Understanding Breast Cancer

The threat of breast cancer concerns all women. Those who rely on media reports of various risk factors find they often contain information that is confusing, contradictory, incomplete, and not relevant to individual risk. Patricia T. Kelly, a medical geneticist who specializes in breast cancer risk assessment and counseling, has brought together materials from the fields of genetics, medicine, epidemiology, sociology, and counseling to provide a guide to breast cancer risk analysis that is accessible to both health care providers and patients. By addressing the social as well as the scientific aspects of breast cancer risk, this book helps health care professionals to better guide and inform their patients. "Understanding Breast Cancer" presents the most up to date information about genetic and environmental factors that are either known or believed to influence the risk of breast cancer. Kelly discusses: how to interpret and clarify study results and statistics; women's personal fears and beliefs; the importance of understanding how each patient defines the disease; special concerns of those who have a family history of cancer, benign breast disease, or questions about hormones; and the active role women should take in devising their own breast health program; useful strategies and methods of effective communication to help patients put their risk into perspective and achieve appropriate breast health care. This concise, clearly written book enables health care professionals to assess factors that contribute to breast cancer risk; to alleviate fears; to dispel myths about risk factors such as age, family history, diet, stress, and personality; and to help patients achieve an individual and comprehensive view of personal risk and appropriate breast health care. Author note: Patricia T. Kelly, Ph.D. is a medical geneticist who has specialized in providing Cancer Risk Analysis in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than ten years. She is the director of the Cancer Risk Analysis service at Children's Hospital of San Francisco and the author of "Dealing with Dilemma: A Manual for Genetic Counselors".