Actress Shannen Doherty recently passed away at the age of 53. The cause of her death was breast cancer.
“On Saturday, July 13, she lost the war against cancer after many years of battling the disease,” according to a statement from “Charmed” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” star publicist Leslie Sloan.
Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation and underwent a mastectomy.
Two years later, he announced that he was in remission. But he revealed in 2020 that he had returned as level four breast cancer.
The cancer then metastasized to his brain and bones. In 2023, she underwent brain surgery for her cancer.
Doherty said a lapse in her fitness in 2014 delayed doctors’ breast cancer diagnosis, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
The actress settled a lawsuit against her former corporate holding company, accusing it of mismanaging her and failing to pay her health insurance premiums.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2021, about 272,000 in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer and about 42,000 die from it, the CDC reports.
Detecting breast cancer early, when it is less difficult to treat, reduces the chances of long-term survival.
“A screening mammogram is probably the most productive tool we have for breast cancer survivorship,” said Christopher McGreevy, MD, a breast cancer surgeon and associate leader for breast surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center.
“Many studies have shown that screening mammograms increase a woman’s chances of surviving breast cancer,” she told Healthline.
The 5-year survival rate for level 1 breast cancer (cancer that has not spread beyond the initial cancer) is more than 99 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute. The survival rate drops to 32 percent once the cancer has spread to remote areas of the world. the body.
People whose breast cancer is previously detected “can also potentially avoid other remedies such as chemotherapy, and they have more features when it comes to surgery,” McGreevy said.
Monica M. Yepes, MD, associate director of breast imaging at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, a component of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said the maximum rules state that women at average risk for breast cancer have a screening mammogram every year starting at age 40.
One exception is the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which recommends screening mammograms every two years starting at age 40.
However, “we know that two years is too long, especially in the 40 to 50 age group, because the youngest patients are the ones with the most competitive cancers,” Yepes told Healthline.
When do other people at higher risk for breast cancer start getting screened? It depends on your specific situation.
“If your threat is based on a genetic mutation, then we would start screening earlier,” McGreevy said, “and detecting it would involve a little more, like adding more things like MRIs. “
“For women whose increased risk is based solely on family history, the timing of when they start screening is based on the age at which their family members were diagnosed with breast cancer,” she said. Declared.
Yepes said many patients don’t know they have an increased risk of breast cancer until they start getting mammograms in their 40s.
That’s why “the American College of Radiology recommends that each and every woman identify their threat points and risk of developing breast cancer throughout their lifetime starting at age 25,” she said. “So if you want to start with early detection, you’re ready. “for this. “
Risk testing can be done with a primary care doctor, an OB-GYN, or by referring you to a specialist.
Doctors use risk assessment kits to determine a person’s risk of breast cancer based on their personal medical and reproductive history, as well as the breast cancer history of their family members.
Additionally, “genetic testing allows us to identify mutations in genes,” said Tran Ho, DO, FSSO, a breast surgical oncologist at El Camino Health in the San Francisco Bay Area. “The most common thing is to talk about BRCA1 and BRCA2, genes that would likely have mutations linked to an increased threat of breast cancer. “
While many doctors talk about the threat of breast cancer with patients in their 20s, Ho encourages women to be proactive about their health.
“If patients find that their doctor doesn’t tell them, they feel empowered to let them know,” she told Healthline. “This might even involve asking their doctor to refer them to someone who can review their history and estimate their risk of breast cancer. “
Yepes said certain teams have a higher risk of breast cancer and highly competitive breast cancers.
For example, “there is a subtype of breast cancer called triple-negative breast cancer that is not unusual in African-American women,” she said.
Yepes also noted that minority women who die from breast cancer have a 127 percent higher risk of dying before age 50 than their white counterparts.
Additionally, people without fitness insurance and certain racial and ethnic groups are less likely to be up to date with screening, according to the AACR’s 2024 Cancer Disparities Report released in May.
In 2021, 53% of American and Alaska Native women and 67% of Asian women were up to date on breast cancer screenings, while 76% of non-Hispanic white women, according to the report.
The report also found that women under 65 without fitness insurance were more likely to be up to date on breast cancer screenings than women under 65 with personal insurance.
Yepes said those disparities are due to a number of factors, adding a higher genetic threat of cancer or a more competitive cancer, socioeconomic factors and a lack of knowledge about the importance of breast cancer screening.
Lack of access to fitness formula can also prevent women from keeping up with screenings. This includes living in spaces without good enough physical care, being uninsured or underinsured, lack of transportation, not being able to take time off work, and other barriers.
Since 2010, the Affordable Care Act mandates maximum fitness insurance plans to cover the burden of preventive physical care for women, adding mammograms.
If you are uninsured or your insurance does not cover breast cancer screening, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program provides breast cancer screenings for low-income, uninsured or underinsured women between the ages of 40 and 64.
Actress Shannen Doherty died on July 13 at the age of 53. The cause of her death was breast cancer.
The “Charmed” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” star was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. Two years later, she announced that her cancer was in remission, but then it reverted back to level four cancer.
In a lawsuit against her former corporate handler, Doherty said a glitch in her health insurance delayed the medical diagnosis of her breast cancer. She accused the company of not paying her health insurance premiums.
A screening mammogram helps detect breast cancer at an earlier stage, when it needs to be treated.
In the United States, people at average risk for breast cancer have the option of starting a screening mammogram at age 40.
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