Corel Medical Series: Cancer/Corel Medical Series: Cancer.iso/mac/Program/c06.dxr/00162_Field_SRC.c06.A.12.txt

Text File | 1997-01-28 | 2KB | 20 lines

• Tumor tissue tests, including hormone receptors, DNA and other protein markers with potential diagnostic
  and prognostic value.

Imaging
• Mammography is helpful in evaluating a suspicious mass, especially if it is new or persistent. It is also useful
  in women whose breasts are large and difficult to examine or who have had implants. Mammography is also
  used to locate precisely the position and extent of a known tumor. A standard two-view mammogram and
  specialized views, including magnified images, can provide vital information, but mammography is not a
  definitive diagnostic test since 10 to 15 percent of cancers are not detectable by this technique. A suspicious
  palpable mass should be biopsied even if mammography does not show cancer.
• Mammograms may detect an abnormality elsewhere in the same or opposite breast. These images may show
  microcalcifications suspicious for cancer (even if no mass is palpable) or a smaller, non-palpable but still
  suspicious mass. In this situation, a biopsy must be done, usually guided by mammography, to determine
  whether the lesion is cancer.
• Mammography may also be used to evaluate women with precancerous breast conditions, to evaluate yearly
  the opposite breast of women with known breast cancer (as there is a higher risk of developing cancer there)
  and to evaluate women with metastatic adenocarcinoma from an unknown primary source. Sometimes the
  primary source is a hidden breast cancer. This last point is especially important because breast cancer may
  respond to chemotherapy or hormonal therapy not used to treat other forms of metastatic cancer.