The four major advice-givers can't agree on when to start or how long to continue. That leaves women understandably confused. And that doesn't make it easy to decide.
Mammograms often find spots that turn out to be nothing serious. But cancer worries can start with the phone call about a follow-up test. Letting women know how common callbacks are could help.
Ductal carcinoma in situ often doesn't turn into breast cancer, but most women have surgery for it. The trend is for less invasive surgery, which hasn't affected survival rates.
A large study confirms that a test doctors have been using for a decade works well for low-risk patients. More work is needed to draw conclusions about chemotherapy for women with riskier tumors.
Thirty years ago no one uttered the words "breast cancer" in public. Now there's no shortage of information, but the glut can make it hard for women to make choices about care.
Hispanics are less likely to get cancer than non-Hispanic whites, but they're more susceptible to gallbladder, liver and stomach cancer. And country of origin affects cancer risk, too.
A study finds that women who ate a Mediterranean diet plus four tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil per day had a significantly lower risk of breast cancer compared with women on a low-fat diet.
While the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says most women should get screening mammograms every two years, an NPR-Truven Health Analytics poll finds women think they should go every year.
A comparison of women in 547 U.S. counties found that getting more women in for screening mammograms didn't lower death rates from breast cancer. More small cancers were found.
Only women with more advanced cases of ductal carcinoma in situ benefited from surgery, a study found. Most women do have surgery for DCIS, although it's a controversial diagnosis.