LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month—shedding light on a disease coined as the second leading cause of cancer death in women.
According to the Arkansas Department of Health, more than 2,500 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Arkansas. A 2023 report showed nearly 400 women died from the disease in our state.
"Every breast cancer starts in the milk ducts," Medical Oncologist of Clinical Research at CARTI Dr. Sam Makhoul said. "For as long as the cancer cells have not broken out of the milk duct, we call it carcinoma and situ, and we tried, now with the genomic studies that we do, to profile the cancer cells that are inside the milk duct that has not become invasive, and see if there is any genetic major genetic difference from the ones that have been able to break out and become invasive.
Each form of breast cancer can range from non-invasive stage zero up to most invasive stage 4. To learn more about the different types of invasive and non-invasive breast cancer, click here.
Recent studies have shown alarming changes - showing more and more women under the age of 40 being diagnosed with breast cancer.
"The percentage of patients who are 50 years and older among those breast cancer patients are about 85% of the patients. 10% of the patients are between 40 and 50 and 5% are younger than 40," Dr. Makhoul said. "The trend is that we have more patients who are diagnosed younger than 50 and younger than 40."
According to Dr. Makhoul, a young diagnosis can come from a number of factors:
- genetic mutations
- carrying breast cancer genes
- early ages of puberty
- longer periods of pregnancies
- higher estrogen levels
- oral contraceptives such as birth control
- alcohol
- obesity
Dr. Makhoul said that combined with those factors, each one adds 10 to 15% to the increased risk. That's why health officials across the state are working to pair women under the age of 40 with access to breast cancer preventatives.
In Arkansas, women between the ages of 40 and 64 can get breast cancer screening, but health officials said you may ought to be screened even sooner.
Arkansas Cancer Coalition Executive Director Trena Mitchell works to provide prevention advice and other forms of assistance for all women battling breast cancer.
Health officials said providing women with the proper help and assistance starts with removing the sense of fear.
"Knowing that status [breast cancer] is very fearful, because people automatically think it's a death sentence, and it's not," Mitchell said. "We've got some great treatments, great facilities here in Arkansas to assure that you have the best cancer journey as possible, and then, of course, a great community of support and prayers along the way for those who need that."
Women looking to get screened might run into some guidelines, but Mitchell said there are exceptions.
"However, if you are under the age of 40, you have multiple family members who are first-degree relatives with breast cancer, then you are able to be screened," Mitchell said.
There are a number of health officials hoping to provide additional help and target some of the reasons behind the spike in younger women diagnosed with breast cancer. Ultimately, there's one message that resonates for many.