Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women, after skin cancer.
Breast cancer awareness and research has advanced the diagnosis and treatment, largely due to factors such as early detection (screening), and a personalised therapeutic approach.
Risk factors:
- Increasing age.
- A personal history of breast cancer or other breast conditions such as atypical hyperplasia.
- A family history of breast cancer, particularly first degree relatives, and at a young age.
- Genetic – gene mutations that can markedly increase the risk of breast cancer such as BRCA1 and BRCA2.
- Beginning your period at a younger age and or your menopause at an older age.
- Having your first child at an older age.
- Having never been pregnant.
- Postmenopausal hormone replacement with oestrogen and progesterone.
- Obesity.
- Alcohol.
- Previous radiation exposure to the chest.
Signs and symptoms:
- A breast lump or region of thickening.
- Change in size or shape of a breast.
- Changes to the skin over the breast, such as dimpling or pitting.
- A newly inverted nipple.
- Peeling or flaking of the areola.
Diagnostic tests:
- Physical breast examination.
- Mammogram – a dedicated low-dose X-ray of the breasts.
- Ultrasound – often performed in conjunction with the mammogram, particularly if there is a lump or dense breast tissue.
- Breast MRI – a breast scan with a machine that uses a magnet and radio waves to create images of the breast. It does not use radiation.
- Biopsy of breast tissue with a needle device.
Breast Implant Rupture
Breast implant ruptures are a recognised complication of implants / prostheses.
Types of rupture:
- Intra-capsular – confined by the surrounding capsule.
- Extra-capsular – when silicone freely extravasates.
Enhanced Breast MRI Scan for Breast Cancer Screening
The Scan is appropriate in the diagnostic (referral) situation, if your Mammogram and or breast ultrasound examination has revealed a suspicious finding.
The scan is non-invasive, painless and safe.
The scan is a zero X-ray dose scan that uses a harmless magnetic field.
The entire process takes less than 45 minutes.
Breast MRI Scan for Breast Prosthesis rupture assessment
This is the most sensitive test for the detection of implant ruptures.
The scan does not require any contrast administration.
The scan is non-invasive, painless and safe.
The scan is a zero X-ray dose scan that uses a harmless magnetic field.
The entire process takes less than 30 minutes.
- After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women.
- About 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer during her lifetime.
- About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer.
- Breast cancer risk nearly doubles if a woman has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
- About 5-10% of breast cancers can be linked to gene mutations inherited from one’s mother or father. BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in the are the most common.
- Death rates have been decreasing since 1989, thought to be the result of improved treatment, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.
Links: www.breastcancer.org
Who should consider the Breast MRI for Life Scans?
- Breast for life for Breast cancer screening should be considered if you have risk factors, a suspicious mammogram and / or breast ultrasound, or referred by a Physician.Yearly mammograms plus breast MRI screening are typically recommended for women who are at higher-than-average risk of developing breast cancer — in other words, at greater than the average 13% risk most women have over the course of an entire lifetime.The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends that all high-risk women — those with a greater than 20% lifetime risk of breast cancer — have a breast MRI and a mammogram every year. For most women, these combined screenings should start at age 30 and continue as long as the woman is in good health. According to ACS guidelines, high-risk women include those who:
- have a known BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation
- have a first-degree relative (mother, father, brother, sister, or child) with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation and have not had genetic testing themselves
- find out they have a lifetime risk of breast cancer of 20-25% or greater, according to risk assessment tools that are based mainly on family history
- had radiation therapy to the chest for another type of cancer, such as Hodgkin’s disease, when they were between the ages of 10 and 30 years
- have a genetic disease such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome, Cowden syndrome, or Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome, or have one of these syndromes in first-degree relatives
The American Cancer Society also recommends that women at moderately increased risk of breast cancer — those with a 15-20% lifetime risk — talk with their doctors about the possibility of adding breast MRI screening to their yearly mammogram. According to ACS guidelines, this includes women who:
- find out they have a lifetime risk of breast cancer of 15-20%, according to risk assessment tools based mainly on family history
- have a personal history of breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS), or abnormal breast cell changes such as atypical ductal hyperplasia or atypical lobular hyperplasia
- have extremely dense breasts or unevenly dense breasts when viewed by mammograms
- Breast for Life for Implant Rupture scan should be performed if a rupture is suspected, referred by a Physician.
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