Breast Cancer Prevalence

In Nov 2003, the American Cancer Society explicit that breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 44. In the United States, there are around 200,000 new cases of breast cancer and much than 40,000 deaths; fashioning the U.S. one of the countries with the highest death rates due to breast cancer. Maybe the most atrocious data point is 1: 8 women wish eventually develop breast cancer over their lifetime.

Generally Accepted Risk Factors for developing breast cancer can be divided into two categories; those a woman can control and those she cannot. Women who choose pharmaceutical internal secretion replacement medical aid (HRT) and oral contraceptives may increase their risk of breast cancer. Additionally, a woman who consumes one or much alcoholic drinks per day or lives a inactive fashion faces an accumulated risk for deed breast cancer. Those factors that are on the far side the immediate control but still may lead to accumulated risk include: onset of catamenia prior to age 12 or onset of biological time after the age 50 and inheritance of the breast cancer genes, BRCA 1 and BRCA 2. Heritable the breast cancer genes, BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, are best-known to be associated with some breast and gonad cancers, but only account for 5-10% of all breast cancer. In 70% of all cases, the cause of breast cancer is still yet unknown.

Conventional screening methods all examine structure. For example, diagnostic technique uses X-ray to examine breast tissue. Any structure that has fully grown large enough to be seen by X-ray could be detected by mammography. However, diagnostic technique can have a high false positive rate. In fact, only 1 in 6 biopsies are found to be positive for cancer once found by diagnostic technique or clinical breast exam. This leads to accumulated psychological stress, physical trauma and business worries.

Other risks of diagnostic technique include the radiation exposure, tho' this has been debated by doctors for many a years. Recently publicised in Radiation Research, 2004 the author suggests that the risks associated with diagnostic technique screening may be FIVE times higher than antecedently assumed and the risk-benefit relationship of diagnostic technique necessarily to be re-examined.

There exists a technology that can discover a breast issue YEARS before a tumor can be seen on X-ray or palpated during an exam. This technology has been authorised by the FDA as an connected screening tool since 1982 and offers NO RADIATION, NO COMPRESSION AND NO PAIN. For women who are refusing to have a x ray or those who want clinical correlation for an existing problem, digital infrared thermal imaging may be of interest.

Thermal cameras discover heat emitted from the body and display it as a image on a computer monitor. These pictures are unique to the person and remain stable over time. It is because of these characteristics that thermal imaging is a valuable and effective screening tool.

Breast diagnostic technique has undergone extensive research since the 1950s. There are over 800 peer-reviewed studies on breast diagnostic technique with much than 300,000 women enclosed in large clinical trials. An abnormal thermogram is 10 times much significant as a futurity risk indicator for breast cancer than a 1st order family history of the disease. A persistently abnormal thermogram carries a 22-fold higher risk of futurity breast cancer.

Medical doctors who interpret the breast scans are board certified and endure an additional two years of training to qualify as a thermologist. Diagnostic technique is not limited by breast density and is ideal for women who have had cosmetic or constructive surgery. It is advisable that since cancer typically has a 15 year life span from onset to death, that women begin thermographic screenings at age 25.

Thermographic screening is not covered by most insurance companies but is astonishingly cheap for most people. For much information or to find a certified clinic in your area, go to www.proactivehealthonline.com.

About The Author

Brenda Witt is co-owner of Active Health Solutions in Southern California. She has worked in the medical field for 9 years and is now an American College of Clinical Thermology (ACCT) certified thermographer in the Orange County area. To contact Brenda, email her at brenda@proactivehealthonline.com.