New York Times Columnist Discusses Best Practices For Breast Health

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Article Date: 23 Oct 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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The symptoms of breast cancer often are more prevalent than the disease itself, which can make decisions about further testing and treatment difficult, New York Times columnist Jane Brody writes in her "Personal Health" column. Brody relates that a reader who had calcium deposits in her breasts decided not to have a recommended breast biopsy because she assumed that her calcifications would be benign. Her doctor had told her that there was an 80% chance the calcification would be benign.

Brody says the reader's "assumption of infallibility could have been a big mistake" and instead suggests that because there is enough research about the significance of different patterns of calcifications, it is best to have a biopsy if it is recommended by a doctor and to have it "sooner than later." If the biopsy is positive, then "quick action to remove the cancer can be lifesaving and often breast-saving," Brody writes. She adds, "Figuring that you are protected against breast cancer, as this reader did, because you are healthy and strong, eat right and exercise regularly, is wishful thinking. No woman is immune, and taking early action can make all the difference."

Brody also discusses common breast cancer symptoms, including lumps and calcium deposits. She notes that while most breast lumps are benign, malignant ones usually are firm with irregular borders and are firmly attached to the skin or soft tissue. Women who have such lumps should have a biopsy even if a mammogram is negative, as mammograms miss about 15% of cancers, Brody writes.

Many women have calcium deposits in their breasts, particularly after menopause, and many are from noncancerous causes, according to Brody. Large or coarse calcifications are the most common and usually are benign, while women with smaller calcifications that are numerous and clustered should undergo further testing, Brody recommends. Small calcifications that are scattered "bear watching, but are also usually benign," she adds (Brody, New York Times, 10/21).

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