While mammography guidelines have been debated by health experts in recent years, the American Cancer Society announced that it is keeping its recommendation that women begin receiving annual mammograms at age 40. Other organizations, such as the National Cancer Institute, recommend mammograms for women every one to two years from age 40 to 50 and then every year after age 50. However, the American Cancer Society believes the benefits of annual mammography beginning at age 40 outweigh the risk of inaccurate results.

Switching from the drug tamoxifen to Aromasin (generic name, exemestane) two to three years after treatment could decrease a woman's risk of dying from breast cancer, according to the results of a recent study. Many women are treated with the drug tamoxifen for breast cancer. Aromasin is a different type of breast cancer drug that has been used for years to treat advanced breast cancer. Recently, researchers have found that Aromasin might be beneficial for early stage breast cancer too. The current research shows that the use of Aromasin after tamoxifen reduces the risk of death by 50% compared to 33% among women taking tamoxifen only.

Surgery is the most common form of breast cancer treatment. Mastectomy is a type of surgery in which the breast is completely removed. Many times, some or all of the axillary (armpit) lymph nodes are also removed to check to see if they contain cancer cells. This article describes how a mastectomy is performed and addresses several key topics related to the procedure including breast reconstruction, exercise after mastectomy, phantom breast pain and other side effects.

Regularly examining her own breasts allows a woman to become familiar with how her breasts normally look and feel and can help her more readily detect any changes that may occur. Women should perform breast self-exams once each month beginning at age 20. This article, complete with illustrations, describes the step-by-step process of performing a breast self exam while lying down, standing up, and in the shower.