BOUNTIFUL—Every two minutes in the U.S. a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. It is the most common cancer diagnosed worldwide, surpassing lung cancer in 2020. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in American women, according to Breast Cancer Statistics and Resources. 

To promote prevention and the hope of finding a cure, October has been designated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“Breast cancer is a very common disease that injures and kills,” said Dr. Raymond Ward with Cope Family Medicine. “The tools to prevent it are not as good as we’d like.”

Some mammograms find 15 percent of cancers, unfortunately it does not prevent the other 85 percent of deaths, he said. “Women should have a mammogram every year or every other year if they’re healthy. Don’t go longer than that for the best health from a mammogram.”

 Women 40 and older should get one, said Ward. “If they’re over 75 they should talk to their primary care physician to decide whether to do it. We’ll do a screening if they’re in overall good health but if they have other health problems we’d probably focus on those.”

There’s one other arrow in our prevention quiver, he said. “The BRCA gene. It’s a mutation over a woman’s own life. There’s an 80 percent chance of getting cancer. It’s much, much higher for breast and ovarian cancer.”

If more than one relative dies of breast cancer the woman should get tested, Ward said. “Women with the BRCA gene should have a mastectomy before the age of 30. They should get their ovaries taken out after they’re finished having kids. There is a 90 percent reduction in death otherwise they are very, very likely to die. The best prevention is to take the organs out.”

The data shows that self examination doesn’t help anything, he said. “I wish it helped but the studies show that it doesn’t. However, if you notice a lump or the skin over the breast changes you should have it checked out.”

The doctor working with the abnormality can look extra close to that place, said Ward. “They may do an X-ray, an ultrasound or maybe an MRI. Sometimes they’ll do a small surgery to take the lump out to look and see if there are any cancer cells.”

Ward said they have better treatments now. “We can treat cancers that women would have died from 10 years ago.”

To help with prevention, Ward recommends getting the BRCA gene test and leading a healthy lifestyle overall. “Then we need to be supportive and helpful to women who are dealing with this awful thing.” λ