Luncheon of Hope

There seems to be no shortage of support for beast cancer awareness in the district as more than 220 women, ranging in age from eight to 88, gathered for the Rainy River District Breast Health Network’s seventh “Luncheon of Hope” here Saturday.
The biennial luncheon at La Place Rendez-Vous was not only a time to socialize, but a chance for district women to get an update on advances in breast cancer detection and treatment.
“The greatest advancement I’ve actually found over the past 14 years is the awareness of everybody for breast cancer, both among medical practitioners and the general public,” said Dr. Carole Spread, general surgeon at La Verendrye Hospital since February after coming here from Kenora.
She noted breast cancer programs also promote people to take responsibility for themselves. And, thankfully, medical funding also has increased along with this awareness.
Moving on to procedures, Dr. Spread said there’s now more options when it comes to breast cancer screening, with both traditional film and more recent digital mammography, as well as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
She noted digital mammography, which is available here when the breast screening van comes to town, has advantages over film because computer software can be used to help interpret a digital mammography.
As well, film mammography has limitations of having to be physically stored and mailed while the digital format can be stored and sent electronically.
The only downside to digital mammography is that it’s more expensive than film.
A trial of the two types of mammography was conducted involving 50,000 Canadian and U.S. women.
The overall results showed similar accuracies between the two techniques, with digital mammography being more effective in screening women under 50, those with dense breasts, and those who are perimenopausal (have not had a period in 12 or more years).
It’s already known film mammography leads to a significant reduction in death from breast cancer (30-40 percent depending on age), so digital mammograms look even more promising, added Dr. Spread.
MRI screening is done as an adjunct to, not a substitute for, mammograms, and is done with very high-risk women, such as those with a known breast cancer gene mutation, those who haven’t been tested but have a relative with such a mutation, and those who have any radiotherapy to their chest at a young age.
Dr. Spread also spoke about breast cancer diagnosis, specifically core and stereotactic biopsies. The former are offered here
Please see “‘Luncheon,” A5