Breast Cancer Prevalence !

In November 2003, the American Cancer Society stated that breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 44. In the United States, there are approximately 200,000 new cases of breast cancer and more than 40,000 deaths; making the U.S. one of the countries with the highest death rates due to breast cancer. Perhaps the most alarming statistic is 1: 8 women will eventually develop breast cancer over their lifetime.

Generally Accepted Risk Factors for developing breast cancer can be divided into two categories; those a woman can control and those she cannot. Women who choose pharmaceutical hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and oral contraceptives may increase their risk of breast cancer. Additionally, a woman who consumes one or more alcoholic drinks per day or lives a sedentary lifestyle faces an increased risk for acquiring breast cancer. Those factors that are beyond the immediate control but still may lead to increased risk include: onset of menstruation prior to age 12 or onset of menopause after the age 50 and inheritance of the breast cancer genes, BRCA 1 and BRCA 2. Inheriting the breast cancer genes, BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, are known to be associated with both breast and ovarian cancers, but only account for 5-10% of all breast cancer. In 70% of all cases, the cause of breast cancer is still yet unknown.

Conventional screening methods all examine structure. For example, mammography uses X-ray to examine breast tissue. Any structure that has grown large enough to be seen by X-ray could be detected by mammography. However, mammography can have a high false positive rate. In fact, only 1 in 6 biopsies are found to be positive for cancer when found by mammography or clinical breast exam. This leads to increased psychological stress, physical trauma and financial worries.

Other risks of mammography include the radiation exposure, although this has been debated by doctors for many years. Recently published in Radiation Research, 2004 the author suggests that the risks associated with mammography screening may be FIVE times higher than previously assumed and the risk-benefit relationship of mammography needs to be re-examined.