Think Pinker

According to WebMD Christina Applegate has been diagnosed with breast cancer but it’s in the early stages so a full recovery is expected.

There hasn’t been a lot of details about whether she was diagnosed off an MRI or mammogram. But what this does do is bring up the question whether breast cancer is seen in young women often?

According to Dr Neil Friedman breast cancer is actually quite rare in young women. According to the American Cancer Association’s stats 97% of all breast cancer deaths are in women over the age of 40 and 95 of all new cases are in women over the age of 40. The median age is actually 61.

Does this mean young women can relax and not worry about breast cancer? Not at all. All women need to be diligent about breast cancer diagnosis. Because too often when breast cancer is diagnosed in young women it’s in the later stages and the outcome isn’t always as promising as we’d like to see. Age isn’t what makes breast cancer more deadly it’s the type of breast cancer and the latent diagnosis.

What type of treatment will Christina undergo? Since Christina has DCIS or ductal carcinoma in situ this non invasive cancer treatment involves a lumpectomy usually followed by radiation. Sometimes it requires a mastectomy but it doesn’t require the use of chemotherapy.

So what’s the follow up for Christina and other women diagnosed with DCIS? The follow up will depend on whether a mastectomy has been done or not. If the mastectomy involves both breasts there will be no need for follow up mammograms, however if the mastectomy affects only one breast you’ll need regular mammograms on the remaining breast.

It is likely your oncologist will request you to have your mammograms done more often for the first couple of years, although there has been no proof that these additional mammograms have been of any benefit, so if your oncologist does no order them do not worry.