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Breast Cancer Detection: Help for Making Your Own Decision!

The value of mammograms for women between the ages of 40 and 49 has come under scrutiny by theUS Preventive Services Task Force, a group convened by the Public Health Service in 1984 to evaluate clinical research and assess the merits of preventive measures, including screening tests. The uproar this has caused in women who have survived cancer found in their 40s, many physicians, and the general public has been huge. Mammogram screening has taken time to become part of the routine tests that many women seek out to improve their health. The new guidelines make a confusing decision even more complicated. Many women know that if they have a family history of breast cancer they should get mammograms, but how should this new information be incorporated? Fortunately, the Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, stated that this will not change the payment for mammogram screenings by Medicare or Medicaid. However, most women between 40 and 49 are not covered by Medicaid and are certainly not eligible for Medicare yet. Some private insurance companies have already stated that they will rely on the Task Force's recommendations to make their policies. Data from theNational Cancer Instituteshows that 17% of cancer deaths occur in women in their 40s. Obtaining more information for making the right choice on whether to have a mammogram is available. ABioMarker Translation Testis available at selectANY LAB TEST NOWÂ®locations that will let you know if you have an increased likelihood of invasive breast cancer. The information that you can obtain from this test, whether you have insurance or not, can be used in conjunction with your family history, personal history and doctor's advice to make this critical decision and convince your insurance company that a mammogram may be medically necessary for you. Additional tests available at Any Lab Test Now include the CA 27.29 and the CA 15-3. The CA 27.29 can be used to monitor treatment, recurrences, and status of cancer. Some studies have said that this can diagnosis cancer, but it should not be used as a diagnostic tool. The CA 15-3 is not considered sensitive enough to be used as a screening tool, but is used to diagnosis recurrences and to monitor breast cancer treatment. This test is not usually used until breast cancer has metastasized. If you have not been diagnosed with cancer, these tests should be used in conjunction with a mammogram and consultation with your doctor. The Task Force's recommendations help women to take a closer look at how they decide which preventive treatments and screenings they should have. It helps to know that there are ways to see through the confusion toward your own personal choice.

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PSA Testing: When is the Right Time to Get Screened?

Just this week new evidence has been released that the PSA screenings conducted since the introduction of the test in the mid-1980s have reduced the mortality caused by prostate cancer by 31% and not the 20% originally reported. The most recent study producing these promising results was conducted byEuropean Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC). Recent controversy surrounding the PSA Screening test has centered on the overdetection and overtreatment of low risk tumors. Discussion flared up again after the release last month of theProstate-Specific Antigen Best Practice Statement: 2009 Updateby the American Urological Association (AUA). The AUA lowered therecommended age to 40for a baselinePSA Screening Testin spite of the furor over the risks and possible harm of widespread screening. Some risks that may occur are the possible stress of a positive result and the possible overtreatment of a low risk tumor. A call has been raised for more informed testing and better dialogue between patients and their doctors to let patients know the possible risks and create more options for a positive result, such as monitoring or the use of cancer preventive agents such as finasteride. These sentiments were expressed clearly by Otis Brawley, MD of the American Cancer Society; however, as Dr. Laura Esserman, MD, MBA stated in anessay on rethinking cancer screening, "the bottom line is that screening isn't bad; it is what you do with the information that makes it good or bad". "The AUA believes that, when offered and interpreted appropriately, the PSA test may provide essential information for the diagnosis, pretreatment staging or risk assessment, and post-treatment monitoring of prostate cancer," and that testing should be begin early. PSA screening won't find all cancers, but getting a baseline test will provide information that can be used against future screenings. Test results should be interpreted by an urologist in conjunction with many other contributing factors including overall health, family history, age, co morbidities, and rate of change of PSA value over time (PSA Velocity) and a physical exam. Additionally, positive results could be an indication of other health issues such as prostatitis, which can be treated with antibiotics, or benign prostatic hyperplasia which may not require treatment at all. PSA testing is a valuable tool formonitoring male healthand can provide lifelong information when used appropriately.

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Good News for Women: Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer has been nicknamed the "Silent Killer" with good reason. Vague symptoms, like bloating or nausea often lead to late detection. By the time the majority of women with ovarian cancer realize they have it the cancer is already well advanced and only half of these women survive for 5 years after treatment. To date there has not been a way to find ovarian cancer early enough to save thousands of lives each year. 22,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year and of the 25% of women whose cancer is detected early, over 90% survive more than 5 years. Researchers have been investigating how todetect ovarian cancer earlyfor a long time, and it is possible that they have found a solution. The protein in the blood that indicates an ovarian tumor or cancer is CA125. Theblood testfor this tumor marker on its own produces vague results and has been used in the past only for women who have already been diagnosed with ovarian cancer to monitor the presence of cancer after treatment. An ultrasound used independently produces false positives which then lead to unnecessary surgeries.Dr. Karen Lu at MD Anderson Cancer Centerwho authored the study used these existing tests in a combination name the Risk of Ovarian Cancer Algorithm (ROCA) and may have found a method of early detection. The ROCA was used during the study of 3,252 women between the ages of 50 and 74 with no known or strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer. The women all had the CA125 blood test done as a baseline and the tests were repeated over eight years to monitor changes in the CA125 protein levels. The women were then grouped into low, intermediate or high probability of cancer groups based on their results. If a woman's CA125 levels increased over time they were placed in the high probability group. The 85 women in the high probability group then underwent transvaginal sonography (TVS) to look for the presence of a tumor. 8 women had surgery and 5 were found to have ovarian cancer. Two women had benign tumors and one was a false positive. All of the cancer found was in the early stage. Two women with borderline cancer were not diagnosed with this study. The results of the study are very promising and provide hope for women that this "Silent Killer" can be caught in time. Another larger study of 200,000 women is underway in Great Britain and results of that study may be available by 2013 to confirm Dr. Lu's findings. Although this new research should not prompt every woman to rush out and get aCA125 cancer test, women who are at high risk may want to discuss beginning a monitoring program with their doctor. Women at average risk who are over 50 or women who have never had children might also consider speaking to their doctor about thecancer testand getting a baseline number for later comparison. Another test that could be helpful in measuring the probability of the presence of a tumor is the OVA1 test. The OVA1 test is qualitative serum test that determines low or high probability of a malignancy. Many people know family or friends who have suffered through ovarian cancer when it was too late. The ROCA may be the answer to preventing many thousands more women from losing out to this disease. ANY LAB TEST NOW® Copyright ©2010 ANY LAB TEST NOW®

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