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BCAC recommends all women aged between 45 and 69 participate in the BreastScreen Aotearoa free screening programme. Under this programme, you are entitled to a free mammogram every two years. If you are younger than 45 or older than 69 you can ask your doctor to refer you to a private radiologist. You will have to pay for your mammogram.
BreastScreen Aotearoa
MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, is able to produce a detailed cross-sectional image of the inside of the body. It does this using a combination of a magnetic field and radio waves. There is no radiation involved.
It is most often used:
- to gather more information about an area of suspicion. A breast MRI can help to accurately identify the size and number of breast lesions or abnormal areas
- for women with a strong family history of breast cancer
- to monitor for recurrence after treatment for breast cancer.
Ultrasounds are frequently used to complement other screening tests.
They are most often used if an abnormality is seen on a mammogram. In cases such as this, an ultrasound can help to provide further information about the nature of a lump or an area of concern.
Ultrasounds are also more frequently used on younger women who have denser breast tissue. Ultrasounds can be more sensitive in picking up abnormalities in dense tissue than a mammogram can.
Ultrasounds are frequently used to complement other screening tests.
They are most often used if an abnormality is seen on a mammogram. In cases such as this, an ultrasound can help to provide further information about the nature of a lump or an area of concern.
Ultrasounds are also more frequently used on younger women who have denser breast tissue. Ultrasounds can be more sensitive in picking up abnormalities in dense tissue than a mammogram can.
A mammogram is essentially a low dose x-ray which gives a photograph of the breast that doctors can use to identify any abnormalities.
Mammograms are used as:
Surgery to remove all or part of your breast as part of breast cancer treatment can have an impact on your sense of self, your body image, and your sexuality.
Some women find they cope better with these issues after breast reconstruction surgery. This involves the surgical reconstruction of the breast tissue to create a body shape similar to your pre-surgery shape. However, a reconstructed breast will never look or feel the same as your own breast.
Complementary therapies are techniques that may help you to cope with breast cancer treatment and manage the psychological, social and physical burdens treatment can entail.
Complementary therapies should not be used as a replacement or alternative to conventional and scientifically proven medicine.
Many breast cancers respond to hormones present in the body, such as oestrogen and progesterone.
If a cancer is oestrogen receptor positive then it grows faster when oestrogen is present. If a cancer is progesterone receptor positive, then it grows faster when progesterone is present.
Endocrine therapy (sometimes known as hormone therapy) works by blocking the effects of these hormones so that they are unable to stimulate the cancer cells to grow.
Your pathology report will tell you whether your breast cancer is responsive to oestrogen or progesterone or both. If your breast cancer is hormone receptor positive you may benefit from endocrine therapy.
Like chemotherapy, targeted therapies are drug therapies, but they are often given over a longer period of time.
These medicines are different from most chemotherapy drugs because they attack specific elements of the cancer cells and are less likely to harm normal cells.
There are eight targeted therapy drugs publicly funded in New Zealand (see below).
Many targeted therapy drugs are given intravenously and you may have a special device called a port-a-cath inserted into your chest wall or a PICC line in your arm to help medical staff give these drugs easily on a regular basis. This will save a nurse having to find a vein in your arm or hand each time you need treatment.
Chemotherapy involves the use of special drugs to attack and kill breast cancer cells.
For women with early breast cancer, chemotherapy can prevent breast cancer from recurring by killing any remaining cancer cells that may have spread to other parts of the body at the time of surgery.
For women with advanced breast cancer, chemotherapy can destroy much of the cancer reducing tumour size and symptoms.
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