The trial looked at precancerous legions, early forms of cervical cancer and invasive cancer.
Even in the precancerous stage, called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) when abnormal cells are confined to a milk duct, physicians almost always advise women to have a lumpectomy or mastectomy along with radiation, because about 20% of the 65, 000 cases of DCIS found every year in the U.S. become invasive cancer.
The authors, from the University of California, San Francisco, noted that even when DCIS becomes an invasive cancer, it's treatable when found at an early stage: The odds that a 60-year old woman with a 7 millimeter breast tumor, would die from it in the next 10 years are less than 3%, half the risk she faces of dying from another cause during that time.
More than 180, 000 women develop invasive breast cancer each year in the U.S. alone.
If left untreated, about 30 percent of women with DCIS will develop invasive breast cancer an average of 10 years from the initial occurrence, the Breast Cancer Network of Strength says on its Web site.
The day after Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and Edwards, his running mate, conceded the election to George W. Bush, Edwards announced that his wife had invasive ductal cancer, the most common type of breast cancer, and would undergo treatment.
Most existing tests to screen for cancer are invasive or unreliable and thus aren't used routinely.
It can spot the presence of the cancer-linked protein well before the cancer itself becomes invasive.
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They saw that this non-invasive procedure had the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment as a non-toxic alternative to chemotherapy.
Days after the 2004 election, in which her husband ran for vice president, Elizabeth Edwards was found to have invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common type of breast cancer.
For every real cancer that is identified this way, hundreds of healthy people undergo dangerous, invasive, expensive and completely unnecessary follow-up testing.
One of the earliest known markers of cancer are antibodies produced by the body itself, rendering them ideal candidates for routine non-invasive screens.
It hints that investors, instead of pouring money into the next cancer-drug startup, may want to place their bets on companies developing better tumor imaging and minimally invasive surgery techniques that could have a bigger impact.
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