Screening and Testing

There's a whole world of testing that goes along with taking care of your breasts. Although medical tests can be nerve-wracking — especially when it comes to waiting for results — they are essential in keeping your breasts healthy and getting you proper care if you develop breast cancer.

In this section, you’ll learn about the different types of breast cancer tests, such as mammogram, breast MRI, and biopsy. You can learn about getting your test results and keeping track of your medical records. Also featured are the pros and cons of genetic testing and what those results might mean for you.

• Breast Cancer Tests: Screening, Diagnosis, and Monitoring
• Test Results and Medical Records
• Genetic Testing

The medical experts for Screening and Testing are:

• Susan Orel, M.D., professor of radiology, the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Emily Conant, M.D., chief of breast imaging, the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Marisa Weiss, M.D., breast radiation oncologist, Thomas Jefferson University Health System, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

These experts are members of the Breastcancer.org Professional Advisory Board, including more than 70 medical experts in breast cancer-related fields.

Types of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer can begin in different areas of the breast – the ducts, the lobules, or in some cases, the tissue in between. In this section, you can learn about the different types of breast cancer, including non-invasive, invasive, recurrent, and metastatic breast cancers. You can also read about breast cancer in men.

• DCIS – Ductal Carcinoma In Situ
• IDC – Invasive Ductal Carcinoma
• IDC - Less Common Types
• ILC – Invasive Lobular Carcinoma
• Inflammatory Breast Cancer
• LCIS – Lobular Carcinoma In Situ
• Male Breast Cancer
• Paget's Disease of the Nipple
• Phyllodes Tumors of the Breast
• Recurrent and Metastatic Breast Cancer

Thanks

I want to take a moment and thank everyone of you for helping me reach my goal in support of breast cancer..
Thank you once again.

EVERYONE CAN!

Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do anything. Take this walk for an example. On this weekend we will see many woman and men that are survivors, and the fighters that are still fighting walk all the way till the end.  So no one can tell you you can't when they can.

Breast Cancer and Alcohol: Why and How to Toast to Your Health

Written on December 2nd, 2010Tags: Healthy eating, Recipe

With the holiday party season coming up, it's worth thinking about what's in your glass when you're celebrating. A glass of wine can bring out the flavor of many foods, and it can be hard to resist a champagne toast at midnight on New Year's Eve. But alcohol can increase the risk of breast cancer, especially in teen and tween girls whose breasts are developing (another reason to encourage the teenage girls in our lives to avoid alcohol). And other research has shown that having a few drinks a week may increase the risk of breast cancer recurrence — breast cancer coming back. The more you drink, the bigger the increase in risk.

At least 4% of breast cancers in women in developed countries are likely due to drinking alcohol. In countries where more women drink alcohol (and drink more when they do), such as France, it's likely that more breast cancers can be linked to alcohol. In France it's estimated that at least 9% of breast cancers are linked to drinking alcohol.

How much does alcohol increase breast cancer risk? There's a 10% increase in risk for each 10 grams of alcohol  per day (a glass of wine is about 11 grams). So as little as 1 drink per day can increase risk slightly. Women who have 3 to 4 drinks per day have nearly a 50% increase in breast cancer risk. It's not clear if this risk goes back down if you limit how much you drink or quit drinking entirely.

Alcohol may increase risk the risk of the cancer coming back (recurrence). Just 3 or 4 drinks per week after a breast cancer diagnosis can increase the risk of recurrence. This link seems to be strongest in postmenopausal and overweight women.

Alcohol's effects may vary by type of breast cancer. Drinking alcohol seems to affect the risk of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers more than the risk of hormone-receptor-negative breast cancers. Estrogen can cause hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer to grow, and alcohol can increase estrogen levels in a woman's body. This estrogen increase may be why there's a link between drinking alcohol and breast cancer.

Teens and tweens need to stay dry. Girls who drink often and heavily have a much greater risk of developing benign breast disease in their 20s (benign breast disease is a risk factor for breast cancer).

Make your toasts healthy. If you want to limit or avoid alcohol, there are many delicious choices. Mocktails — drinks that use all the ingredients of cocktails except for the alcohol — are available just about everywhere. Virgin Marys offer the healthy tomato juice of Bloody Marys without the vodka. Cosmo-Nots keep the healthy cranberry juice without the booze. Many online recipe sites have tips for making non-alcoholic drinks. The makers of non-alcoholic beer, wine, and champagne have improved the taste of their products and these, too, are widely available.

Here are some ways to make your holiday beverages festive:

• Freeze your favorite juice in ice tray and use as ice cubes. This looks especially nice in a pint glass of club soda or sparkling water.

• Get creative and make a dramatic mocktail using edible flowers preserved in syrup — you can eat the flower afterward.

• Put fresh organic raspberries or strawberries in the bottom of a champagne flute and top with sparkling water or ginger ale.

• Put chunks of fresh fruit on a drink stirrer and put into a glass of your favorite non-alcoholic beverage.

• Use a candy cane or other stick candy as a swizzle stick.

• Rim your glass with colored sugar for sparkling pizzazz.

Understanding Breast Cancer Risk and How to Lower It

Every woman wants to know what she can do to lower her risk of breast cancer.

Today, there are many risk factors that have contributed to more women being diagnosed with breast cancer. Most breast cancers AREN'T inherited -- only about 5% to 10% are. This means there are many things you can do to lower your risk of being diagnosed.

If you have no history of the disease, there are steps you can take to keep your risk as low as it can be. If you've been diagnosed, there are things you can do beyond any treatments you're receiving to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back or developing a new cancer. And if you are living with advanced-stage breast cancer, you want to do everything you can to slow the cancer's growth.

Researchers are working to learn how factors in the environments outside and inside your body may work separately and together to affect your health and your risk of developing breast cancer. The environment inside your body includes genetics (the genes you got from your mother and father), hormone levels, and illnesses. The environment outside your body includes air, water, food, and everything else you come into contact with each day. Parts of this external environment enter your internal environment every day -- the food you eat, the water you drink, the air you breathe, and the vitamins or medicines you take are just a few.

Some of these factors -- your sex, your age, and your genetics, for example -- can't be changed. But many other factors -- smoking cigarettes, exercising, and eating nutritious food -- can be changed or modified. By making the healthiest choices possible, you can make sure your breast cancer risk is as low as possible.

These recommendations are based on current knowledge and research. Some of them may seem hard -- losing weight or quitting smoking, for example -- but making these changes can help lower your risk of breast cancer. Remember, no one is perfect. Set your goals and try to do the best you can every day.

Breastcancer.org Founder and President Marisa Weiss, M.D. says, "Some steps yield instant payoff -- like stopping hormone replacement therapy or catching up on lost sleep. Other steps require a lot of work over time before payday -- like maintaining a healthy weight. Our aim is to give you steps that are very practical and reasonable. Set your goals and strive to do the best you can on an everyday basis!"

In this section, you can learn more about what risk means and how that risk can change:

• Your Risk of Breast Cancer
• Absolute vs. Relative Risk: What Does Percentage Risk Really Mean? 
• Examples of Risk Increasing and Decreasing 

The medical experts for Lower Your Risk are:

• Marisa Weiss, M.D., director of breast radiation oncology and director of breast health outreach, Lankenau Hospital, Jefferson Health System, Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Weiss is president and founder of Breastcancer.org.
• Joan Ruderman, Ph.D., Nelson Professor of cell biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA and member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Weiss and Dr. Ruderman are members of the Breastcancer.org Professional Advisory Board, including more than 70 medical experts in breast cancer-related fields.

ASCO: BMI Fails to Predict Outcomes in Metastatic Breast Cancer

Much research has shown that being overweight or obese increases the risk of breast and other cancers. Other research has found that being overweight or obese can affect the type of breast cancer a woman may get as well as affect prognosis after breast cancer is diagnosed.

A study found that being overweight or obese at diagnosis didn't affect the survival of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. The results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Doctors use body mass index (BMI) to determine if a person is underweight, healthy weight, overweight, or obese. BMI takes both height and weight into account:

• BMI lower than 18.5 is considered underweight.
• BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered healthy weight.
• BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight.
• BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.

The researchers reviewed the records of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer who had participated in one of a number of other clinical trials.

At diagnosis:

• 197 women had a BMI under 25 (healthy weight).
• 187 women had a BMI between 25 and 30 (overweight).
• 105 women had a BMI over 30 (obese).

There were no differences in either the progression-free survival or overall survival of the women in each BMI group. Progression-free survival is the length of time a woman lives without the cancer growing. Overall survival is the length of time a woman lives whether or not the cancer grows.

Progression-free survival was:

• 10.7 months for the healthy weight group
• 13.1 months for the overweight group
• 12.2 months for the obese group

Overall survival was:

• 32 months for the healthy weight group
• 32.9 months for the overweight group
• 30.7 months for the obese group

• (The overall survival numbers aren't in the story at the left; Breastcancer.org read the abstract to get them.)

If you were overweight when you were diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, this study should be reassuring. Still, working toward a healthy weight might be a good idea as you try to be as healthy as you can while being treated for metastatic breast cancer. Losing weight can be hard work for healthy people and may be much harder for someone being treated for metastatic breast cancer.

If your BMI is high, you might want to ask your doctor about a safe and sensible plan for managing your weight during treatment. The National Institutes of Health offers anonline BMI calculator that allows you to calculate your BMI. For more information on creating a healthy diet plan that includes exercise, visit the pages on Healthy Eating During Treatment in the Breastcancer.org Nutrition section.

Symptoms & Diagnosis

Breast cancer symptoms vary widely — from lumps to swelling to skin changes — and many breast cancers have no obvious symptoms at all. Symptoms that are similar to those of breast cancer may be the result of non-cancerous conditions like infection or a cyst.

Breast self-exam should be part of your monthly health care routine, and you should visit your doctor if you experience breast changes. If you're over 40 or at a high risk for the disease, you should also have an annual mammogram and physical exam by a doctor. The earlier breast cancer is found and diagnosed, the better your chances of beating it.

The actual process of diagnosis can take weeks and involve many different kinds of tests. Waiting for results can feel like a lifetime. The uncertainty stinks. But once you understand your own unique "big picture," you can make better decisions. You and your doctors can formulate a treatment plan tailored just for you.

In the following pages of the Symptoms and Diagnosis section, you can learn about:

Understanding Breast Cancer

How breast cancer happens, how it progresses, the stages, and a look at risk factors.

Screening and Testing

The tests used for screening, diagnosis, and monitoring, including mammograms, ultrasound, MRI, CAT scans, PET scans, and more.

Types of Breast Cancer

The different types of breast cancer, including ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), inflammatory breast cancer, male breast cancer, recurrent breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer, and more.

Your Diagnosis

The characteristics of the cancer -- featured on your pathology report -- that might affect your treatment plan, including size, stage, lymph node status, hormone receptor status, and more.

I wear pink

I wear pink in Support of the Fighters,
in Admiration of the Survivors,
and in Honor of the Taken.

Thanks

Just getting off of a 12hr shift. Coming home to find that many of you are helping me to help many others in need. I want to thank you every one of you for all the support. I know with all your help I will meet my goal. Thank you once again and please pass the word to friends and family.