She's the guru on breast cancer, the woman who writes the continually updated breast cancer bible. She's Dr. Susan Love, author of Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, and in the May/June 2007 issue of MAMM magazine, she shares some of her latest thoughts.

On milk ducts

Dr. Love says all breast cancer begins in the milk ducts. If we want to get rid of breast cancer, she says, we need to understand where it starts. Until recently, we weren't able to do that. Now, doctors can numb the nipple, thread a catheter into a milk duct and sample the fluid, cells, carcinogens, and hormones. By looking at the location where cancer develops, there's the potential to find out how it started and how to prevent it. In March, Dr. Love's Research Foundation sponsored a conference on this topic.

On MRI

Dr. Love is not a big fan of MRI. It's overly sensitive and finds everything -- most of which is not cancer, she says. MRI leads women on wild goose chases so Dr. Love likes to reserve this test for women at high-risk.

Each year more than 211,000 American women learn they have breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in this country other than skin cancer. But breast cancer is not just a cancer that strikes women. Each year 1,700 men in this country will learn that they have breast cancer. About 500 men will die from the disease. So it is just as important for men to know the signs they might experience if developing breast cancer and act on them immediately with a visit to a doctor. It is important to know your body and to recognize changes that might be taking place.

Signs of Male Breast Cancer

1. Abnormal lumps or swelling in either the breast, nipple, or chest muscle
2. Skin dimpling or puckering
3. Nipple retraction (turning inward)
4. Redness or scaling of the nipple or breast skin
5. Nipple discharge

The ultrasound technique called elasticity imaging might be able to reduce the amount breast biopsies given to patients. It works almost like a regular ultrasound examination of the breast except it is much more sensitive. The technique gauges how much tissue moves when pushed to detect how soft or stiff the mass is in the breast.

The study that was done showed that all 17 of the imaging studies thought to be malignant were found to be malignant after a biopsy was done. It also identified 105 out of the 106 benign lumps in the breast. From this study it suggests that elasticity imaging is 100 percent sensitive and 99 percent specific.

This could turn out be another useful tool used along with mammography and breast MRI's to detect a cancerous lesion in the breast. I, however, will always want a lump biopsied since I know that is the only way to know 100 percent whether it is malignant or benign.

(Thanks to Patti Anastasi for the tip)

In 2006, 174,470 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States. About 92,700 men and 81,770 women will develop the disease -- the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women.

An estimated 162,460 men and women will die of lung cancer this year, accounting for 28 percent of all cancer deaths and taking more lives than colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. While most people diagnosed with lung cancer will die within the first two years of diagnosis -- this has not changed in 10 years -- some people are cured. There are currently about 333,000 long-term survivors.

Breast cancer is widespread -- so widespread that most of us have direct personal contact with someone living with this disease. Information about breast cancer is also widespread -- so widespread that it's easy to get lost in the maze of details that define this illness that two million women in the United States are living with at this very moment. Breast cancer has its own set of definitions and facts and statistics -- and myths too. And here are seven myths that are not worth spreading.

Most lumps in the breast are cancer.
Actually, most lumps in the breast are not cancer. But every lump should still be examined and diagnosed.

Breast cancer does not occur in young women.
While most breast cancer cases occur in women over the age of 50, breast cancer can and does occur in women of all ages. I was diagnosed at age 34.

Women with large breasts have a greater risk of breast cancer.
Size does not affect risk. But it can be more difficult to examine large breasts and therefore detect a suspicious lump due to a larger amount of tissue.

A woman has little or no risk of breast cancer if she has has no family history of the disease.
Most women with breast cancer -- about 75 percent -- have no family history of breast cancer. Simply being female puts all women at risk. I have no family history of breast cancer -- but I still was diagnosed with this disease and have been treating it for almost two years.

If mammography shows nothing to worry about, then there is nothing to worry about.
Mammography can miss 10 to 15 percent of all breast cancers. So any suspicious mass should be investigated with further tests -- such as ultrasound and MRI. When my lump was examined during a mammogram, my doctor was not worried. But an ultrasound that followed revealed a solid mass -- and this was something to worry about. A biopsy came next. And then came my breast cancer diagnosis.

Once a woman is treated for breast cancer, she should avoid becoming pregnant.
Many breast cancer survivors go on to have successful pregnancies and healthy children. Women should consult their doctors, however, about current and previous treatments and should discuss any possible concerns about pregnancy after breast cancer.

Removal of the entire breast is safer than segmental mastectomy.
Survival is similar for women who have breast-conserving surgery -- like a lumpectomy -- and for those who have either a total or modified mastectomy.

It's not surprising that inaccurate information is floating around about breast cancer -- because there is so much information on the topic and much of it is not completely understood by those who study the disease every day. But we all can take an active part in our own education by researching each tidbit of news that comes our way. We can confirm it, deny it, and understand it better if we take matters into our own hands. And if we don't spread anything we just are not sure about. We owe it to ourselves -- and women everywhere -- to spread only the most accurate information about this disease we all need to better comprehend.

I was examined yesterday by my radiation oncologist and two medical students during a six-month follow-up appointment. And any apprehension I had prior to the visit -- about a recurrence of breast cancer or the detection of cancer somewhere else in my body -- is gone. Because I walked away with the news that I am doing just fine. No lumps or bumps or suspicious masses were found. No enlarged lymph nodes were detected. And since I did not report any pain or tenderness or sensitivity or other trouble, I was sent on my way with nothing more than a notice for a return appointment in another six months. I have other appointments hanging in the balance -- one with my medical oncologist in August and a mammogram in November -- and I am sure hesitation and worry will again sneak into my head. But for now, I can only feel the true exhilaration that comes from truly good news. Like the exhilaration that comes from a breathtaking moment at the ocean -- where the power and beauty of the sea and the sky and the sand is all it takes for one five-year-old boy to feel amazingly free.

Marjory, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer and her husband Gordon, a family physician, both blog Beating Breast Cancer. Marjory shares her perspective as a breast cancer patient and Gordon shares his knowledge as a doctor. I check in on Marjory and Gordon regularly, as Beating Breast Cancer is one of my favorite blogs in the cancer community.

In a recent post, Gordon admits to checking the blog's traffic report to see who is visiting and what they are searching for when they arrive at the Beating Breast Cancer blog. He noticed that a search for information on painful lumps in the breast is a topic frequently searched for -- and so he put together easy to understand information for readers interested in learning more about breast pain and painful breast lumps. Gordon is reassuring in letting women know most breast lumps do not turn out to be breast cancer (although he insists that a woman see her physician immediately should she find a lump in her breast) and he explains the causes of painful breast lumps. To learn more, visit Gordon's A Painful Breast Lump - Could It Be Breast Cancer?

Inflammatory breast cancer accounts for only 1 percent of all breast cancers -- yet this disease that mostly affects young women and teenagers can be especially aggressive. And sadly, many of the symptoms  -- inflammation, irritation, itching, redness, blotching, and increase in size -- are mistaken for infection. Not until further, more serious symptoms arise does breast cancer become a possible explanation. A breast may become firmer, warmer, and may grow in size more each day. Although distinct lumps are not apparent, the skin may become dimpled and increased tenderness can occur. Large veins may surface, and cancer may spread in sheets or nests instead of from a solid tumor -- making it virtually impossible to detect a lump. While mammograms are usually ineffective for detecting this cancer, certain biopsies and MRI testing can reveal and confirm a diagnosis -- which years ago was much scarier than it is today with new studies and research and therapies that can better fight this aggressive form of cancer.

A combination of the drugs Lapatinib and Capecitabine have been used to treat inflammatory breast cancer in women who have not responded to standard therapies. And this combination is doubling the patient's survival time. Like like the drug Herceptin -- used for many young women with another aggressive form of breast cancer -- these drugs may be the innovative new approach for saving even more young women.

Young women sometimes are dismissed when they pursue medical attention for suspicious lumps, bumps, pains, or changes in their breasts -- because breast cancer is not so common in young women and medical professionals may assume that breast cancer is not the culprit for the complaints brought before them by young women. But young women do get breast cancer -- I did at age 34 -- and many times, the tumors found in young breasts are more aggressive than those that appear for older women. So it is critical that young women seek medical attention for anything out-of-the-ordinary. And it is critical that doctors respond with urgency so that breast cancer in young women can be detected early -- and treated appropriately.