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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Christine Gorman

Aired February 16, 2002 - 12:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This year the American Cancer Society says about 200,000 women and 1,500 men will find out they have breast cancer. Unfortunately, it's a diagnosis that may lead to more questions than answers. Breast cancer is the cover story of this week's "TIME" magazine. And we're joined from New York by the article's writer, Christine Gorman. Thanks for joining us.

CHRISTINE GORMAN, "TIME" MAGAZINE: My pleasure, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Those are really some alarming numbers. And that only further rattles so many men and women who already feel like they're overwhelmed by the choices of treatments and trying to understand the various methods of diagnoses. What did you find while you were exploring and doing the research for your story in terms of how are folks going to be able to get through all of this information?

GORMAN: Well, it really pays to do your homework and not to lose sight of that. There is a lot of information, but if you can focus in on exactly what stage you're at, it pays not to sort of anticipate too much.

WHITFIELD: And so much information and so much confusion over the proper ways in which to get the most accurate diagnosis. In your article, you also mention that screening seems to be outpacing the treatment. So there are plenty of options in which to get the screening, but the difficulty is perhaps in making a decision on what kind of treatment you want.

GORMAN: That's absolutely right. And nowhere is that more clear than with a diagnosis called ductal carcinoma in situ. These are tiny little cancers that are localized to the milk duct. And what is kind of interesting about that is that before the advent of routine mammograms, only about six percent of breast cancers were ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS. Now the number is closer to 20 percent. And they basically -- once you find DCIS, you have to treat it as if it's going to become invasive; as if it's going to spread, even though you don't know that it will.

Someday we will be able to figure out -- doctors will be able to figure out which DCIS lesions will spread and which are the most, you know, likely to spread and therefore need to be treated the most. And which, you know, are not going to be that likely to spread and therefore don't have to be treated as aggressively. We're not quite there yet. The detection methods are just a little bit ahead of our understanding of treatment, but we're getting there.

WHITFIELD: What were some of the obtainable screening methods?

GORMAN: Well, of course, mammogram is still a mainstay. And, you know, with all the controversy over a mammogram, it pays to remember this is the best that we have. Yes, it's true, it misses about 10 percent of tumors. There are a high number of false positives associated with a mammogram. But it does find those tiny tumors. And at least in some cases, finding a tumor when it's smaller and less aggressive really will save a woman's life.

There's still, of course, clinical breast exams, a physician looking for lumps. And women themselves will sometimes find lumps in their own breasts. You can't depend on any one of these methods all by itself. They all have to work together.

WHITFIELD: And the common way of thinking used to be that you are diagnosed with having breast cancer, immediately, you know, a mastectomy has to be the next step. But in your article you explore that there are less invasive treatments that are available that a lot of women and men don't know about.

GORMAN: Well, mastectomy -- and the other option is lumpectomy, plus radiation -- has been around for, you know, a couple of decades. But what you find is that trend towards more minimally invasive, you know, kinder, gentler techniques works throughout the entire area of breast cancer, even down to the biopsies. If you talk to women, say in their 60s, sometimes you'll find somebody who has had two or three biopsies of what turned out to be benign lesions. Which is great for them, except for the fact that they've got all these huge scars all over their breasts and it's very upsetting.

Now even the biopsies are taking less tissue than they were before, in some cases. And that's a better cosmetic result.

WHITFIELD: And the bottom line, though, given all of these various methods in which you can detect, it's still very important that women at home should be continuing their self breast examinations. And if they don't know how to do it, they need to consult their doctors. It can be as basic as that, right?

GORMAN: That's right. And, you know, it also can be just being aware of your body, you know. When you're showering, paying attention to what is normal in your breast, what's normal in your body. A lot of women have a pretty good sense of what's going on in their body. And so just pay attention to that. If you find something suspicious, by all means, talk to your doctor about it.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Christine Gorman, for helping us to get a better understanding of the various treatments out there for breast cancer and getting a better understanding of the disease itself. From "TIME" magazine, thanks a lot, Christine.

GORMAN: My pleasure, Fredricka.

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