Community Care Hosts Breast Health Presentation

 

Photo supplied. This box of plastic lemons provides an effective visual tool to help women understand changes that signal dangerous changes in breast tissue in a program called “Know Your Lemons.”

Last week two staff members from Peterborough Regional Health Centres’ Breast Assessment Centre came to Millbrook to discuss breast health. 

This hospital department offers complete breast care services, from screening through a range of diagnostic tools and patient support.  In the event of a breast cancer diagnosis, their staff help patients navigate the treatment process providing support through surgery to survivorship or end of life care, answering questions, preparing patients for appointments, explaining the diagnosis and the treatment options and giving patients more control over their care.

The highest risk factor for developing breast cancer is being a woman, as only one percent of breast cancers are found in men.  The risk of developing breast cancer also increases with age, and one in eight women will be diagnosed with the disease over the course of their lifetime.  While there is no way to prevent the disease, with early detection, survival rates are high.  In fact stage 0 to 1 breast cancer patients face a 98% five year survival rate.

Because early detection is so critical, most women are screened regularly through the Ontario Breast Screening program which has been in place for almost twenty years.  Most women between the ages of 50 to 74 are screened every two years, but after age 74, women are no longer automatically recalled for examination and must initiate the screening on their own.  Younger women are eligible to start earlier if they exhibit risk factors including a family history of the disease, and annual mammograms are provided to women aged 30 to 69 who are confirmed to be at high risk of getting breast cancer be screened once a year to facilitate early detection.

Those who have experienced mammograms know that these photos are not just of the breast tissue, but include part of the underarm.  That is because the breast stretches from the collarbone to the underarm and sternum.  The most begin in the glandular tissue; in ducts or lobules, and forty-five percent of breast cancer cells are first detected in the upper and outer quadrant of the breast near the underarm.

Breast density is another risk factor in breast cancer rates- the denser the breast, the higher the risk.  Unfortunately, breast density can’t be felt- it must be assessed through a mammogram or another technology.  In breasts, fat is good, as the more fatty tissue in a breast, the less dense it is, but density reduces as we age, which contributes to the risk rising in older women.

Self-examination is no longer performed as part of the bi-annual breast screening because by the time a lump can be detected it is usually 2 cm in size, whereas mammograms can detect lumps as small as 4mm.

That doesn’t mean women should ignore their breasts and leave them to the experts.  There are many outward other signs of a problem that were cleverly illustrated with a carton of plastic fruit.  This educational tool is part of a worldwide program known as “Know Your Lemons” and its visual cues are very effective.  Each lemon exhibited a different warning sign, such as puckering skin, discolouration, a dimple, a sunken nipple, a thickening of the skin, a bulging vein or discharge.

New technology providing 3D breast imaging is expected to become available in the next year that will bring new hope for more patients to identify this common disease when it is most easily eradicated.  Eight out of eight of us can hardly wait. KG

 

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