Breast cancer, menopause topics of Women's Health Day lectures

Breast cancer statistics may not be encouraging, but most agree they are important. Oncologist Jeffrey Wenger discussed these "pessimistic" statistics of breast cancer and ways women can detect the cancer in its early stages in a 90-minute speech yesterday afternoon. Wenger began his talk on a pessimistic note, stating unequivocally that "we don't know how to prevent breast cancer." He went on to discuss possible causes of breast cancer and the types of people in the higher-risk categories. He said that breast cancer is believed to be a result of the breast cells being continually bathed in estrogen. Due to the nature of this factor, women who started menstruation early in life or put off having children until after 30 are in the higher-risk categories. Another high-risk factor is heredity. Women who have a history of breast cancer in the family are at "highest risk." "A woman whose mother or grandmother had breast cancer is twice as likely to get breast cancer as someone whose mother did not," he said. Wenger suggested three methods of breast cancer detection -- self-examination, doctor examination and mammography. He urged all women to do a breast self-examination. "Most women do not perform self-examinations," he said. "They're afraid of what they'll find even though most lumps are not cancerous." Wenger ended his lecture by discussing two types of treatment for cancer in its earliest stages -- lumpectomy with radiation treatment and mastectomy. "The cure rate is identical each way and medically speaking, treatment results are the same," he said. He urged the audience to question their doctors if they recommend a mastectomy and do not give the option of a lumpectomy. Most students were responsive to Wenger's talk, asking many questions throughout the discussion. Other speakers during the day included John Moore, a surgeon from Jefferson Park Hospital, and Isa Valez, a gynecologist on staff in several Philadelphia hospitals. Moore talked about breast implants and different techniques of reconstruction. Valez's talk was broken into two parts. The first was about health issues later in a woman's life, such as menopause and osteoperosis, and the second part dealt with the reproductive system and various forms of birth control. Valez took her audience through a clinical approach and treated them as though they were patients in her office. "When I talk to my clients, I want them to walk away feeling they have learned something," she said. Wai-sum Lee and Stephanie Rosenthal, co-chairs of the Penn Women's Alliance, organized the event with help from Philadelphia's Breast Health Institute. "Women's health issues haven't really been addressed by anybody," College senior Lee said. "We hope to raise awareness among young women." Lee also said that Penn Women's Alliance hopes to have a similar event next semester.

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