With the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, it was a scary time for all pregnant women who naturally have weakened immune responses. They were urged to get vaccines for H1N1.

Mammograms got quite a bit of attention late this year when the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended against the screening for women under 50. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said women should keep doing what they’ve been doing for years and talk to their doctors about whether or not to have a mammogram.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued new cervical cancer screening guidelines, saying that some women may not need a Pap test each year.

A study funded by the National Cancer Institute revealed more about the lifestyle risk factors for breast cancer. Alcohol consumption and obesity were found to greatly elevate risk.

Both women and men were urged to cut added sugar intake. The American Heart Association issued new sugar intake recommendations to help reduce obesity and diabetes.

A large study showed that H2 blockers for acid reflux taken during pregnancy pose no significant threat to the fetus.

Medical professionals issued warning on use of fetal heart rate monitors, which could give some women a false sense of security and cause a delay in needed treatment.

Researchers found that in women with a family history of breast cancer, breastfeeding reduces breast cancer risk by more than 50%.

America once again got a “D” on preterm birth rates.

Good news for almost everyone: Dark chocolate was proven to reduce stress.

Depression became a suggested risk factor for bone loss.

A large-scale sleep study revealed that lack of sleep is more dangerous (heart-wise) for women than men.

(Image via stock.xchng)

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Best of 2009 Health Stories for Women

Researchers at University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands are saying that young, high-risk women should exercise caution when receiving mammograms. Specifically, the researchers warn that a “careful approach” should be taken with high-risk women under 30 years old. Their study findings were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

According to Dr. Jansen-van der Weide and colleagues, young women with familial or genetic predisposition to breast cancer might need to consider alternative screening methods of screening, such as ultrasound and MRI. They say the benefit of early tumor detection in this group could be offset by the potential risk of radiation-induced cancer. Yet, the American Cancer Society recommends that women with a greater than 20% lifetime risk of breast cancer should have imaging, including mammography each year, often beginning at age 30.

Using data from selected previous breast cancer studies on high-risk women, the researchers calculated pooled odds ratios to estimate radiation-induced breast cancer risk.

Results:

• Among all high-risk women in the study, average increased risk of breast cancer due to low-dose radiation exposure was 1.5 times greater than that of high-risk women not exposed to low-dose radiation.
• High-risk women exposed before age 20 or with five or more exposures were 2.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer than high-risk women not exposed to low-dose radiation.

“Our findings suggest that low-dose radiation increases breast cancer risk among these young, high-risk women, and a careful approach is warranted,” Dr. Jansen-van der Weide said. The researchers also note that this is a small study sample, but it’s important for young, high-risk women to weight potential risks of mammography with their doctors.

(Image via WikiMediaCommons)

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Mammography in High-risk Young Patients

She didn’t just think about it. Andrea started the Florida Breast Health Initiative. Since 2006, Andrea and her team of volunteers have knocked on the doors of around 20,000 homes. And they’ve helped provide more than 500 mammograms to Miami area residents.

Andrea and the Florida Breast Health Initiative volunteers spread the word that “Early detection is the best protection.” They devote the first three Saturdays of each month during the fall and spring to outreach and education. That’s when they sign up women for free mammograms. Then, on the last Saturday of the month, a mobile mammography van from a partner hospital takes to the mammograms literally to the doorsteps of the women who need them. With each mammogram, the volunteers at the Florida Breast Health Initiative are potentially saving a life.

Today, Andrea is being honored by CNN Heroes during a celebratory rally in Miami. She will receive $25,000, but can receive up to $100,000 if she’s voted the CNN Hero of the Year. You can vote for her at CNN until Thursday, November 19. The CNN Hero of the Year will be announced during a star-studded gala in Hollywood. The “CNN Heroes: All All-Star Tribute” will air on Thanksgiving night.

Read more about Andrea’s story at CNN: Army of volunteers saves lives with clipboards, high spirits.

(Images provided by CNN)

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Breast Cancer Hero Honored Today

However, yearly mammograms protect breast cancer survivors: according to a study in the July 20, 2007 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, older women who get yearly mammograms after treatment of early-stage breast cancer are less likely to die from breast cancer.

According to Rebecca Silliman, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine and public health at Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health:

“An important finding of this study is that not all older women who are breast cancer survivors are receiving annual mammograms.

These findings are consistent with other studies conducted in different places showing that older women with breast cancer often receive less care than do younger ones.

Our study demonstrates that receiving annual surveillance mammography after breast cancer diagnosis may have the opportunity to decrease death from breast cancer.”

Maybe younger breast cancer survivors will also benefit from annual mammograms. Do you really think yearly mammograms are necessary – or is this just being on the safer side? [Read this JCO editorial on the matter.]

Read the full report.

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Breast Cancer Survivors Protected by Annual Mammograms

According to Stephanie Hines, M.D., of Mayo’s Multidisciplinary Breast Clinic and Breast Cancer Program in Jacksonville, Florida:

“Mammography is being performed with increasing frequency in men with breast symptoms, but we found that breast cancer in men can be felt as a firm, discrete mass on a physical exam, or seen as changes in the skin or nipple.

Male breast cancer is exceedingly rare — fewer than 2,000 men in the United States are diagnosed with the condition annually.

But the problem is that there are no guidelines about the use of mammograms in male patients and few studies have been conducted to find out if they are helpful.”

Gynecomastia is a common condition which includes breast swelling, a tender mass or painful breast tissue caused by various things: including hormonal imbalance, use of certain medications, organ failure, and alcohol use.

This condition doesn’t necessarily mean breast cancer in males. Breast cancers are very rare in males.

Source: Science Daily

Straight From the Doc has a similar entry.

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No Mammograms for Men

A new review of studies offers both the good and the bad news to women facing such a decision.

The good news being that screening mammography does reduce breast cancer mortality and the bad news is that women in a screened population are 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed and treated for a cancer that, in the absence of screening, would never have posed a threat to their health.

Lead author Peter Gøtzsche, M.D., director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre (Copenhagen, Denmark) said:

“It is likely that screening mammography reduces breast cancer mortality, but the other side of the coin is the major harm of overdiagnosis and overtreatment.”

Theoretically identifying cancer at its earliest and most treatable stage, mammograms can detect tumors that are too small to be felt as a lump.

In the United States, women are recommended to start having regular mammograms at age 40 while age 50 in Europe.

The abovementioned review of studies on mammograms appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates research in all aspects of health care.

Read more from the Center for Advancement of Health News.

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The Two Faces behind Mammogram Screening