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Joseph McWherter, M.D. is pleased to announce the
HALO Breast Pap will now be offered at the FEM Centre through our Energy
Health Centre office. This exciting new test is available to aid in the
fight against breast cancer. The HALO Breast Pap is a simple,
noninvasive, five-minute test that analyzes breast fluid for abnormal
cells.
All cancers begin at a cellular level. If you have
read Dr. McWherter’s book, Avoiding Breast Cancer While Balancing
Your Hormones, you know that breast cancer is no different. This
common scientific fact is the reason the National Institutes of Health,
the American Cancer Society and others continually advise — the sooner
you detect cancer the easier it is to treat and the better chance for a
good outcome.
As an example, since the 1950’s, mortality due to
cervical and breast cancer were almost equal. With the advancement to
the cervical Pap test (which can detect pre-cancerous abnormalities)
cervical cancer has steadily declined. Unfortunately, there has been
little progression towards reducing breast cancer through early
detection, until now.
Determining one’s breast health and breast cancer
risk is through family history, physical examination, thermography and
mammography. The majority of women do not have a family history of
breast cancer; in fact 8 out of 9 women who develop breast cancer do not
have breast cancer in their family. FEM Centre, through Energy Health
Centre, offers the HALO Breast Pap and Digital Infrared Thermography for
early detection. Both of these exams can detect possible abnormalities
6-8 years before traditional exams. The key to surviving breast cancer
is early detection. If cancer is found it its early stages,
particularly if it is still contained in the breast, the 5 year survival
rate is nearly 100%.
The HALO Breast
Pap Test
FEM Centre is the first clinic in the North Texas
area to offer breast health and risk assessment at a cellular level with
the HALO Breast Pap Test — an FDA approved, quick, safe, noninvasive
method for obtaining breast fluid for laboratory examination.
HALO combines warmth, massage and suction to bring
nipple aspirate fluid (NAF, which is found in the milk ducts where 95%
of all breast cancers originate) to the surface of the nipple. The
collected fluid is then sent to the laboratory for examination to
determine and/or differentiate normal versus pre-malignant versus
malignant cells. A woman with atypical cytology has a 4-5 times greater
risk of developing breast cancer than women who do not produce fluid;
this risk is even greater when combined with family history. The entire
collection process takes only five minutes.
Regular assessment with HALO allows us to monitor
the health of your breast and provides us the ability to react to
cellular changes as early as possible.
Who should take
advantage of the HALO Breast Pap Test?
It is recommended that this test be performed
annually on women ages 25-59 years of age. Why so young? HALO is
effective in the younger women who are not yet having mammograms.
Additionally, younger women with breast cancer have worse outcomes and
usually a more advanced disease than older women and a breast cancer
diagnosis within two years of childbirth has nearly 50% mortality rate.
Does the HALO
Breast Pap Test replace mammograms?
No. It is complement to mammograms, a screening
tool we can use to assess your future risk for breast cancer at a
cellular level. A mammogram is another screening tool that can detect a
possibly cancerous lesion but only after the cells have multiplied to
the point where a mass can be detected on film.
Click here
for the Halo Pap website...
For information or to schedule an appointment, call our
offices:
Energy Health Centre
817-927-5111 (Ft.
Worth)
817-421-2922
(Colleyville)
or
FEM Centre
817-926-2511 (Ft. Worth)
817-251-6533 (Colleyville)
1-888-FEM-CNTR
(336-2687)
The FEM Center/EnergyHealth
Centre supports the College of Gynecology
recommended guidelines for mammography.
Like the cervical Pap test, HALO is not a diagnostic test and it cannot
be used to exclude breast cancer. Patients should continue to undergo
other clinical breast screening procedures (mammography, clinical breast
examination, self breast examination) as determined by and with their
physician.
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