 Photo by Chris Meyer Donna Shalala, secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, was on the IU Bloomington campus Nov. 7 to deliver the Marvella Bayh Memorial Lecture in Gender Studies. Pictured with Shalala is her cousin, Matt Smith, a master of businees administration student at IUB. |
High-tech bras with heat sensors? The CIA's Cold War technology? One thing clear from Donna Shalala's Indiana University speech last week is that she'll employ whatever "weapons" promise any potential in her determination to rid the nation of breast cancer, the disease that claims 44,000 American women every year.
Delivering the Marvella Bayh Memorial Lecture in Gender Studies to an overflow audience at the Indiana Memorial Union on the Bloomington campus last Friday (Nov. 7), the secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) couldn't have chosen a more appropriate venue for reporting the latest developments in her department's war against the insidious disease that claimed the life of the woman in whose honor the lecture is named, as Shalala emotionally noted.
Mammography and annual examinations remain critical tools in early detection of breast cancer, and early detection is still key to survival.
"Early detection's often the main difference between becoming a survivor or a statistic. The fact is, 93 percent of breast cancers are successfully treated when detected early," she said.
| Once used in spy satellites, high-tech strategies are impacting early diagnosis. |
To improve the quality of mammographies, the HHS is working with the CIA, NASA and the Department of Defense to retool Cold War image technologies. "The computer technologies used in spy satellites may now enhance breast cancer detection," she said. "We're also seeing research in cutting-edge alternatives, such as a high-tech bra fitted with heat sensors and an electronic memory chip designed to detect cancer by measuring changes in breast temperature."
With mammographies still the most potent defense, Shalala is proud that, beginning Jan. 1, all Medicare-eligible women over 40 will have more assistance paying for these procedures. "We've replaced years of confusion with a clear scientific recommendation for women in their 40s: Regular mammograms can save your life," she said. The new Mammography Quality Standards Act also imposes tougher regulations to ensure that medical facilities, detection equipment and technicians are held to the highest standards.
In the past six years, almost 30 percent more American women are getting mammo-grams and the breast cancer death rate has dropped more than 6 percent, the secretary said. Contributing to that statistic is evidence that radiation, combined with surgery and chemotherapy, can dramatically reduce the risk of death. "We can't raise the victory flag yet," she commented, "but for the first time, the tide seems to be going our way."
However, the 6 percent mortality decline applies only to white women, Shalala pointed out. African-American deaths from breast cancer dropped only 1.6 percent, a disparity that the President's Race Initiative and the Horizons Project is working to erase. "We're reaching out to poor and minority women on Medicare, who are the least likely to get mammograms, in an effort to overcome barriers of information that have kept them from receiving the care they need. I got my first report on the Horizons Project last week, and it's working," she said.
Research has given women valuable information about possible factors in breast cancer and just how big a role they actually play. Genetics, for example, has frightened too many women, Shalala said. "We know that just because a woman has a genetic risk of breast cancer doesn't mean she'll get it; only 5 to 10 percent of the cases have genetic roots. The number one risk factor,"she said, "is simply aging."
Since getting old is not avoidable, the most promising research centers on aggressive prevention.
"We know that estrogen and estrogen metabolism play important roles in breast cancer development. We need to find ways to attack estrogen in the breasts without disturbing it elsewhere," she explained. "And we've seen the drug Tamoxifin actually prevent its recurrence. So our Breast Cancer Prevention Trial involves 13,000 women at high risk for the disease. Within two years, we'll know if Tamoxifin can also reduce their chances of ever getting it."
These discoveries, Shalala said, "are revolutionizing the way we approach breast cancer treatment and prevention."
Go to this Web site for more information on breast cancer and
survivability:
http://www.healthfinder.gov/tours/brcancer.htm
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