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YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH TIME

Fact: Regular screenings and early detection tests are the best and most proactive way to stay on top of your health. Should these exams uncover a cancer growth, physicians would undergo specific considerations depending on the patient's diagnosis. If the cancer is "low grade" or too small in size/volume (less than 5mm), ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE is often the recommended step over any interventional procedure.

ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE DEFINED: For slow-growing cancers such as prostate, breast, kidney, and thyroid cancer, monitoring cancers during its very early stages (instead of immediate treatment) may be a good option. This means closely watching a patient’s condition but not giving any treatment unless there are changes in test results that show the condition is getting worse. Active surveillance may be used to avoid or delay the need for treatments such as radiation therapy or surgery, which can cause side effects or other problems. During active surveillance, certain exams and tests, such as blood tests, imaging tests, and biopsies, are done on a regular schedule to monitor the condition. Active surveillance may be used in certain types of prostate cancer and in some other types of cancer. It is a type of expectant management.

Active surveillance is a logical next step for anyone with Low-Risk or low-grade cancer. Today's diagnostic community actually has the proper technology that shows what it is, where it is, and how aggressive it is. You can follow your tumor aggression as we have been able to do for the last 30 years.

STRATEGIC MONITORING

Through clinical imaging, we follow tumor aggression. We use the same tracking solutions to monitor treatment efficacy or recurrence. Active surveillance allows us to constantly monitor for any abnormalities beyond the status of a low-grade tumor. Within a length of time of monitoring, we are able to see if any activity occurs that may be of concern. Meanwhile, undergoing surveillance mens NOT jumping into any clinical procedure. Aside from regular scanning with 3D Doppler Ultrasound, image guided monitoring may also include MRI scans as part of his monitoring program. The MRI is important because it shows if this cancer has broken out of the prostate and into the bones, because that's something you can't feel when it's metastasized through the body. In his case, it stayed localized and intact within the capsule. We can see this better on the 3D Doppler ultrasound, then with MRI.

ADVANCEMENTS IN QUANTITATIVE IMAGING
When imaging detects a region of interest or suspicion, it can support continued monitoring if the lesion is low in concern. But imaging is also used to direct selective biopsies to obtain very small tissue samples for further laboratory analysis (pathology). The use of imaging together with pathology gives the most accurate information about the size, location and aggressiveness of any cancer thus identified. Introducing the Power Doppler Sonography, a non-invasive way to SCREEN as well as quantifiably DIAGNOSE tumor aggression of their abnormal blood vessels. 3D Ultrasound can actually show any suspicious area so it can be selectively targeted for biopsy.

The precision of an image-guided biopsy eliminates the need for a large number of random needles. Histogram volumetric tumor vessel analysis on a dedicated workstation correlates with microscopy and is used as a substitute tumor marker to quantify tumor virulence noninvasively. 3D Doppler imaging offers the following advantages:

WHAT IS EARLIER DETECTION?

The women’s health community has identified 5-9% of all breast cancer cases occur in women between the ages of 20 and 40.

National standards require women ages 45 to post-menopausal years annually. But for the underserved ages (20-40), the risk for breast cancer is also real and exists in growing numbers. This recorded increase in risk is further advanced by those with dense tissue. BARD DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING addresses the continuing concerns for breast cancer by offering advanced early detection screening programs.

• Women in younger ages may ignore signs like breast lumps or unusual discharges due to misconceptions about age propensity. This leads to delays in checkups and diagnoses.
• Younger women are more likely to have dense breast tissue where standard mammograms are not recommended. Having dense breasts also carry an increased risk of breast cancer.
• Breast cancer treatments have been known to affect fertility, sexuality and pregnancy.
• Often coupled with unique issues, including concerns about body image, feelings of isolation, mental health support, and the financial burden of treatment and care.

Young women who are genetically predisposed may be at higher risk of breast cancer.  Mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene are common causes of hereditary breast cancers

"EARLIER DETECTION"- MY UNDERDIAGNOSED GENERATION IN CRISIS By: Alexandra Fiederlein (23) - Published in PINKSMARTNEWS.com 11/1/2023

I belong to the graduate-level age group that continues to witness the increasing numbers of breast cancer cases in our country. The women in this generation also happens to be the next group that falls prey to being UNDERDIAGNOSED. Insurance companies and the medical community have made little or no action to support or identify the need for women in their 20's and 30's to be approved for standardized early detection / breast cancer screening. From the front-row perspective, younger women are as much at risk of getting cancer. Reports show an uptick in genetic predisposition for breast cancer*, alongside a dangerous attitude of denial. Addressing this calls for widespread education and screening programs in our community as essentials to a life of wellness and prevention.

Targeting the young working PROFESSIONAL is a major part of our population, where the vast majority tends to put off checkups and screenings because they are just "too busy". Professional women need to value their health above anything else, and therefore the narrative needs to be amplified in that area. We find this problem to be quite prevalent in urban areas with the constant on-the-go culture. Offering local resources and improved access for personal scanning are just some progress driven programs. GEN Z is a sensible focus group because these are the women who absolutely must receive routine scanning. We need to advocate for the narrative that age 40 is not the starting age where screening needs to begin- especially since we are now seeing cancer cases in younger ages are growing in numbers. Getting OB/GYN professionals on board is especially important because this is where women are getting their prescriptions.

If the drive for EARLIER DETECTION means proactive awareness, may this lead to turning social concern into clinical action. This includes clinicians joining hands with advocacy groups who recognize the many potential areas for at-risk women in my generation whose lives and safety continue to go unrecognized. And once the count of cancer cases and deaths rise exponentially due to inaction, perhaps then will the medical community find urgency in upgrading the required breast cancer screening age to (finally) include generations like mine.

Bard Diagnostic Imaging has been established in 1972- led by Dr. Robert L. Bard, internationally recognized as a leader in the field of 21st Century 3-D ULTRASONOGRAPHIC VOLUMETRIC DOPPLER IMAGING. Dr. Bard specializes in advanced 3-D sonography to detect cancers in numerous organs including the breast, prostate, skin, thyroid, melanoma and other areas. Dr. Bard’s images are used to accurately guide biopsies, target therapy and provide focused follow-up after treatment. Dr. Bard’s medical career began as a diagnostic radiologist and evolved into the practice of non-invasive 3D imaging with ultrasound, MRI and laser technologies. He has served in the military, been the head Radiologist at several leading hospitals, and published a multitude of textbooks and scientific papers. He presents articles worldwide, teaches at International Conferences and is on the Editorial Review Board of National and International Medical Journals. Holding medical licenses in several states, he holds Board certification from the American Board of Radiology (1974) and Fellowship in the American Society of Lasers in Medicine and Surgery (2014)

Bard Diagnostic Imaging is a supportive partner of the AMERICAN BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION, the NY CANCER RESOURCE ALLIANCE, THE WOMEN'S HEALTH COLLABORATIVE and the ARE YOU DENSE FOUNDATION. This New York-based facility is also an active partner of the INTEGRATIVE HEALTH RESEARCH CENTER / ANGIORESEARCH (501c3)

A QUANTITIATIVE ANALYSIS & IDENTIFYING THE KILLING CANCER
Written & produced by: Dr. Robert Bard
I'm a radiologist subspecializing in ultrasound imaging, and I've been doing breast scanning for over 35 years. We have advanced radiology from x-rays to ultrasound to MRI and beyond. Reports are now promoting certain cancers should be considered as chronic diseases instead of "killing" cancers. We have known this for the past 30+ years that some cancers are dormant and while cancers are actively lethal. We've learned that some breast cancers are low-aggressive (but we need to continually watch them) or perhaps call for less aggressive treatment. We've also learned that certain cancers may surprise us; they do not follow the expected guidelines due to continung mutation. An example of this is the new findings of breast cancer cases in younger and younger ages (ie. 19 to 22 years old), and this age limit continues to get lower and lower. The same thing goes with breast cancers in men; five years ago, the count it used to be 1% of the population of cases, and now it's risen to 2% of the breast cancer population. We're finding more of it, partly thanks to better imaging access and partly because of improved awareness. Imaging innovations not only offers better detection but once we have the image, we can see if this is a "killing cancer" or not. The simplest technique and most basic technique is to use blood flow imaging. If we find many tumor vessels, "tumor's bad". If the tumor has only a few tumor vessels, tumor is "not so bad". More importantly, if you're treating a tumor and it goes from less to more, the treatment is not working. So we have a way of monitoring treatment in real time.