KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasNew Test For Detecting Breast Cancer
Women have annual pap smears to detect cervical cancer. It's old hat now, but when it was introduced, it revolutionized detection of this killer. Now, deaths of cervical cancer have been reduced by 70-percent.
So, wouldn't it be great to have a test like that for breast cancer?
In the Buddy Check 8 report for December, we want you to know there is such a test, and it's now available in Southern Nevada.
The "Halo Breast Pap Test" goes beyond x-rays by detecting abnormal cells as much as eight years before they become cancer. Las Vegas obstetrician-gynecologist, Warren Volker explains it's not a substitute for mammography.
Dr. Volker said, "Mammography, which has been the gold standard and still is, is an imaging test. So it's actually looking in time backwards a little bit because we're detecting an early lump. Now, we have a test that we can actually get fluid and cells and look at it before it's a lump."
The Halo System uses a suction device to retrieve fluid from the breast ducts and the fluid is evaluated for abnormal cells. The test finds the most common type of cancer, but it does have limitations.
"It doesn't detect all breast cancer. It detects 95-percent of the most common breast cancer, which is ductal cancer," Dr. Volker continued.
Mammography is recommended by age 40, but Dr. Volker says Halo offers an alternative to younger women.
He said, "With the breast pap now, that 31-year-old patient or 32-year-old patient who has a family history who's concerned, now they have a screening test that they can latch on to."
These early abnormal cells don't always indicate the beginning stages of cancer. The patient will be watched closely, and an MRI or biopsy may eventually be recommended.
The main advantage of the Halo test is time, because these abnormal cells can take seven years to form a tumor that can be seen on a mammogram.
Dr. Volker's office -- Women's Specialty Care -- is an Eye on Health sponsor.
The 8yh of each month is the day we remind you to do a breast self-exam and call or text your buddy and remind her.
For a free Buddy Check 8 kit, call 82-CHECK.
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