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- Early detection
and treatment of breast cancer increases life expectancy and
provides women with more treatment options.
- Approximately 95 percent of women who are diagnosed
when the cancer is local (confined to their breast or has
spread to the surrounding and underlying tissue) will live
more than five years after diagnosis.
- This compares to 23 percent of women surviving five years
with breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
- The majority of
breast cancers are detected by women themselves, most often
as a small, firm lump. Therefore, many doctors recommend that
women conduct monthly, at-home breast self-examinations.
- Some doctors also
advocate an annual clinical check-up to detect breast lumps
or a yearly or twice-yearly mammogram, a special form of breast
X-ray. A mammogram to detect abnormalities is also recommended
in older women and women at high risk of breast cancer as a
means of detecting breast cancer.
- If a lump is felt
or an abnormality detected on a mammogram, a biopsy may be necessary,
which allows physicians to obtain sample tissue for examination
under a microscope to make a diagnosis. In most cases the lump
is painless, but some women experience cancer-related pain.
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