Breast cancer screening and chemoprevention
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 190,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. That makes breast cancer the second most common cancer for women in the United States, affecting an average of 1 in 8 women. But the survival rate for breast cancer is very high, thanks to early detection through mammograms and to effective therapy.
A mammogram can find changes in breast tissue before you can feel them. And catching these changes early gives us the best chance of successfully treating you. Screening saves lives, plain and simple.
Some women have a higher risk for breast cancer. Women with a family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer may have increased risk, especially if your mother or sister has had breast cancer before age 50. If you have had a biopsy of a breast abnormality showing lobular carcinoma in situ, you may also be at higher risk. Oncologist Dr. Minggui Pan provides more information about the risk factors on his blog.
An interactive risk assessment tool, created by the National Cancer Institute, can help determine your risk for invasive breast cancer based on a number of specific risk factors.
Several clinical trials have found that chemoprevention treatment with the drugs such as tamoxifen or raloxifene or exemestane may reduce the chances of developing breast cancer for women with increased risk. These drugs are the types of hormonal therapy designed to block estrogen from stimulating breast tissue and therefore to reduce risk of breast cancer.
If you have an increased risk of breast cancer and are interested in considering chemoprevention treatment, we recommend that you meet with our nurse practitioner Christine Lieu in the Department of Medical Oncology who will discuss with you the pros and cons of the treatment and which drug might be the best for you.
Follow these links for more information about breast cancer screening:
