Early, accurate screening is key to beating breast cancer
Early detection saves lives and money. If you notice anything unusual in your breasts, do not wait. Go to your nearest health facility immediately.
Mammography is the gold standard in early detection of breast cancer, even before physical symptoms develop.
Breast cancer constitutes about 25 per cent of all cancers in women and will affect one in 29 South African women in their lifetimes. According to National Health Laboratory statistics, the figure is higher in urban communities in South Africa, where the incidence is as high as one in eight. According to Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa) one per cent of South African men have also been affected by breast cancer.
There are several different types of breast cancer, usually named after the types of cells from which it is thought the cancer has developed. According to a British cancer charity, Macmillan, knowing the type of cancer helps the doctors decide on the most appropriate treatment:
Invasive breast cancer develops when cancer cells have spread outside the lining of the ducts or lobules and into surrounding breast tissue. This type of cancer is divided into three categories. Risks factors that increase the chance of cancer in men include:
• Certain medical conditions such as long-term damage to the liver can increase breast cancer in men.
• Family history of breast cancer, as genes accumulate biological information inherited from our parents or family members who came before us.
• Being exposed to high levels of radiation or men who have had multiple doses of radiation in the past.
• Heavy drinking of alcohol over prolonged periods has been proven to increase the chances of developing breast cancer.
• Ageing – men over the age of 60 have more chance of breast cancer than younger men.
• Overweight – plump men have a great risk of developing breast cancer
• Long-term exposure to petrol, exhaust fumes, blast furnaces, rolling mills and steel works.
Dr Jackie Smilg of the Radiological Society’s sub-specialty group, the Breast Imaging Society of South Africa (BISSA), said the need for early and accurate detection simply cannot be emphasised enough.
“As frightening as the ‘Big C’ is to all people, the good news is that modern medical advances and early screening and diagnosis are seeing more women than ever before surviving and beating cancer with less aggressive and invasive treatment,” said Dr Jackie. The goal of screening tests for breast cancer is to find it before it causes symptoms. Breast cancers found during screening exams are more likely to be small and still confined to the breast. The size of a breast cancer and how far it has spread are some of the most important factors in predicting the prognosis of a woman with this disease. As with all cancer screening, recommendations for breast cancer screening rely on a combination of factors involving evidence about the risk of the condition, the benefits and harms of screening, and the cost. The gold standard for screening breast imaging remains the mammogram. Mammography, as reported by radiologists is the foundation of early detection of breast cancer. Regular mammograms can often help find breast cancer at an early stage, when treatment is most likely to be successful.
One of the greatest advantages of a mammogram is that it can find breast changes years before physical symptoms develop.
The latest mammography technology, Tomosynthesis, has brought an entirely new dimension to the fight against breast cancer. Digital tomosynthesis creates a 3-dimensional picture of the breast using X-rays.
In women with a significant family history of breast cancer or special circumstances, mammography can also be followed by ultrasound in both screening and symptomatic examinations and breast magnetic resonance imaging, also known as MRI, to find cancer and to learn more about it once the person has been diagnosed.
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