October is time for breast cancer awareness

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

As October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, health officials are reminding women to get regular mammograms.

“It is presently the only screening method recognized to be efficient...And the sooner we can screen and detect a cancer, the greater the success,” said France Remete of the West Island HSSC.

According to Remete, women between 50 and 69 years old should get a mammogram every two years. Between 2002 and 2004, 59 per cent of women aged 50 to 69 in the West Island HSSC territory, or just over 13,000, went to get a mammogram.

“It is also recommended to have your breasts examined by your doctor once a year,” she said, adding monthly self breast exams at any age are also a good way to detect any abnormalities. “But we can’t recommend women to base their prevention on breast self exam alone, because it’s not efficient enough. Mammography is really the way.”

Recently, the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) stopped promoting breast self exam - not because of adverse health effects, but because it gave some women a false sense of security.

“Some women felt that, because they were doing breast self exam, they didn’t need to go for mammography,” said CCS spokesperson André Beaulieu, adding that women should still continue self exams as a compliment to annual check-ups and mammograms. He also explained that the CCS’s specific guidelines on how to perform self exams previously given are not necessarily the only way to do it.

“What we’re saying is there is no right or wrong way to examine your breasts. What is important is to know your breasts and know your body,” said Beaulieu.

According to Remete, while the probability of getting breast cancer is partially linked to family history, one’s own health plays a major role in breast cancer prevention.

“It’s not only detection, but it’s our way of living that helps as well, for any type of cancer,” she said, adding keeping fit, watching what you eat, and not overindulging at the bar are all good ways

of minimizing your risk factors. “And don’t smoke.”翿