October 13, 2005

Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has declared October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, bringing additional awareness to a disease that is the leading cause of cancer-related death in thousands of Michigan women annually.

“Early detection of breast cancer is the key to survival,” Granholm said. “With regular screening, breast cancer is more likely to be detected at an earlier age, when it is most treatable.”

The American Cancer Society estimates that 7,210 Michigan women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, with 1,380 women expected to die from the disease.

During this month, women are encouraged to get screened for breast cancer. The Michigan Cancer Consortium recommends that women get an annual clinical breast exam and mammogram starting at age 40.

Janet Olszewski, Director of the Michigan Department of Community Health, said although every woman is at risk of developing breast cancer, some factors increase a women’s likelihood of developing breast cancer. These risk factors include:

· Increasing age

· Early menarche (before age 12) or late menopause (after age 55)

· Never giving birth or having a first child after age 30

· Use of hormone replacement therapy for more than 5 years

· History of radiation exposure for Hodgkin’s Disease or radiation of the thymus

· Decreased level of physical activity, increase alcohol use (2-5 drinks/day), obesity, or high fat diet

· History of previous abnormal breast biopsies

· Strong family history that includes:

o Two or more relatives (on the same side of the family) diagnosed with breast cancer at any age

o One relative diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50 or ovarian cancer at any age

o A male relative diagnosed with breast cancer

o Being a known or suspected carrier of either BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations

The American Cancer Society is the nation’s leading non-governmental breast cancer research supporter and is a leader in prevention and early detection guidelines.

“Numerous studies have shown that early detection saves lives,” said Vicki Rakowski, R.N., E.T., American Cancer Society, Great Lakes Division, Executive Vice President of Medical Activities. “The five year survival rate for breast cancer is 98 percent among individuals who find the cancer early. Mammography is especially valuable as an early detection tool because it can identify breast cancer at an early stage when it is most treatable, usually before physical symptoms develop.”

Breast cancer information is available 24 hours a day through the American Cancer Society’s toll-free number, 1.800.ACS.2345, or www.cancer.org.

National Mammography Day will be celebrated on October 21. On this day, or throughout the month, women are encouraged to make a mammography appointment.

Free breast cancer screening and diagnostic services are available to underserved women in Michigan through the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program (BCCCP). Since the program began in 1991, more than 105,000 women have been screened through the program with nearly 1,700 breast cancers diagnosed. To be eligible for the BCCCP, a woman must:

· Have an income < 250% of the federal poverty level

· Be uninsured or underinsured

· Be age 40-64 for breast/cervical cancer screening and for diagnostic follow-up of breast/cervical abnormalities

· Be age 18-39, have been identified with a cervical abnormality through the Title X/Family Planning Program, and referred to the BCCCP for cervical cancer diagnostic follow-up

For more information on the BCCCP, please call 800-922-6266 or visit www.michigancancer.org/bcccp.