In a recent survey, the American Cancer Society found that many women are misinformed about breast cancer risk. According to the survey, nearly half of the respondents thought that women in the United States have a 30% to 50% chance of developing the disease, while 66% believed that the risk is greater than 20%. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, the average lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is approximately 11%. Women who were surveyed also thought that the risk for getting breast cancer is greatest between the ages of 30 and 49 years, when in reality, that risk increases with age. According to the Society, 77% of new cases and 84% of breast cancer deaths reported between 1994 and 1998 occurred in women aged 50 years and older.
While the risks are much lower than what women in the survey understood them to be, breast cancer death tolls are still extremely high. By the end of the year, 192,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and 40,600 women will die of the disease.
Spreading the Word
"This important research shows there is a lot of information out there about breast cancer risk, which women are unable to easily understand in terms of their personal risk for getting this terrible disease," said Carolyn D. Runowicz, MD, member of the American Cancer Society’s Breast Cancer Council. "The American Cancer Society encourages women to talk to their doctors about what breast cancer risk means to them personally."
Women in the survey also said that they are most likely to talk to their female friends about health issues, with nearly 70% saying that they are greatly or somewhat influenced by the opinions of others when it comes to these concerns.
This reliance on peers as a source of health information underscores how important it is for women to educate themselves about breast cancer and provide the correct information to friends and loved ones. With that understanding, the American Cancer Society started the Tell A Friend program in 1992. The program uses trained volunteers to contact friends and loved ones to encourage them to get mammograms. Early detection through mammography could reduce the breast cancer death toll—nearly 97% of women who were diagnosed with breast cancer at an early stage survive for more than 5 years. Tell A Friend volunteers contacted more than 155,000 women last year.
A 70-year-old man with a history of localized prostate cancer treated with whole-pelvis radiation therapy with a boost to the prostate, in conjunction with androgen deprivation therapy 7 years prior, presented with lower back pain. A bone scan revealed an area of activity in the sacrum. What is the most likely diagnosis?
