Description:
Ask any woman what disease she fears most, and chances are she'll say, "breast cancer." Health-conscious women wonder how much their risk is increased if they eat fat, go on hormone replacement therapy, use birth control pills, have a family member with breast cancer, and so on. "This book is designed to give you a clear, useful understanding about what your breast cancer risks really are--not the same endlessly repeated statistics that leave you bewildered, but solid, dependable information that actually makes sense," promises author Patricia T. Kelly, Ph.D. Assess Your True Risk of Breast Cancer lives up to that promise. Kelly, a medical geneticist who specializes in cancer risk assessment and counseling, shows you how to analyze statistics, put your breast-cancer risk into perspective, and take the most appropriate steps for your personal situation. As factual as her information is, she never neglects the important emotional component, which she calls "the human part." She illustrates her points with anecdotes and moving quotes from women about their feelings and experiences. Even when she's explaining something as complicated as interpreting your risk from statistics, she makes analogies and relates discussions with her clients to make the information easier to understand. She also presents some reassuring facts that we don't usually hear: "When a breast cancer is found before it reaches a little less than half an inch in size, it is almost never life threatening," and "Most women who have a close relative with breast cancer will never be diagnosed with this disease," for example. Kelly reviews major studies on hormone replacement therapy and breast cancer, concluding that HRT taken at menopause does not increase the risk of breast cancer, and shows you how to interpret studies. She also explains in detail cancer cell development, noncancer cell growths, genetic testing, and much more medical information. Depending on your interest and need, you may not want to read every chapter (and you don't have to), but there's so much value in the chapters you choose that you'll be glad you purchased this book. --Joan Price
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