional imagining to verify findings. But as far as a screening tool mammography has proven to be the standard of care with the best outcomes."
Women with dense breasts are especially encouraged to get Tomosynthesis screenings. Dense breasts increase the chances of breast cancer by a small percent.
Weinstein said that monthly self-examinations haven't been proven to be 100% effective, but he said there is no harm in doing a self-exam.
"There is no cost, no side effects so why wouldn't you?" he said. "Can I sit here and say the big scientific studies have shown the benefit — I can't make that claim. But there is no downside to it."
"While (a self-exam) is important you don't want to say 'well I don't feel anything so I don't need to worry about anything else,'" said Descoteaux. "You need to have a mammogram to catch things early. We are able to see things much sooner than you will ever feel them."
If a lump is found during a self-exam, the first thing to do is get imaging done to determine what the lump looks like.
"There are certain lumps that turn out to be a simple cyst and we can see that on our mammogram and our ultrasound," Weinstein said. "That's nothing to worry about. So step one is to reach out to your health provider and get the appropriate imagining done. Either way, whether you had a screening mammogram that showed you a suspicious lesion or you found a lump that led you to get a mammogram, either way the next step is almost always a core needle biopsy."
The hospital also has a stereotactic 3D biopsy room which allows for accessing tissue samples at earlier stages.
Descoteaux said it's important to follow up with providers to get results after a mammogram. He said letters are sent to patients if additional imagining is needed and encouraged women to open and read those letters so the appropriate imagining can take place in a timely fashion.
There will be about 40,000 women die of breast cancer in the United States this year, Weinstein said. Appropriate screening can cut a woman's odds of dying from breast cancer by about a third.
One percent of men will also be diagnosed with breast cancer. If men sense changes they should see a doctor, he said.
End of quote
Source – Yahoo News.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
