Breast Cancer Awareness
Health checks
Breast cancer kills 15,000 women a year - but if it
is caught early, it is easier to treat. You can do a lot yourself
to detect the disease.
How to examine your own breasts
You should do this once a month, preferably right after your
period. Your doctor can tell you how to do self-examination, but a
good way to start is....
Start by lying flat on your bed, with your left hand behind your head, using your right hand to examine your left breast. Begin at the nipple using the flat part of your fingers, not the tips, and make small circular movements around your breast spiralling outwards. Now bring your arm down and use the same small circular movements to feel up to your armpit, then up to your collarbone and to the middle of your chest.
Repeat on your right breast. Then stand up and look at your breasts in the mirror. Get to know how they normally feel and look.
You're looking for:
- Changes in size and shape
- Unusual dimpling or puckering in either breast
- Veins standing out
- Changes in skin texture or skin rash
- Unusual lumps or swelling
If you find any of these things don't panic! Most lumps are harmless, particularly in young women. But you must see your GP immediately.
Most successfully treated cancers have been detected by women who have examined their own breasts.
Women over 50
Once you reach the age of 50, you will probably be
sent an invitation to attend an appointment for mammography. This
is a form of screening done by X ray, and is normally only used on
women over 50, as the monthly changes in breast tissue make it
difficult to detect changes and lumps in the breast by this method
in younger women. Mammography is uncomfortable, but not normally
painful, and it is a very effective way of detecting small lumps in
the breast at a stage when they are more easily treatable. If you
have any family history of breast cancer, it is particularly
important to ensure that regular screening is carried out as well
as breast self-examination.
Breast cancer information and resources on breast
cancer
In depth breast cancer information from Cancer Research UK for
patients, health professionals and scientists. You can find
information on how common breast cancer is. Information needs.
Risks and causes. Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, Finding support.
www.cancerresearchuk.org/breastcancerinformation/
Breast cancer at a glance
Find out about breast cancer at a glance from this link to leading
Cancer Charity "Cancer Research UK". http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerandresearch/cancers/breast/
Breast Cancer - Your questions answered
The "Breakthrough Breast Cancer" Charity
provide through this link - "Breast Cancer Your questions
answered" From understanding breast cancer and preventing it,
to how it is detected and how it is treated, Risk Factors, Breast
Awareness, Family History, Screening, Doiagnosis, Treatment
Options. www.breakthrough.org.uk/about_breast_cancer/index.html
The facts about breast cancer and breast health
The "Breast Cancer Care" Charity through this
link provides information on the breast, your concerns, referral to
a breast clinic, benign conditions (non-cancer), non-invasive
cancer, invasive (primary) cancer, secondary breast cancer, living
with breast cancer, Younger women and Men and Breast Cancer.
www.breastcancercare.org.uk/content.php?page_id=70
Breast cancer in men
This page from Cancer Research UK tells you about breast cancer in
men which is a rare disease. www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=5075
NHS Direct breast cancer information
This is the National Health Service Direct link on
breast cancer information.
www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=76
Motion 87 (2005) - Reducing the Age of Breast Cancer
Screening from Current Age 50 to All Females Over the Age of
Puberty
A link to LTB 711/06 and its attachments.
Motion 87 (2005) called for the Union to campaign for a reduction
in the age of free breast cancer screening from age 50 to cover all
females over the age of puberty and men at risk. The Motion was
subsequently raised with ministers, MPs, the TUC and a number of
Cancer Charities to gauge support for our campaign. Read here the
responses which detail the recognition that breast screening is an
important and that following extensive research in this area
examining the benefits and disadvantages of changing the screening
age, the United Kingdom Coordinating Committee on Cancer Research
(UKCCCR), supported by the Medical Research Council, Cancer
Research UK and Department of Health, concluded that they found
little evidence in support of an extension of breast cancer
screening as mammography is less effective in younger women,
because their breast tissue is more dense and therefore harder to
differentiate from tumours, leading to a much higher chance of
false diagnoses of breast cancer.
To contact the department: healthandsafety@cwu.org
