October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October 2, 2007, ST. LOUIS – While a cancer diagnosis is shocking for many patients, a breast cancer diagnosis can be even more frightening.

October is breast cancer awareness month and while new technology tells patients more information about their cancer, more quickly than ever, it''s still an incredibly prevalent disease.

"The easiest explanation is that it''s the most common cancer in women," says Julie Margenthaler, MD, breast surgeon at the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis. "There are 200,000 new cases of breast cancer being diagnosed in the United States every year and about 40,000 patients who die from breast cancer every year."

Those numbers leave newly diagnosed patients with many questions. One is whether the disease is localized to the breast or has spread through the lymph nodes. Dr. Margenthaler has a new test at the Siteman Cancer Center that can find that information as quickly as possible.

"We are trying to identify the patient''s lymph nodes in the body rather than taking them out," she says. "Finding them by ultrasound and doing a needle biopsy so that we can do very sophisticated molecular tests so we can see if their breast cancer has spread at a very early time."

Patients with cancer cells in their lymph nodes are typically diagnosed with a more advanced stage of breast cancer requiring more aggressive treatment.

The new test helps doctors find out if cancer has spread from what used to be weeks to a matter of days. Emotionally, Dr. Margenthaler says knowing this information immediately is reassuring to patients.

"They''ve just found the diagnosis, it''s very frightening to them and they don''t know what''s going to happen next," she says. "The more we can expedite that process and get them to treatment earlier, then we''re going to get them more comfortable with the treatments that are going to be necessary.

"Emotionally and psychologically it makes a patient feel much more secure."

For more information on breast cancer or for a free breast cancer awareness kit, call the Siteman Cancer Center at 800-600-3606.