One of the great things I have seen over the last forty years is the huge improvement in the survival rate from breast cancer. I well remeber the “rule of thumb” statistic among doctors that ninety per cent of cases after radical mastectomy had,at best, fifteen more years of life. It appeared that there nearly always was a recurrence.
How things have changed! Not only has technology given us quicker and more accurate diagnosis but Breast Specialists have emerged and my experience that this field attracts particularly caring and sensitive individuals. But, for the professional there has been a slight downside in that the incidence of overdiagnosis is slowly increasing.
Overdiagnosis is the finding and treatment of a growth, or tumour, that would not be expected to be fatal during the course of the persons natural life time. Better radiology, imaging and reading of results is probably at the heart of this. When such densities are seen on mammograms the radiologist has no way of telling whether these are cancerous or benign. Site, size, age, history etc may strongly indicate a non threatening growth but fear of litigitation etc means it can’t be ignored. In many cases these are best just monitored but often there is a patient insistence on surgery “just in case”. This is why a three point check is important – ie: physical exam ( palpation ), imaging and biopsy and cell testing for hormone receptors.
The good news is that all is moving forward and screening programmes, education and lifestyle advice seem to be having an effect. The scene is not as scary as it once was!
Here is a link to a risk assessment tool that you can download, install and run to use.
http://www.oncolink.org/types/article.cfm?c=3&s=5&ss=34&id=7242
Neil
