Breast Cancer Awareness Month and new Technology

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month; North Arkansas Regional Medical Center (NARMC) has new technology to detect breast cancer.

Stephanie Lemley from NARMC spoke with KHOZ’s Around The Table on Wednesday about breast cancer and the new technology. “It’s definitely one of those diseases you want to catch early because the earlier it’s caught, the easier it is to treat,” Lemley said. If not caught when the cancer is small, it is possible it will spread throughout the body.

Lemley said one out of eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Women are diagnosed nearly every two minutes. “If a woman has it in her family she is very likely to get it within her life, but we do have people who don’t have anyone in their family [who has breast cancer] and they can find it,” Lemley said.

While not common, Lemley acknowledged that men can have breast cancer. “Unfortunately, breast cancer comes in second only to lung cancer,” she said when discussing the survival rates. Lemley described a newly acquired technology for 3D mammograms as a “game-changer.” It allows for pictures of breast tissue in layers which results in better images. The full interview with Lemley is on Around The Table’s Facebook Page. The interview begins at the 22:29 mark.