Many young women with breast cancer symptoms delay care

Many young women who have breast cancer symptoms delay timely screening and care, according to research presented April 11 at the American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL. In her talk, Katherine Fleshner, MD, from the University of Calgary found that the leading reasons for delaying care include lack of concern, reassurance from another practitioner, difficulty accessing care, and competing priorities. “Diagnostic delay was quite common among our cohort and most commonly was related to patient delay,” Fleshner said. “And many of the reasons for patient delay had to do with patients not being aware that what they were experiencing could be related to malignancy.” While breast cancer is less common in younger women, radiological studies have shown that incidence rates are rising. When young women experience symptoms like lumps or breast pain, they should seek timely care, Fleshner said. If women continue to delay care or undergo mammography, their breast cancers could be diagnosed at a later stage with poorer prognosis.Katherine Fleshner, MD, from the University of Calgary, presents research exploring trends in young women with breast cancer symptoms delaying care, including for screening mammography. Fleshner and colleagues studied the diagnostic timeline and predictors of diagnostic delay in women ages 40 and younger throughout Canada. They included data from the Reducing the Burden of Breast Cancer in Young Women (RUBY) program. The rese...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Womens Imaging Source Type: news