The Gynologues

Dear Everyone Who Has or Knows Someone Who Has Boobs

Via Austinist:

Yes, yes, October is coming to a close and no doubt you’ve had the color pink shoved down your gullet and you’re feeling all bloated about it right now. Breast Cancer Awareness campaigns are pretty much the dumbest thing EVER—you are aware of breast cancer because you have ears and/or eyes and you have lived on this planet for more than a fortnight. We get it. Breast cancer exists. Mission Accomplished.

But not really.

The fact is this: either you or MULTIPLE people that you know are going to get diagnosed with breast cancer in your lifetime. It’s a disease that affects millions of people (I’m looking at you too, bros), and it is killing and has killed people every day. It has yet to skip a woman in my family and so when I say that this disease kills I am saying it might kill me. When I say this disease has taken the lives of many I am thinking about my grandmother and my grandmother’s sister. I am thinking about my aunt (who is a survivor) and my mother, who started treatment four short weeks ago, and I am thinking about my sister and I am thinking about her daughter and my aunt’s daughter.

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Women’s Health Magazine: Take our breast health challenge! We teamed up with early-detection focused non-profit Fuck Cancer (www.letsfcancer.com) and we want you to #TouchYourself during #BreastCancerAwareness month. Take hold of your health and do a self-exam today (or schedule a clinical exam). So, are you in??

What You Need to Know About the Groundbreaking New Breast Cancer Study

Via Jezebel:

Researchers behind an unprecedented study that is expected to change the way we understand and treat breast cancer, which kills more than 35,000 U.S. women a year, are calling their findings “the breast-cancer equivalent of putting a man or woman on the moon.” Here’s how the study could affect you and your loved ones.

The findings, published online yesterday inNature, is part of a federally funded project called the Cancer Genome Atlas, which hopes to be the cancer equivalent of theHuman Genome Project — their scientists have already published the genomes of brain, ovarian, colorectal and lung cancers.

This study is the first comprehensive genetic analysis of breast cancer — researchers analyzed tissue from 348 breast cancers — and it’s about time, too: they found that most tumors are caused by mutations in 30 to 50 genes and identified four distinct types of breast cancer, each with its own genetic traits: basal-like cancers, luminal A and B cancers, and HER2-enriched cancers. Simply put, “just because it’s a breast cancer doesn’t mean it’s like every other breast cancer,” as Brad Ozenberger, head of the Cancer Genome Atlas told USA Today.

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Radiation may up breast cancer risk in some women

Via Associated Press:

Mammograms aimed at finding breast cancer might actually raise the chances of developing it in young women whose genes put them at higher risk for the disease, a study by leading European cancer agencies suggests.

The added radiation from mammograms and other types of tests with chest radiation might be especially harmful to them and an MRI is probably a safer method of screening women under 30 who are at high risk because of gene mutations, the authors conclude.

The study can’t prove a link between the radiation and breast cancer, but is one of the biggest ever to look at the issue. The research was published Thursday in the journal BMJ.

“This will raise questions and caution flags about how we treat women with (gene) mutations,” said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. He and the society had no role in the research.

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Mammograms and dense breasts, questions abound

Via Associated Press:

More women are getting the word that they may have breasts too dense for mammograms to give a good picture. What’s not so clear is what to make of that information.

New York this summer became the fourth state to require that women be told if they have dense breasts when they get the results of a mammogram. That’s because women whose breast tissue is very dense have a greater risk of developing breast cancer than women whose breasts contain more fatty tissue. Plus, it can be harder for mammograms to spot a possible tumor.

Monday, scientists reported a bit of good news about yet another question: Do denser breasts also signal a worse chance of survival? A National Cancer Institute study tracked more than 9,000 breast cancer patients and concluded those with very dense breasts were no more likely to die than similar patients whose breasts weren’t as dense.

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New recommendations for breast health

myplannedparenthood:

Planned Parenthood, as a major provider of breast cancer screenings in the U.S., has taken a look at the recommendations of all the groups who have done major studies on breast health and the available evidence on early detection of breast cancer. Our medical director weighs in on Planned Parenthood’s new recommendations for breast health.