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Show ! COXQIJMUXG Facts From The National Cancer Institute 1 1 Less Radical Response Many women worry more than they have to. For 1 instance, the odds are six : to one that a woman who finds a lump on her breast does not have breast can-cer. can-cer. Yet many women put off going to the doctor because be-cause they're afraid to face the possibility of rancer. 1 Many women fear they 1 have cancer when they don't. 1 See a doctor to be sure. Even those women who do have breast cancer may 1 be overly worried about un dergoing a cure. Unlike the I days of even a decade ago, the total removal of the entire en-tire breast and chest muscles mus-cles is not considered the only course in most cases of ; early-stage breast cancer. I Instead, less radical op- ! erations are performed and I at least 80 percent of women who do undergo , mastectomies may be eligi- ' ble for breast reconstruc- 1 tion, which itself has been greatly refined and improved im-proved during the last few years, both in materials used and surgical technique. In addition, chemotherapy chemothera-py and radiotherapy are used in some cases. Free booklets on a woman's wom-an's options if she develops breast cancer, plus step-by-step instructions for breast self-examination, are available availa-ble from the National Cancer Can-cer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20205. |