Editor's note: The following is the latest in a "Mammograms Save Lives" series from Project Self-Sufficiency.
Susan Sacco did not have a happy 44th birthday.
Instead of celebrating with her family, Sacco was on the phone with her physician, receiving the news that she had an aggressive form of breast cancer. The cancer was growing so rapidly that it had not shown up on the mammogram she had received only three months earlier.
Sacco had found a pea-shaped lump in her breast during a self-exam, so she returned to her doctor after finding the lump and requested an additional mammogram. Once again, the exam showed nothing unusual, despite the fact that Sacco could feel the lump with her fingers. Sacco said, "I was among those women whose cancer is not found on a mammogram."
Cancerous cells appear lighter than the surrounding tissue on a mammogram, which makes the test an effective diagnostic tool. However, a certain percentage of women have "dense" breast tissue, which also appears lighter on a mammogram. According to the National Cancer Institute, screening mammograms can miss up to 20 percent of breast cancers that are present at the time of the exam, and many of these cancers occur in patients with dense breast tissue. To make matters worse, the risk of cancer is higher in those with dense breasts.
Breast density varies from woman to woman and can also change as women age; nearly 75 percent of women in their forties have dense breasts, but this number decreases to 31 percent of women once they reach their seventies, according to the American Society of Breast Surgeons.
After receiving her results, Sacco began an odyssey which would ultimately take her to Hackensack University Hospital for participation in a research project using stem cell therapy in the treatment of breast cancer.
The good news was that Sacco's unique medical situation qualified her for the project. The bad news was that she would have to stay in a nearby hotel for the duration of the treatments, relying on friends, family and a battalion of visiting nurses to provide a continuous flow of fluids and antibiotics. At one point, Sacco succumbed to a fever and was rushed to Chilton Memorial Hospital.
Continued here:
Stem cell therapy cures local woman's breast cancer