She's the guru on breast cancer, the woman who writes the continually updated breast cancer bible. She's Dr. Susan Love, author of Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, and in the May/June 2007 issue of MAMM magazine, she shares some of her latest thoughts.On milk ducts
Dr. Love says all breast cancer begins in the milk ducts. If we want to get rid of breast cancer, she says, we need to understand where it starts. Until recently, we weren't able to do that. Now, doctors can numb the nipple, thread a catheter into a milk duct and sample the fluid, cells, carcinogens, and hormones. By looking at the location where cancer develops, there's the potential to find out how it started and how to prevent it. In March, Dr. Love's Research Foundation sponsored a conference on this topic.
On MRI
Dr. Love is not a big fan of MRI. It's overly sensitive and finds everything -- most of which is not cancer, she says. MRI leads women on wild goose chases so Dr. Love likes to reserve this test for women at high-risk.
On future technologies
Whole-breast ultrasounds are in the pipeline, says Dr. Love. Right now, ultrasound is good for looking at suspicious spots or lumps in one specific area. Screening the whole breast at once could be a very useful tool for younger women.
On healthy lifestyles
Dr. Love's message for all women is this: live a healthy lifestyle. For overall prevention as well as preventing recurrences, women must exercise, eat a healthy diet, and live each day to the fullest.
1. Dr. Love,
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I have a 5mm invasive ductal carcinoma tumor, mitotic rate 1, tubule formation 2, nuclear grade 2, negative for lymphovascular invasion, HER-2/neu 1+
Posted at 7:57PM on Aug 31st 2007 by Tree Mangen