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.

MRI evaluation of the contralateral breast in women recently diagnosed with breast cancer

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of women who were diagnosed with cancer in one breast detected over 90 percent of cancers in the other breast that were missed by mammography and clinical breast exam at initial diagnosis, according to a new study.

28 Mar 2007

MRI improves breast cancer diagnosis

Women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer in one breast have a higher risk of contracting the disease in their opposite breast as well. A thorough examination of the opposite breast using mammography and ultrasound is therefore common practice. However, many tumours still remain undetected when using mammography.

28 Mar 2007

University of Miami, Haitian Community health workers team up to address breast cancer

A collaboration between doctors at the University of Miami and members of the Haitian community in Southern Florida is attempting to address mammography screening and breast cancer among Haitian women living in the U.S., the Miami Herald reports.

11 Mar 2007

Life-saving cancer genetic testing vastly underutilized

A study released today at the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists 38th Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer found few patients were aware of genetic cancer syndromes and the high risk of developing cancer if genetic mutations were found. Fewer still were motivated to follow up on this information with their own healthcare provider or genetic counseling/testing services.

5 Mar 2007

Why are African American women more likely than White women to die from breast cancer?

Why are African American women 1.5 to 2.2 times more likely than White women to die from breast cancer, despite their lower incidence of the disease? Is it solely because they have less access to medical care? Maybe not, according to a new analysis that will appear in an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Surgery.

22 Feb 2007

A black and white look at breast cancer mortality

African and African American women are more likely to die of breast cancer than their white counterparts because they tend to get the disease before the menopause, suggests new research from the University of East Anglia and the Children’s Hospital Boston in collaboration with researchers in the U.S. and Italy.

21 Feb 2007

Changes in breast cancer management

Aggressive research currently underway brings hope of dramatic advances in breast cancer management, according to a new review.

12 Feb 2007

More than 1 million fewer U.S. women received mammograms since 2000

The percentage of U.S. women ages 40 and older who reported receiving a mammogram declined from 76.4% in 2000 to 74.6% in 2005, according to a report published in the Jan. 26 edition of CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Washington Post reports.

28 Jan 2007

Breast cancer screening for under 50's of little benefit

It seems that it remains debatable whether screening women under 50 years old for breast cancer significantly reduces deaths from the disease.

12 Dec 2006

Elasticity imaging could alleviate need for biopsies

A noninvasive technique to visualize soft tissue stiffness allows radiologists to accurately distinguish benign from malignant breast lesions.

2 Dec 2006

FDA approves silicone gel-filled breast implants

After rigorous scientific review, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the marketing of silicone gel-filled breast implants made by two companies for breast reconstruction in women of all ages and breast augmentation in women ages 22 and older.

19 Nov 2006

Black women in Chicago more likely to die from breast cancer than white women

Black women living in Chicago are more likely to die from breast cancer than white women in the city, according to a study released on Tuesday by the Sinai Urban Health Institute, the Chicago Tribune reports (Peres et al., Chicago Tribune, 10/18).

19 Oct 2006

Fatty fish provides significant protection against renal cancer

If you want to avoid cancer of the kidneys, a new major study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that eating salmon or other kinds of fatty fish a few times a month would be one good way to go about it.

21 Sep 2006

Women should eat more fatty fish - lowers risk for renal cell carcinoma

Preliminary research suggests that higher consumption of fatty fish in women is linked with a lower risk of renal cell carcinoma, a common form of kidney cancer, according to a study in the September 20 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

19 Sep 2006

Validation of a tool for identifying women at high risk for hereditary breast cancer

A new screening tool for the general practitioner effectively identifies patients at risk for hereditary breast cancer, according to a new study.

11 Sep 2006

Thyroid cancer among women in the U.S. has increased

The number of new cases of thyroid cancer among women in the U.S. has increased over the past decade despite a decline among women in mortality rates for most cancers, according to a report released Wednesday by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the National Cancer Institute, CDC and the American Cancer Society, Long Island Newsday reports.

7 Sep 2006

Mexico's health system reforms working

Julio Frenk, Minister of Health of Mexico, outlines the results of the country's 6-year project of health system reform in a Public Health article in this week's issue of The Lancet.

7 Sep 2006

Women's health policy highlights

Highlights recently released from journal articles on women's health issues

24 Aug 2006

Mammography: Current nationwide capacity adequate, but access problems may exist in certain locations

The mammography capacity nationwide is adequate, but some area shortages, in both the number of facilities and medical personnel, might make it difficult for some women to undergo the procedure, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday, CQ HealthBeat reports (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 8/16).

17 Aug 2006