Breast Cancer - Article 1

    BREAST CANCER
    And what are we going to do about it? Read on!
    Written By Anna M. Cabeca, DO
    October 3, 2003

    With so much news about breast cancer and the ever present danger of having it, getting it, and knowing someone we love and care about with it, we all do our breast exams, and keep up with our mammograms, and remind a buddy, Right? I WISH!

    Truth be told, less than 10 % of us actually keep up with our own health, let alone anyone else’s. Possibly, we think that if I don’t think about sickness, cancer, disease, health, then I am not going to get sick, it is not going to happen to me, or I’ll just ignore it and it will go away. But we are wrong again. With this article, I hope to persuade a few more percent to be proactive in not only our own health but those of our families, friends, neighbors, pets, etc. Get the point?.

    First, to bring this home to us and further understand our own risks, let us review risk factors for developing breast cancer.

    • Prior breast cancer. If you have ever had it, please keep up with your examinations. Also having had a breast biopsy that showed “lobular carcinoma insitu” and “atypical ductal hyperplasia” put you at higher risk.
    • Genetics and Family history : The lifetime risk of being diagnosed with invasive breast cancer is about one in eight for women, but is about two to three times greater for women with a history of breast cancer in a first-degree relative (mother, sister, or daughter) than in women with no family history of breast (or ovarian) cancer. Only 9% of breast cancer can be attributed to a “family history” of breast cancer and fewer associated with a hereditary gene or germ cell mutation, i.e. the BRCA1 and BRCA2. There is a higher association between breast, ovarian, and colon cancers. Therefore your personal risk is increased by:
      • having a mother, sister, or daughter with breast cancer
      • having multiple generations of family members affected by breast or ovarian cancer,
      • having relatives who were diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age (under 50 years old),
      • having relatives who had both breasts affected by cancer.
    • Environmental Factors : 90% of breast cancers are attributed to various environmental factors such as:
      • Exposure to ionizing radiation
      • Exposure to DDT and contaminants of pesticides (this research has been inconsistent)
      • Smoking and second hand smoke
      • Obesity, especially adult weight gain
      • High fat diets
      • Alcohol use
      • Older age of first child’s birth and never having a child
      • Later menopause
      • Also, the risk of prolonged hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women on Premarin and Provera has been shown to increase the risk by 8 per 10,000 women.

    We can come to grasp our individual risk as 1 in 8 women in my lifetime. So, let’s now talk about PREVENTION, DETECTION, and DIAGNOSES of breast cancer.

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