This Month:

Early diagnosis key to beating breast cancer | National Breast Cancer Awareness | Community Calendar

Simply being a woman and getting older puts you at some risk for breast cancer. The risk for developing breast cancer continues to increase over time.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, but if detected early it can be successfully treated. Mammograms can detect breast cancer at an early stage before it becomes palpable. Women who discover lumps or skin changes in their breast should report them to their doctor right away.

Most lumps discovered in the breast are not cancer, but the survival rate improves when the disease is detected early,� says Cristina I. Truica, M.D., a physician at the LifeBridge Health Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute.

Timely mammography screening among women aged 40 years or older could reduce breast cancer mortality by approximately 16 percent compared with women who are not screened, according to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

The Multidisciplinary Center for Breast Health at Northwest Hospital is designed to streamline the evaluation process for women who have breast changes or problems. This includes those who have an abnormal mammogram, have newly diagnosed or recurrent cancer, or are at increased risk of developing cancer.

The Breast Health program enables women with breast health concerns to be seen by a surgeon, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist all in one setting. A team of breast care experts work together to guide patients through each phase of diagnosis, treatment and recovery.
Services include:

• State-of-the-art screening and diagnostic services through The Herman and Walter Samuelson Breast Care Center at Northwest Hospital Ultrasound, MRI, image-guided stereotactic breast biopsies and surgical biopsies
• A team of professionals from a variety of specialty areas to provide comprehensive care
• Innovative treatment strategies and supportive care to make treatment as effective and comfortable as possible.
• Consultations and second opinions
• High-risk, prevention and genetic counseling
• Access to the latest approaches to therapy as part of clinical trials for newly diagnosed patients as well as those with recurrent or advanced breast cancer
• The most current educational programs for health care professionals, patients and families.

Physicians and health care professionals who are experts in breast care provide treatment at the Center. Team members work with each patient to develop an individualized treatment plan. Patients have access to medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, surgeons, plastic surgeons, genetic counselors, and caring, compassionate nursing staff.

The Multidisciplinary Center for Breast Health is located in the Northwest Hospital Outpatient Center. Patients may either be referred by their physician, or can contact the care coordinator directly for an appointment at 410-521-5929.

National Breast Cancer Awareness

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Examining your breasts is an important way to find breast cancer early, when it's most likely to be cured. Not every cancer can be found this way, but it is a critical step women should take.

There are several proper ways to examine your breasts. Ask your health care provider to teach you how to do a breast self-exam to make sure you are doing it correctly and thoroughly.

How to Examine Your Breasts

• Lie down and place your right arm behind your head.
• Use the finger pads of the three middle fingers on your left hand to feel for lumps in the right breast. Use overlapping, dime-sized circular motions of the finger pads to feel the breast tissue.
• Use three different levels of pressure to feel all the breast tissue. Light pressure is needed to feel the tissue closest to the skin; medium pressure to feel a little deeper; and firm pressure to feel the tissue closest to the chest and ribs. A firm ridge in the lower curve of each breast is normal.
• Move around the breast in an up and down pattern starting at an imaginary line drawn straight down your side from the underarm and moving across the breast to the middle of the chest bone (sternum or breastbone). Be sure to check the entire breast area going down until you feel only ribs and up to the neck or collar bone (clavicle).
• Repeat the exam on your left breast, using the finger pads of the right hand.
• While standing in front of a mirror with your hands pressing firmly down on your hips, look at your breasts for any changes of size, shape, contour or dimpling.
• Examine each underarm while sitting up or standing and with your arm only slightly raised so you can easily feel in this area.

SOURCE: The American Cancer Society