Are breast cancer rates declining? If so, it may not be due to a decrease in mammography screening. Sounds logical, right? How about a drop in postmenopausal hormone use as a possible contributor?

That's the conclusion of a recent study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. This, to me, is an interesting development if true. I'm not sure what other factors were looked at in the study, however. Was this correlation backed by valid statistical data? I may have to go further with this one, with a possible update later.

The study mentions that postmenopausal hormone treatments have declined in use since 2002 -- and that the risk of breast cancer has dropped along with it in the U.S. Hmm, hot flashes or an increased risk of breast cancer. Weird choice there.

Good Morning America coanchor Robin Roberts returned to work on Monday, a little more than one week after her breast cancer surgery. Some think her return was a bit hasty. Some think it was the absolute right thing to do. I'm of this camp -- the jump-back-into-life approach. It's exactly what I did after my surgery and throughout every step of my treatment. And while there were surely days I could have cut myself some slack, I tried to keep on my toes. It was the only way I knew how to manage the chaos of cancer.

In the spirit of helping women cope with their breast cancer diagnoses, Roberts' very own doctor offers some insightful words of wisdom. Click here for guidance about returning to work, managing through surgery and radiation, maintaining emotional health, and the importance of mammograms and self-exams.

What is your take on how Roberts is handling cancer and how her doctor is handling the topics that become critical in the fight against this disease?

According to a study in the July 24 edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, multiple mammogram reading improve detection rates, according to a study in The Netherlands. Lucien Duijm, M.D., Ph.D. and colleagues studied whether adding readings by two technicians to the standard exam by two radiologists would improve detection rates and accuracy.

The breast cancer detection rate increased 6.8%, and only slightly increased the number of false positives.

An editorial in the same journal by Joann Elmore M.D. and James Brenner M.D. cautions on the taking these results and generalizing to other countries, as screening programs vary widely.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed in a study presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology to be better at detecting ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) than mammograms. MRI's were also shown to be very good at detecting high grade DCIS.

Women are recommended by the American Cancer Society to get an annual mammogram after the age of 40, do clinical breast exams starting in your 20's and if you are in a high risk group to receive annual screening with a breast MRI.

In a study among almost 6,000 women who were screened with both MRI and mammography, MRI detected 92 percent of DCIS cases where mammography only detected 56 percent of cases diagnosed.

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, has had many routine medical follow-ups since her 2004 breast cancer diagnosis. And all of them -- until just a few days ago -- resulted in what is generally termed a clean bill of health.

The term doesn't always come with a sense of relief for those of us surviving breast cancer -- or any cancer for that matter -- because it only really defines what our bodies are telling us at one specific moment. There are no magic blood tests, no special body scans, no conclusive ways of determining whether or not cancerous cells have gone astray and will one day surface again.

I asked my oncologist after my first six-month follow-up how he would know if my cancer returns. He told me it's really up to me to determine whether it comes back. It's up to me to get mammograms and ultrasounds and MRIs. It's up to me to report any symptoms and suspicions. It's up to me to track my general well-being so that it will be clear when something feels not-so-right. If I have a persistent cough or headaches that won't subside, my doctor will take action with X-rays and scans and tests. But as long as I feel fine and nothing troubling presents itself, then I remain in the clean-bill-of-health club.

Edwards no longer has a clean bill of health. But she is determined to use her newest diagnosis -- stage four metastatic cancer of the bones, considered treatable but not curable -- to work toward the best health she can acquire for as long as she can hold onto it. And that is about as good as any of us can do.

Fewer women are getting mammograms. Facilities offering mammograms are closing. Mammogram machine usage is declining. And we don't really know why.

"We're heading in the wrong direction," says Carol Lee, professor of radiology at Yale University School of Medicine and chair of the American College of Radiology's commission on breast imaging.

"If this decline holds up, it will be very worrisome," she says.

"We're looking at a possible increase in deaths if we see this continue," according to Diana Balma, vice president of public policy at Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Studies don't show which women -- rich or poor, young or old, educated or uneducated -- are skipping these critical screenings, but there are a few possible reasons for this dangerous drop.

Think about this:

Perhaps there are fewer facilities, staffed by fewer radiologists and technologists due to high lawsuit rates and modest reimbursement. This is scary -- because the number of women old enough to get screened is increasing.

Women may be missing out on all sorts of necessary medical care because of inadequate health insurance or other access problems.

Women may be choosing, for whatever reasons, not to get mammograms, despite strong public urging that women age 40 and older get screened one time every year.

And now think about this:

Recent news about declining breast cancer rates may not be all that good. It may not be that fewer women are developing breast cancer. It may simply be that fewer women are getting early diagnoses because of irregular or nonexistent screening.

She doesn't have breast cancer. But she did have both breasts removed and reconstructed in January to ensure as much as she can that she will never develop the disease that has struck both her mother and father.

It's the dad connection that puts René Syler, former anchorwoman for The Early Show, at such risk for breast cancer. That and the dozens of microcalcifications -- these can indicate cancer -- that repeatedly revealed themselves on mammograms and the diagnosis of atypical ductal hyperplasia that increases the risk of cancer. And while cancer was never diagnosed for this woman who was sure the disease would one day catch up with her, Syler is no stranger to the world of biopsies. And her breasts -- misshapen, shriveled, collapsed, and scarred from so many surgical procedures -- were proof of her frequent rides on the breast cancer merry-go-round.

Now Syler's breasts are gone. And she is breathing a great big sigh of relief. She calls her new "girls" incredible. And she calls her new mood "good."

"I see now that the specter of breast cancer has been permeating my life," says Syler whose story appears in the April 2007 issue of The Oprah Magazine and whose book Good-Enough Mother will be published in April.

"I couldn't really live because I was always playing defense -- watching and waiting, wondering if this would be the year I'd be diagnosed."

A lab in Oklahoma is studying genes for combinations that predict breast cancer risk. A look into the 100 genes gathered from each woman -- via mouthwash -- allows researchers to categorize women with standard, moderate, or high risks of developing the disease.

The study begins with a lengthy questionnaire about medical history and leads to the collection of a DNA sample. Women simply rinse their mouths with a standard mouthwash and wait for results.

Geneticist Dr. Kara Casas says she hopes that regardless of results, women will choose a healthy lifestyle with a diet low in fat and alcohol consumption and with lots of exercise too. But those in the moderate and high-risk groupings will be advised to make other lifestyle changes to help decrease their chances of getting breast cancer. They may be asked to regulate estrogen levels, for example, and to report regularly for mammograms at an earlier age.

Casas says all women have some risk of developing breast cancer. But knowing what these risks are can help them better protect themselves -- which makes tests like this so important.

A total of 12,000 samples will collected for an FDA trial. For more information about this study in mouthwash, call 903-510-1173.

They are called DES daughters, and they are the women who mothers took the anti-miscarriage hormone drug DES during pregnancy. It is estimated that millions of pregnant women were given this drug between the 1940s and 1960s, and it's now been determined that the daughters born to these women have not only an increased risk of a rare vaginal cancer but also nearly double the chance of developing breast cancer.

This sad finding has been addressed before but now more than ever, DES daughters are urged to stick to a strict breast cancer screening schedule.

A news brief published in the February 2007 issue of Good Housekeeping boldly reminds all women to comply with government guidelines that call for mammograms for all women every one to two years starting at age 40 and every year after the age of 50. But it's a different story for women exposed in utero to DES.

"If you were exposed to DES, be sure to let your doctor know and have a mammogram ever year, even in your 40s," says Julie Palmer, lead researcher of the DES study.

I have dense breasts. And ever since the surgeon who performed my breast reduction surgery more than 10 years ago told me about the composition of my breast tissue, I have been a bit obsessed with how my breasts feel. Good thing -- because I ended up with breast cancer two years ago as a result of my own at-home monitoring. And now I wonder if my cancer was influenced by the density characterizing the tissue that fills my breasts.

Canadian researchers are reporting in a groundbreaking study that women with dense breasts, like me, are five times more likely to develop breast cancer than whose whose breasts have a lot of fatty tissue. It's long been knows that dense breasts inhibit the effectiveness of X-ray mammograms -- and perhaps delay diagnosis -- but now it's clear that breast density is a risk factor all on its own.

Computer-assisted detection (CAD) technology uses computer software to identify and mark areas of concern on mammograms. Radiologists typically review the CAD-marked images after they interpret the original film.

Radiologists can see lesions that CAD sometimes misses so they should not become too dependent on the technology when reading mammograms.

A study was done by the researchers at Group Health to determine the effectiveness of CAD assistance. They found that CAD increased radiologists' ability to determine that the women did not have any cancerous lesions. CAD did not however affect the radiologists' ability to spot cancer when it was present. The physicians performed equally well with and without CAD.

CAD did not mark all visible abnormalities and the doctors could be influenced by the computer's interpretation rather than their own interpretation. Its hard to ignore the technology but the authors of the study recommend training radiologists on characteristics that CAD may miss.

CAD assistance can help radiologists but should not replace their own judgment in reading mammograms.

An ABC news team in Australia abandoned its Brisbane radio studio yesterday after an investigation revealed there is something about the workplace causing breast cancer.

It's not clear what the cause may be, but the five-month-long investigation concluded a breast cancer cluster is related to the office environment.

Twelve women who worked at the Brisbane Toowong office had been diagnosed with breast cancer over the past 11 years. Eight of these women worked in the newsroom. Most had been there for more than five years.

ABC managing editor Mark Scott would not move his staff earlier this year when 100 staff members walked off the job in July, demanding relocation. He said it would take evidence -- not just suspicion -- of a breast cancer cluster for him to agree to relocation. Now he has evidence.

The investigation report shows women who worked at this office reported breast cancer at a rate 11 times higher than the general working community.

In addition to the relocation, all female staff at Toowong office were offered free mammograms and free counseling services during the investigation. Yesterday, Scott extended the offer to women at other ABC sites in Australia.

Mammograms are offered at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in the Texas Medical Center. They are also offered on M.D. Anderson's self-contained 38-foot van containing a LoRad MIV mammography unit. The van travels to various workplace sites where employees and clients can jump on board the van for a mobile mammogram.

Hartford Hospital's Take the Time mammogram van travels to clinics, churches, senior centers, and other Connecticut locations where women can easily access life-saving screenings. The University Breast Health Center in Augusta, Georgia is home to a mobile mammography program that reaches underserved women unable to report for on-site visits. Lexington Medical Center in South Carolina offers mobile mammograms. Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization affiliates offer their own traveling screening services. And a mobile mammogram service was offered on Kent State University's campus during this October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Mammograms on the go are no different than mammograms at fixed locations. They are high quality, safe, confidential -- and typically speedier than the traditional screening procedure. Often, a woman knows before she departs that her image is technically accurate. She can ask questions and receive information, and she can expect a prompt call from the radiologist or her physician who will discuss results. Sometimes, mobile mammograms take as little as 20 minutes to complete.

Mammograms are recommended for women age 40 and older and for women with a personal or family history of breast cancer. As with all medical services, there are barriers -- such as awareness, cost, transportation, convenience -- that prevent access for some people. Mobile mammograms help drive away barriers. They allow more women more access to the best tool for identifying breast cancer in its earliest form.

Roll on, mammogram vans!

TIME magazine has faithfully followed the issues defining cancer. The topic has made the covers of many issues, and it receives plentiful press on the pages in between. Stories spotlight an array of different cancers, address research and new developments, and offer personal glimpses into the lives of both everyday survivors and those with celebrity status. A look into the archives of TIME magazine -- seven specific issues -- illustrates a proven commitment to the cancer cause. And it proves the mystery of cancer is much the same today as it was many years ago.

There is a lot of breast cancer awareness out there. Some believe it's too much. Some say it's overboard. Some wish breast cancer could share some of the spotlight with all the other cancers -- those struggling for a little more funding, a little more research, a little more air time. Is it possible there could be more awareness for the disease that corners the market on all things pink? Yes. It's possible. And it's necessary too.

As long as women are dying of breast cancer -- in 2006, breast cancer will kill about 40,000 women in the United States -- there is cause for more awareness. And each October -- Breast Cancer Awareness Month -- breast cancer information bombards us all. Annoying as it may seem, the reminders that flow from breast cancer campaigns are truly critical. Reminders about self exams and mammograms and early detection and risk factors and new developments can save lives. They do save lives. And while we should all hope other cancers -- that are just as serious, just as widespread, just as life-threatening -- one day receive the attention they deserve, we should still not pass on opportunities to hop on the breast cancer bandwagon. There is still a lot of road to cover, a lot of progress to be made.

Hopefully, breast cancer awareness stays on the radar. Hopefully, reminders continue to keep charging at us. Day after day. October after October. Until breast cancer is a thing of the past.