Breast Cancer

Breast cancer usually develops in the milk ducts and glands of the female breast. Although a minute number of men also develop this disease, it is the most prevalent type of cancer to strike women in the U.S. Researchers have identified a number of risk factors:

• age (it strikes women age 40 and older most frequently)
• genetics (women with a family history are more likely to develop the disease)
• reproductive history (younger women who have recently given birth are at higher risk)
• ethnicity (those of European ancestry have the highest rates, Asian women the lowest)
• overweight (especially around the waist)
• early-onset puberty (before age 12)
• breast density
• history of alcohol consumption
• history of exposure to carcinogens

Some doctors believe that women who delay childbearing or have never given birth may run an elevated risk as well.

Although breast cancer has not been linked to asbestos exposure directly, a 1975 study in the U.K. found that thirty percent of women who had died from breast cancer were discovered to have asbestos fibers in their breasts during autopsy. Although the researchers were puzzled, they theorized that asbestos fibers may have been carried from the lungs to the breasts via the lymphatic system to the breasts, where they acted as a catalyst, causing the cells to mutate. It is also possible that the sharp, needle-like fibers had penetrated breast tissue during migration from the chest. Asbestos exposure has been attributed as one of the main causes and risk factors for other diseases, like mesothelioma, asbestosis, and mesothelioma lung cancer.

Thermography Directory

Thermography has recently been used in the diagnosis of breast cancer, in addition to diagnostic imaging for others cancers like malignant mesothelioma. For your convenience, we have assembled a directory of Thermography services in your geographic area. Please enter your city and state, or 5-digit postal code into the field below to learn about resource available near you.

Sources

Doniach, I.et. al. "Prevalence of Asbestos Bodies in a Necropsy Series in East London." British Journal of Industrial Medicine, vol.32 no.1 (February 1975).

National Cancer Institute. "Breast Cancer."
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/breast

Whiteman, Maura K. PhD, et. al. "Reproductive History and Mortality After Breast Cancer Diagnosis." Obstetrics & Gynecology, vol. 104 no. 1 (July 2004)