Breast-cancer research nurse publishes screening overview

Brief
July 3, 2003

Joelle Machia, a research nurse specializing in breast-cancer prevention in the Clinical Research Division, is the author of a chapter in a new nursing textbook, Contemporary Issues in Breast Cancer: A Nursing Perspective.

Machia's chapter, entitled Screening and Early Detection, provides an overview of the "gold standard" for breast-cancer screening-a combination of mammography, breast self-examination and clinical breast examination-and other options, including ultrasound and magnetic-resonance imaging.

The book, geared toward nursing master's-degree students and professional nurses, also includes chapters on breast-cancer prevention and treatment.

Machia is program coordinator for the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene Trial, a national program to compare the safety, benefits and side effects of tamoxifen and raloxifene in woman at high risk for breast cancer.

She also was program coordinator of the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial, which demonstrated that tamoxifen cut breast-cancer incidence by nearly half in high-risk women.

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