October 2009 Newsletter

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Three Key Steps to Beating Breast Cancer

The American Cancer Society puts U.S. breast cancer cases at nearly 200,000 during this past year — and that doesn’t include the many unreported and undiagnosed cases. This disease continues to steal lives, causing pain and suffering throughout the world. But you don’t have to wait for breast cancer to affect your family before you begin the fight against its life-threatening effects.

Although there is no cure for the disease just yet, there are three important elements to limiting the damage breast cancer can do. Through awareness, detection, and prevention, potential victims can arm themselves with effective life-saving tools. Early detection can turn a victim into a survivor.

Breast Cancer Awareness

Even if you have no family history of breast cancer, you should take the time to learn all you can about the disease. Knowledge is power, and a thorough awareness of the disease’s risk factors and detection tools can spur you to action and literally save your life.

First, use the resources available to you to research breast cancer, like these:

Secondly, familiarize yourself with breast cancer risk factors:

The risk of breast cancer elevates with age.
Women face a much greater risk than men.
African-American women may face a higher risk than Caucasian women.
Women with a personal history of breast disease are more likely to develop breast cancer.
Women with a family history of breast cancer may face a higher risk.

You can use the National Cancer Institute’s Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool to help you evaluate your risk.

Finally, share your knowledge with your friends and family members, and see what you can learn from them.

Early Breast Cancer Detection

Early detection is the strongest defense we currently have against this disease. Self breast exams, clinical breast exams, and mammograms are the three main ways to detect the presence of abnormal breast tissue. Breast cancer patients are at a clear advantage when a diagnosis is achieved before breast cancer reaches an advanced stage (meaning it has not spread from its origin). Depending on the prevalence of abnormal cells, treatments like surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy may be recommended.

The National Cancer Institute reports an encouraging statistic regarding detection: When breast cancer is detected early (localized stage), the 5-year survival rate is 98%.

Breast Cancer Prevention

No one really knows what directly causes breast cancer. But by understanding the risk factors and adjusting your lifestyle toward a more healthy existence, you may be able to minimize your risk of developing breast cancer. Although it is impossible to guarantee prevention, minimizing your risks through things you can control — along with getting regular testing — can put you in a strong position to fight off the disease, or catch it when it’s highly treatable.

Here are some lifestyle things you can do to minimize risk:

Limit saturated fat and hydrogenated fats.
Get enough fiber.
Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
Enjoy alcohol in moderation.
Get regular exercise.
Don’t smoke.

Fight Breast Cancer With Experience

Founder and Medical Director of the Greenbrae Surgical Center (and Medical Director of the Breast Center of Northern California) Dr. Robert Aycock has helped many women by performing expert breast reconstruction after mastectomy or lumpectomy. With offices in Greenbrae and Walnut Creek, Dr. Aycock and his team serve the unique needs of breast cancer patients with empathy, patience and dedication to the whole individual.