Mammography News and Research

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A mammogram is a safe test used to look for any problems with a woman's breasts. The test uses a special, low-dose x-ray machine to take pictures of both breasts. The results are recorded on x-ray film or directly onto a computer for a radiologist to examine.

Mammograms allow the doctor to have a closer look for breast lumps and changes in breast tissue. They can show small lumps or growths that a doctor or woman may not be able to feel when doing a clinical breast exam. "Mammography" is the best screening tool that doctors have for finding breast cancer.

If a lump is found, your doctor may order other tests, such as ultrasound or a biopsy--a test where a small amount of tissue is taken from the lump and area around the lump. The tissue is sent to a lab to look for cancer or changes that may mean cancer is likely to develop. Breast lumps or growths can be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer). Finding breast cancer early means that a woman has a better chance of surviving the disease. There are also more choices for treatment when breast cancer is found early.

Post-menopausal therapy to improve women's quality of life

A recent research work by the University of Granada advises post-menopausal women the use of Replacement Hormone Therapy (RHT) for at least five years.

29 May 2008

New report details cancer prevention efforts

An annual report from the American Cancer Society highlights that long-term favorable trends have stalled for several factors that have been responsible for declining cancer death rates in the U.S.

15 May 2008

Study finds patients overestimate cancer screening history

A new American Cancer Society study finds female African American patients tend to overestimate their level of cancer screening, indicating that current estimates of screening based on self-reported data may be lower than reported.

15 May 2008

Supplemental breast ultrasound boosts cancer detection, radiologist reports in national study

Among women at high-risk of developing breast cancer, breast ultrasound combined with mammography may detect more cancers than mammography alone, according to results of a multicenter trial that included UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers.

13 May 2008

Breast cancer tumours grow faster in younger women

A new approach to estimating tumour growth based on breast screening results from almost 400,000 women is published in BioMed Central's open access journal, Breast Cancer Research.

8 May 2008

Fat grafting for breast enhancement

It is the cosmetic treatment many women have dreamed of -- taking the fat from their hips and thighs and redistributing it to their breasts. But many people question whether this procedure is safe or effective.

2 May 2008

New cancer report - facts and figures 2008

An annual report from the American Cancer Society highlights that long-term favorable trends have stalled for several factors that have been responsible for declining cancer death rates in the U.S.

22 Apr 2008

Managing the care of breast cancer in patients 80 years of age and older

According to researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, mammography, the gold-standard for breast cancer screening and early detection, has shown to significantly reduce the risk of being diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer in women over the age of 80, an age group currently without clear guidelines recommending regular screenings.

21 Apr 2008

Countries could save millions of Euros a year if follow-ups for breast cancer patients were led by specialist nurses rather than physicians

Follow-up care for breast cancer patients costs less if it is conducted by nurses rather than physicians, yet there is no difference in the patients' anxiety, depression, satisfaction or outcome, according to research presented today (Friday) at the 6th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-6) in Berlin.

18 Apr 2008

Breast cancer death rates among black women not decreasing across all U.S. states

A new study from the American Cancer Society finds that while breast cancer death rates are decreasing for white women in every U.S. state, for African American women, death rates are either flat or rising in at least half the states.

13 Apr 2008

Screening mammography in elderly patients beneficial

Although guidelines keep changing regarding screening mammography in elderly patients, those older than 70 years old continue to benefit from this exam, showing that with frequent mammograms breast cancers can be found sooner, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Jacobi Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in Bronx, NY.

11 Apr 2008

Mammography and sonography used together can help rule out breast cancer in patients with palpable lesions

When mammography and sonography are used together to evaluate palpable breast lesions, they can rule out cancers in most patients, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Baystate Health in Springfield, MA. However, uncommonly, malignancies cannot be diagnosed using this imaging protocol.

11 Apr 2008

MRI's high false positive rate has little impact on women's choice of preventive mastectomy

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) falsely detects breast cancer in five out of every six positive scans according to new research into the use of MRI for women with a high, inherited risk of developing the disease.

26 Mar 2008

Researchers make colorectal screening a little easier

Colon cancer screening is a tough sell. It's icky, uncomfortable and the thought of a colonoscopy, especially the prep, can be intimidating, to say the least.

25 Mar 2008

New way to assess a woman's risk for invasive breast cancer

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have developed a way to quickly estimate a woman's risk for invasive breast cancer.

6 Mar 2008

Breast cancer death rates among black women

28 Feb 2008

Annual cancer statistics show substantial declines in mortality rates

The American Cancer Society's annual cancer statistics report finds that death rates from cancer in the United States have decreased by 18.4 percent among men and by 10.5 percent among women since mortality rates began to decline in the early 1990s, which translates to the avoidance of more than half a million cancer deaths (534,500) in the United States.

21 Feb 2008