Awareness key to thwarting breast cancer

This year, breast cancer will kill approximately 40,000 women. Another quarter of a million or so women will be diagnosed with the disease, according to breastcancer.org, a nonprofit organization for breast cancer education.

The numbers are staggering. So much so that nearly one in seven women will develop the disease over the course of their lifetimes.

There is no easy way to predict who will be stricken with breast cancer. Although family history can elevate a woman's risk, about 80 percent of women who are diagnosed have no known family history of the disease.

Those who have been touched by the disease know how devastating it can be. But, increasingly, they also know how beatable it is. Thanks to a wealth of new treatment options and increased awareness of the importance of early detection, the death rate for breast cancer is on the decline.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There are plenty of local events planned, from informational workshops to fund-raisers. These augment the ongoing efforts of national organizations, such as the American Cancer Society, to keep the awareness bandwagon in forward motion and the death rate in reverse.

The first line of defense against breast cancer, though, is at the individual level. Lifestyle choices may affect risk levels among different women. And monthly breast self-exams should be part of every woman's routine.

Still, the most reliable way to find breast cancer as early as possible, when it is most curable, is through high-quality, film-screen mammography. A mammogram can generally detect the presence of cancer before it can be detected by a self-exam.

Studies have shown that mammograms lower the chance of dying from breast cancer by 35 percent in women older than 50, and slightly less in women in the 40-50 age group.

There is still plenty of work to be done, plenty of medical advances to be made, before breast cancer is completely tamed. But women, and those who love them, can take heart in knowing that breast cancer does not have to be a death sentence.

To find out more about mammography, call Valley Hospital Imaging Services at 352-2820.