What are the odds that you'll get a false positive when you get a mammogram? How likely is it that it will detect cancer? Here's one way to look at it.
Three weeks of radiation works just as well as six weeks for most women with early stage breast cancer. But doctors have been slow to make that switch. Money may be one big reason why, a study says.
There's not much evidence that radiation increases survival in older women with early-stage breast cancer, but doctors are still prescribing it. It can be hard to get doctors to change protocols.
Decades of effort to raise awareness of breast cancer hasn't helped to reduce the death toll once it spreads. One woman living with metastatic breast cancer says it's way past time for a change.
Tired of waiting for a cure for breast cancer, a coalition of activists now leans hard on Congress to steer money to particular research projects. Critics say that approach may miss promising leads.
Genetic tests are recommended for women with a family history of breast cancer. One researcher says all women should be screened, but others say there's not enough evidence that they are at risk.
Twenty years ago, many scientists didn't think that genes could cause diseases like cancer. The discovery of the BRCA gene for hereditary breast cancer changed that. Mary-Claire King tells how.
The question of how to treat ductal carcinoma in situ is roiling the medical profession, and making for tough choices for women. The condition may never become invasive cancer. But some women choose to have mastectomies rather than live with uncertainty.
Only about 800 women younger than 40 get the kind of breast cancer that has spread to bones or other organs by the time it's diagnosed. But that number tripled in a generation, and scientists are left wondering what's the cause.
The 2012 mammography debate was a continuation of a controversy touched off three years ago when a government task force said women under 50 don't need regular mammograms. And one recent analysis found that regular screenings haven't reduced the rate of advanced breast cancers.