Breast Cancer Survival Rate is on the Rise

There is good news for women. The survival rate for beating breast cancer is on the rise. Plus, there are also better treatment options now than in the past. What does this mean for women, we have better odds at beating the dreaded C and we may not feel quite as bad doing it.

Survival rates for breast cancer are up to about 50 percent since 1999. Part of this reason is that there is more breast cancer awareness. Women are taking charge of their lives. They now realize how important self tests can be and more and more women are taking the preventative mammograms, just like their doctors suggest.

Doctors have also realized that not all benign lumps found are the same. (Benign lumps are non cancerous lumps). Doctors used to believe that even benign lumps meant that a woman had an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Now, they see that this is not always the case. Some other risk factors need to be factored into the equation as to whether a benign lump could be a sign, such as the age of a woman and woman's family history. If a woman finds a lump before the age of 45, she is more at risk at developing breast cancer than a woman over the age of 55. Women with a family history of breast cancer may want to take all lumps as a warning sign.

Woman with a family history of breast cancer do not have to sit back and wait to see if it is going to happen to them. There is now genetic testing that can be done to test what a woman chances are to develop breast cancer. An estimated five to 10 percent of women, who have breast cancer, developed it because of heredity factors. The test is a simple blood test. When searching your blood the technicians will be looking for specific genes that will signal your risk factor