The New York Times recently published an article written by a breast cancer survivor who was advocating that women who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer seek second opinions about their treatment options. The author, Elizabeth Bennett, began her breast cancer journey when an acute pain in her breast sent her to the emergency room.
Read more on Why And When You Should (or Should Not) Get A Second Opinion On Breast Cancer Surgery…
Read More Breast Cancer Treatment, choosing breast cancer surgeon
There are many methods of screening for and detecting breast cancer, which can be confusing for patients. Screening and detection methods include mammography, ultrasound, fine needle aspiration, core needle biopsy, and breast magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. The Breast MRI is currently one of the most controversial methods of screening for breast cancer.
Read more on Why Breast MRI’s Are Controversial For Detecting Breast Cancer…
Read More Breast cancer screening, Mammogram, occult breast cancers
If you feel a lump in your breast, or have nipple discharge, don’t automatically assume you have breast cancer. There are benign breast conditions that can also cause lumps and bloody nipple discharge, such as an intraductal papilloma. This is a small, non-cancerous tumor that forms in a milk duct in the breast, most commonly in women between the ages 35 and 55. There are no known risk factors to indicate which women might be more likely to develop an intraductal papilloma.
Read more on What Are Papillomas And Why Do They Need To Be Excised?…
Read More lump in breast, nipple discharge, Papillomatosis
According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 266,120 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S. in 2018, along with 63,960 new cases of non-invasive (DCIS) breast cancer. Approximately 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
Read more on TN Breast and Cervical Cancer Program Serves Lower Income Women…
Read More breast cancer insurance, Tennessee breast cancer services
As we discussed in No Lump Doesn’t Mean No Breast Cancer, not all forms of breast cancer present with an obvious lump. Lumps aren’t usually physically apparent with Inflammatory Breast Cancer, which is a rare but aggressive form of breast cancer.
Read more on What Is Inflammatory Breast Cancer & Why Should You Be Aware Of The Symptoms?…
Read More breast cancer symptoms, nipple pain
My breast is red and hot. OMG! Dr. Google says I have Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Do I?
Dr. Google may be brilliant, but Dr. Google never graduated from medical school, where a student learns the fine art of the physical examination. Dr. Google never learned how to perform a physical examination and has never actually examined anyone. Dr. Google doesn’t always know what he’s talking about.
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An MRI of the breast is perhaps the best method we have to evaluate your breasts for the presence of a cancer. However, breast MRIs are also the most expensive method to evaluate the breast. And therefore they are not used as a screening tool. Breast MRIs are used to either add additional information to mammography when a mammogram is unclear. A mammogram may be unclear if the mammogram is dense, that is if the report of your mammogram describes heterogeneously dense breast or extremely dense breast. Likewise, if there is an abnormality on the mammogram it may need further evaluation with a breast MRI.
Read more on How to Read Your Breast MRI Report…
Read More Breast MRI, cancer recurrence, Mammogram, Mammography
Dense breasts make the detection of small breast cancers on mammography a challenge. Breast tissue is white on a mammogram and fatty tissue is black on a mammogram. The density of a mammogram is based on the amount of black vs. white tissue and is described as fatty replaced, having scattered fibroglandular densities, heterogeneously dense, or extremely dense.
Read more on My Breasts are Dense. Now What?…
Read More 3D mammogram, Breast cancer, breast density, breast tomography, dense breasts, digital breast tomosynthesis, Mammogram
We continue to explore some of the best advances in the treatment of breast cancer; advances that help women not only kill cancer but to also live normal, healthy lives after treatment.
Read more on Life-Saving Advances in the Treatment of Breast Cancer, Part II…
Read More Aromatase Inhibitors, Awareness, Axillary Radiation for Cancer in the Lymph Nodes, Breast, Breast cancer, Breast Cancer Treatment, Cancer, Surgery, TCH and TC, The Nipple Sparing Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction
A targeted therapy is a therapy targeted to a specific biomarker to kill breast cancer. A targeted therapy can be a monoclonal antibody, or what we used to call a magic or silver bullet, directed against a specific target on a breast cancer cell. Targeted therapies are akin to a sniper with a high-powered rifle, whereas chemotherapy is akin to a hunter with a shotgun. Both can be very effective, but the sniper has a much greater chance of hitting its target and making a kill.
Read more on Targeted Therapies and Biomarkers…
Read More Breast Cancer Treatment, Cancer, Cell (biology)