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Breast Cancer

Over 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year; 40,000 of them do not survive. In fact, breast cancer is second only to lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. 

Breast Cancer PanelBreast cancer detection and treatment is not the clear-cut, black-and-white process many of us might expect.  In this episode, our panelists talk about the grey areas that every woman should know about.  They address these questions and more:

  • If I do everything right, can I prevent breast cancer?  
  • If I have a negative mammogram, am I safe?  
  • If I get breast cancer, how can I be sure I'm getting the right treatment?

The risk of getting breast cancer increases dramatically with age.  So, if you or someone you care about is approaching 40, you'll want to watch this episode.

 
Learn more about Breast Cancer:
 
Key Point 1: Evaluation of a suspicious breast should proceed until both the doctor and the patient are convinced there is a reasonable chance no cancer exists.

Key Point 2: The powerful prognostic factors that influence the treatment of breast cancer are the size of the tumor, whether it is invasive or not, if it's metastatic at the time of diagnosis, if it's hormonally sensitive and if there is a family history of breast cancer. Regardless of the treatment options, the patient's choice is ultimately a personal one.

Key Point 3: There are risk factors for breast cancer. The ones you cannot control are getting your period early in life, your age, and a family history of breast cancer. The risk factors you can control are hormone replacement therapy, not smoking and not using alcohol excessively.

Conduct an off-site search for Breast Cancer information from MedlinePlus.  These up-to-date search results are based on search terms specific to Second Opinion Key Points.
 
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