If you ask patients who have been through a colonoscopy, the vast majority will tell you that the preparation is the worst part of the experience. The procedure itself should be a comfortable and, believe it or not, pleasant experience, with the benefit of the excellent sedation medications available to us.

Dr. Patricia Yarberry Allen likes to work as a collaborative physician. This week, she calls on the expertise of a gynecologic oncologist to address the anxieties of a 49-year-old woman with “a terrible family history of cancer.”

“Recently my gynecologist told me that I needed a Pap smear every three years, based on new recommendations. This makes me very anxious. What do you think of these new recommendations for a woman like me?”

To evaluate the potential treatments for cervical dysplasia, grade 3, Dr. Pat Allen calls on the expertise of three physicians who specialize in gynecologic oncology.

When describing a mammogram result to a patient as “normal,” the radiologist may be only 40 percent accurate in his or her diagnosis. Yet the patient is never informed of her mammogram’s degree of accuracy, nor have patients been educated that breast density in itself is a significant risk factor for developing breast cancer.

Last week’s article “From the WVFC Archives” gathered together our recent research-driven, physician-written articles on breast cancer. Naturally, Women’s Voices for Change has also given voices to patients. These are their stories.

Since the 1970s and ’80s we have seen significant progress toward the goal in cancer treatment—development of a sniper’s rifle with a laser scope and a single bullet that zeroes in precisely on the enemy cells.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Accordingly, we have gathered together our most recent posts on breast cancer. Members of WVFC’s Medical Advisory board—physicians who are specialists in their fields—write all of these articles. They highlight the latest research on the full range of patient concerns: anesthesia, alcohol and breast cancer, breast density, breast reconstruction, hormone therapy, implants, radiation, screening, and surgery.

We now know that the yearly screening test employing an absolute “positive” or “negative” CA-125 value and ultrasound is not effective in detecting the disease at its earliest stage, when it is most curable.

When it comes to recommending yearly mammograms and affirming that mammograms save lives, let’s stop getting hung up on technicalities. Let’s stop re-crunching the numbers until they give us a different answer, and accept what the data demonstrates: From age 40—not age 50—yearly mammograms save lives.

Sun exposure will thin our collagen bundles and unravel our elastin fibers. No amount of Botox, fillers, or surgery—though very helpful—can restore the natural beauty that the unexposed person can achieve.

Lesions such as moles and freckles—referred to as pigmented lesions—occur on the vulva of 10 percent to 12 percent of women. Like other typical moles, most of these are benign and can cause no further problems. Here, a gynecological oncologist details the diagnosis and treatment of those that turn into melanoma.

It is important to realize that cigarettes also have a profound effect on brain health. And it’s not just smokers who should worry about their brain; it’s their loved ones as well, because secondhand smoke is also a major problem.

By Pascaline Servan-Schreiber

Wife to a wonderful man, a mother of three beautiful and demanding children, a business consultant to NGOs and nonprofits, and, now, a film producer? Like so many women of my age, I wear multiple hats, often stacked high on top of one another.

By Brian R. Landzberg, M.D.

I hear female patients tell me that their husbands worry about colon cancer screening, and they worry about breast cancer screening.  But colon cancer is an equal-opportunity killer.