What You Can Do
Now to Prevent Breast Cancer
By Carolyn D.
Runowicz, M.D., and Sheldon H. Cherry, M.D., with
Dianne Partie Lange
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Authors
Carolyn
D. Runowicz, M.D., currently serves as
director of the University of Connecticut Cancer
Center in Farmington. She is second vice president
of the American Cancer Society and a past
president of the Society of Gynecologic
Oncologists, the first woman to hold the post. Her
husband, Sheldon
H. Cherry, M.D., is clinical professor of
obstetrics and gynecology at Mount Sinai School of
Medicine in New York City. Dr. Cherry and Dr.
Runowicz reside near Hartford, Connecticut.
Their coauthor,
Dianne Partie
Lange, is the former editor-in-chief of
Natural Health
magazine and a former syndicated health news
columnist for the
Los Angeles Times.
She resides in Carnelian Bay, California.
1.
At your next annual gynecologic exam, ask your
doctor to calculate your breast cancer risk.
Several Web sites now offer risk assessment
calculators; one is
www.BreastCancerPrevention.com, the official
Web site of the NSABP Breast Cancer Prevention
Trial.
2.
If you are at
average risk, do a breast self-exam every month,
ideally starting at age 20. Follow up with a
clinical breast exam at least every 3 years
between ages 20 and 39, then every year starting
at age 40. Also get a mammogram every year
starting at age 40.
3.
If you are at high risk, talk with your doctor
about which screening tests you need and at what
intervals.
4.
If you are at
high risk, ask your doctor whether you'd be a
candidate for tamoxifen therapy. Or you may want
to consider enrolling in a clinical trial of
another chemopreventive drug.
5.
Make every effort to maintain a healthy weight. As
you get older, this may mean eating fewer calories
and getting more exercise.
6.
Eat at least
five servings fruits and vegetables a day, and do
your best to get nine.
7.
Find ways to
become more physically active in every aspect of
your life -- on the job, at home, and in your
leisure time.
8.
If you smoke,
stop.
9.
If your mother, sister, or daughter has breast
cancer, seek genetic counseling before deciding
whether to undergo genetic testing.
10.
If genetic testing reveals that you carry the
BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation, talk with your
doctor about your options for managing your breast
cancer risk. You could take tamoxifen or enroll in
a clinical trial. Another possibility is
preventive surgery (prophylactic mastectomy and/or
oophorectomy).
# #
#
Reprinted from:
The Answer to Cancer
: Stop It Before It Starts - Arrest It In
Its Earliest Stages - Keep It >From Coming Back
by Carolyn D. Runowicz, M.D., and Sheldon H.
Cherry, M.D., with Dianne Partie Lange © 2004 by
Carolyn D. Runowicz, M.D., and Sheldon H. Cherry,
M.D. (October 2004; $24.95US/$35.95CAN;
1-57954-730-3) Permission granted by Rodale, Inc.,
Emmaus, PA 18098.
Available wherever books are
sold or directly from the publisher by calling
(800) 848-4735 or visit their website at
www.rodalestore.com.
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