Early Stage Breast Cancer! What To Do?

One of the great things from a life insurance standpoint in regards to early stage breast cancer, due to the very high survival rate, is that life insurance can often be purchased not too long after the cancer therapy is complete at as good as standard rates.

Probably the most common, and certainly the most treatable breast cancer is DCIS, ductal carcinoma in situ. In layman’s terms, an encapsulated, contained cancer in one of the milk ducts. Being in situ almost completely rules out any spread of the cancer and Tis along with T1 tumors are almost always good candidates for a lumpectomy procedure. This is often followed by a course of radiation and in some clinics a procedure called partial breast irradiation, PBI.

Even though these very early stage, very confined breast cancers can be survivable with minimally invasive procedures, many women choose, like actress Christina Applegate, a more radical approach, a radical double mastectomy. This course of action is an attempt to put any possibility of recurrence out of the picture. In the case of Applegate she felt the chance of recurrence was too high with a family history of breast cancer and testing positive the the BRCA1 gene that is linked to a higher occurrence of breast and ovarian cancer. It should be noted that even with the most aggressive treatment there is still a chance of recurrence.

The good news is that whichever route you choose, survivability with early stage cancer is good and life insurance pricing reflects that.

Bottom line. The keys to finding cancer in the early stages lie in taking the task seriously. Especially those women who come from a family with a history of breast cancer, a routine of self exams, doctor exams and regular mammograms is prudent.