Stop telling women they are too young to have breast cancer

Mez_BCNA
Mez_BCNA Administrator, Staff, Member, Moderator Posts: 1,159 ✭
edited January 28 in Community news and events

Early-onset breast cancer now accounts for over one-fifth of all breast cancer cases in Victoria, with 1,067 diagnoses out of 5,197 breast cancer cases. The increase is indicative of a national trend. 

Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) is calling for greater awareness, more research, and tailored prevention efforts to address the steady increase in breast cancer diagnoses among women aged 25 to 49, as highlighted in Cancer Council Victoria’s Cancer in Victoria 2023 report.

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Comments

  • arpie
    arpie Member Posts: 8,253 ✭
    And also stop telling women that dense breast tissue is a young woman's issue!

    Women of ANY age can have dense breast tissue.  My own Breast Cancer was missed by BreastScreen NSW due to my breast density - I was 65 when my GP found it, by touch, 6 months after the missed mammogram screening!  BreastScreen NSW still REFUSES to advise their clients of their breast density - which means some women will be 'found' with more advanced cancers. 

    It is also 'medical neglect by omission' - as they can see it on the screen, whilst you are still there - and they SHOULD advise you to also have an ultrasound.
  • Suki
    Suki Member Posts: 52 ✭
    Similar here @arpie, although I was 47.

    2.5cm ductal tumour felt 10 months after mammogram and 8 months after ultrasound.  I never knew I had dense breasts until it was noted on the MRI report after my invasive cancer diagnosis - ">75% fibroglandular and complex imaging appearances".

    BreastScreen WA have invited me to provide feedback on their service, so that will be one point I hope to make. I feel it is an improvement they can make relatively easily, but could have a major positive impact.

    I would have been happy to pay for more intensive screening, but you can't make that choice without the background knowledge.  Given my pathology is triple positive and the HER2+ makes it fast growing, it may not have made any difference - I understand that a scan is just a single shot in time.  However, it does leave me wondering if I could have avoided invasive cancer or been diagnosed at lower stage.
  • arpie
    arpie Member Posts: 8,253 ✭
    edited 1:47AM
    Absolutely, @suki, be honest with your feedback, specially given your diagnosis.  ... I thought that Breastscreen WA was one of the ones that DID tell their clients about their density?  I know they advertise 40+ for the screening ... (unlike BSNSW who keep saying 50-74!)

    I even gave BSNSW a 2nd chance to 'diagnose' the cancer & they had another radiologist review the mammograms & they STILL missed it - they gleefully told me I didn't have cancer (after I'd had surgery & radiation!) I gave them an earful!

    Yes - even if clients are advised that an ultrasound/MRI may be beneficial, due to the difficulty in finding tumours in dense breast tissue on a mammogram ... then it is up to the client to 'do it'.   I would like to think that most would google about 'dense breast tissue' and realise the implications ..... 

    All the Free BreastScreening states need to do, is make a note on their report to the GP, that the client has been advised of dense breast tissue and further investigation is suggested.

    Sadly, having a more advanced diagnosis would definitely be a possibility if other methods of detection are ignored.  :(

    take care xx
     


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