H E A LT H
Good
BREAST CANCER
THE
N E W PART S 2
In this second part of The Good News, we will be discussing issues regarding the early detection of Breast Cancer using Mammography, ultrasound and how we make the diagnosis before we embark on treatment. Text: Dr Alwyn Carstens Images: iStockphoto.com
MAMMOGRAPHY
Breast Cancer has the unique and dangerous property of not being painful .It is known to be present for many years before it becomes palpable by hand. Being a hormone driven disease it grows faster in younger women with higher estrogens levels but still grows for about 5-7 years before a palpable lump is felt. In older women with lower estrogen levels
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R AY M A G A Z I N E
it can take 7-10 years before a woman or her doctor feels a lump. For these reasons mammography was invented to enable us to detect Br.Ca at an earlier stage. TABAR from Sweden did extensive studies and trials that showed the following: 1) Mammography detects Br.Ca much earlier than the hand.