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PREVENTION While nothing guarantees that you don’t develop cancer, there are steps you can take to reduce your risk and stay healthy. - Make healthy food choices
- Eat foods high in fiber – try to increase the amount of fiber in your diet to between 20 and 30 grams daily. High-fiber foods include whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
- Limit processed foods, sweets and salt.
- Avoid foods high in saturated fats
- Eat 5 of more servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
- Choose foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
- Don’t overeat.
- Watch portion size and calories.
- Limit sweets.
- Limit alcohol consumption. Limit the amount of alcohol – wine, beer or mixed drinks – to less than one drink per day, or avoid it completely.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Engage in regular physical activity, preferably 45 to 60 minutes five days per week.
- Don’t smoke.
- Get regular check-ups and talk to your doctor about regular cancer screenings.
SYMPTOMS Sometimes there are no symptoms of breast cancer in its early stages. However, talk to your doctor as soon as possible if you notice anything unusual. - Any lump, thickening or swelling in the breast or armpit
- Clear or bloody discharge from the nipple
- Pain or persistent tenderness of the breast , nipple or armpit
- Change in size or shape of the breast or nipple
- Inverted or flat nipple
- Scaly, red, swollen or dimpled skin around the breast or nipple
Back to top RISK FACTORS Breast cancer can develop for a variety of reasons. Talk to your doctor about your risk. - Family history – Your risk may increase if anyone in your immediate family has been diagnosed with breast cancer, particularly mothers, sisters and daughters.
- Age – Most breast cancers are diagnosed in women older than age 50.
- Race – While the risk is higher for white women, African-American women are more likely to die from breast cancer.
- Menstruation and menopause – Beginning menstruation before age 12 or entering menopause after age 55 means prolonged lifetime exposure to estrogen and progesterone, which may increase your risk.
- Hormone therapy – Risk increases when the combination of estrogen and progesterone has been used for four or more years. This treatment for menopausal symptoms may also make malignant tumors harder to detect on mammograms.
- Not having children or pregnancy after age 30 – Estrogen levels are lower during pregnancy, which may protect breast tissue from estrogen exposure.
- Exposure to radiation – Risk increases if you received radiation treatments to your chest as a child or young adult, but the risk is greatest if treatments occurred as an adolescent during breast development.
- Genetics – Mutations in one of several genes, namely BRCA1 and BRCA2 – genes that normally help prevent cancer by making proteins that keep cells from growing abnormally – increases risk. Since these gene mutations can be inherited, genetic counseling and testing is available for those women who elect to get tested to see if they also carry the mutation.
- Personal history – Having breast cancer in one breast significantly increases your risk of developing it in the other breast.
- Alcohol consumption – Risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed, starting with two alcoholic drinks daily.
- Excess weight – Risk increases if you gain weight during adolescence or after menopause or if you have more body fat around and above the waist.
Back to top SCREENING TESTS When the breast cancer is discovered early, you have more treatment options and a better chance for a cure. Screening is essential in finding breast cancer in this treatable stage, before symptoms are felt. The American Cancer Society recommends the following screening tests for women at average risk for breast cancer. Women with a higher risk should talk with their doctor about when to begin screening, and which tests they should use. Mammogram: Annually beginning at age 40.
A mammogram is the gold standard for detecting breast cancer. Mammography uses low-level X-rays to locate breast lumps and abnormalities long before they can be felt. A recent government study determined digital mammography to be better than traditional methods for detecting breast cancer in premenopausal women, those younger than 50 and those with dense breast tissue. The American Cancer Society recommends that women in these categories seek digital mammograms where available. Digital images are available immediately, and can be enhanced, stored digitally and transmitted instantaneously to a physician’s office or other facilities. These images are more detailed and can be acquired more quickly, reducing testing time. The two types of mammograms are: - Screening – Screening mammograms are performed annually on women who have no signs of breast cancer.
- Diagnostic – A diagnostic mammogram is used to diagnose unusual breast changes, such as a lump, pain, nipple thickening or discharge, or a change in breast size or shape. A diagnostic mammogram is used to evaluate abnormalities detected on a screening mammogram or because of special circumstances such as breast implants.
Diagnostic mammography is different from screening mammography in that additional views of the breast are taken, as opposed to the standard views typically taken with screening mammography. Mammograms are read by a radiologist. We utilize the Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) System, a breakthrough software technology that can highlight potential areas of concern, providing radiologists with a "second review." Clinical Breast Exam: Every three years until age 40, annually after age 40
During the clinical breast exam, a doctor will examine your breasts for lumps or other changes, and will also check your armpit for enlarged lymph nodes. Breast Self-Exam: An option for women in their 20s
This will help you learn how your breasts typically look and feel. Talk to your doctor about any changes you may detect. MRI
Breast MRI is most commonly used for additional screening in high-risk women when the findings of a mammogram are inconclusive or ambiguous, or to determine the extent of the disease in newly diagnosed breast cancer. Breast MRI should not replace standard screening and diagnostic procedures. Mammography is currently the only FDA approved exam to screen for cancer in women with no symptoms of the disease. MRI is not an appropriate screening tool for women at average risk of developing cancer. Back to top DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES In addition to a diagnostic mammogram, other diagnostic procedures help characterize breast abnormalities to either identify, or rule out, breast cancer. Breast Ultrasound
A breast ultrasound produces a picture of the internal structures of the breast and is used to determine whether a breast lump is filled with fluid (a cyst) or a solid mass. It is often used to further evaluate a problem seen on a mammogram. Breast Ultrasound-guided Needle Biopsy
This technique may be used to obtain tissue samples from areas where calcifications are seen on mammography. The radiologist uses the ultrasound to guide the needle for increased precision in removing the tissue sample. Breast Biopsy – Stereotactic
Stereotactic breast biopsy is a computer-aided biopsy technique that is less invasive than a needle localized biopsy. When indicated, stereotactic biopsy is a precise technique that uses digital imaging during a biopsy to select and remove a small tissue sample. The advanced technology is less invasive than surgery and shortens patient recovery time following the procedure. Needle Localization Biopsy
This procedure is done prior to a breast biopsy or breast surgery to locate a breast abnormality that can be seen on a mammogram or ultrasound picture but cannot be felt, or to verify the location of a previously diagnosed breast cancer. This procedure is done using a mammogram or ultrasound. A fine, thread-like wire is inserted into the breast as close as possible to the area of concern. With the wire in place, a surgeon can perform a biopsy knowing exactly which area of tissue to remove. Breast Ductogram
This procedure can pinpoint defects in breast ducts. A dye is introduced into the duct to expose possible defects when the breast is X-rayed. Lymph Node Evaluations
It is important for doctors to know whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes (axillary staging). To determine the state and whether the lymph nodes have been affected, one of two different procedures to remove and examine lymph nodes under the arm may be done: - Axillary lymph node dissection is a surgical procedure where 10 to 20 lymph nodes in the armpit are removed and checked for cancer cells.
- Sentinel lymph node biopsy is a procedure in which tissue is removed from the lymph node closest to the cancer – the sentinel node (SN) or group of nodes – to help determine whether breast cancer has spread to this area.
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