After lung cancer, breast cancer is the second largest killer disease in the USA. According to a rough estimate, 1 per 1000 women dies of breast cancer per year. Another estimate shows that a woman is likely to have a 1-in-8 chance of developing breast cancer in her life time.
But the silver lining of the cloud is that, breast cancer can be cured. But for the proper treatment, it has to be detected early. Mammography helps in the diagnosis of breast cancer at an early stage and reduces the risk of dying of breast cancer by 16% among women in their 40s. A Mammography can also cut the risk by 30% for the women above 50s.
So far as the breast cancer is concerned, age is the greatest enemy of the woman. The more older the woman is the more likely for her to develop breast cancer. Just look at this statistics:
When you are in your thirties, you have a 1 out of 2000 chance of developing this deadly disease.
But by the time you reach at your 50th birthday, this chance increases to a horrifying 1 out of 50.
And at the age of 80, the chance is cool 1 out of 10.
So you know, as you grow old, you have to keep a hawk eye on the health of your breasts. There have been amazing breakthroughs in the treatment of breast cancer in the recent times and as such today breast cancer is a rare type of cancer that can be completely gotten rid of.
Apart from the age, there are other risk factors as well. As for example, if you have a history of breast cancer in your family, you are at a greater risk of developing breast cancer in your latter years.
Breast implant in some cases increases the risks of breast cancer in certain women.
Genetic alterations in certain instances also resulted into breast cancer.
The women, who haven’t bore children, are also at a greater risk of developing breast cancer in their late menopause days.
If you think, you have one or more of these risk factors; you should go for regular check up and test for breast cancer every year.
Even if you do not run any such risk factors, you should visit a physician annually for having a clinical and physical breast examination. But the women with risk factors are strongly recommended to have a mammogram each year.
There are a number of medical evidence to show that with mammograms on a regular basis the risk of breast cancer death is considerably reduced —almost by 25 to 30 percent— for the women in the age group of 50 to 69.
Some experts are even of the opinion that women at risk should have a mammogram twice a year.
You might want to know what a mammogram is all about! Well, a mammogram is a kind of X-ray of the breast. The process also involves compressing the breast for some twenty seconds to detect any tumor that cannot be found by manual examination.
The films are then examined by a radiologist. This helps in early detection of cancer and as you know, early detection means higher chances of cure.
So if you are a woman over fifty, make it a point to go for an annual mammogram along with a clinical breast exam by a physician to keep protected from the attack of this killer disease called breast cancer
