Early detection. Early detection. Early detection. Early detection. Early detection. Early detection.American Cancer Association website: The goal of screening exams for early breast cancer detectionis to find cancers before they start to cause symptoms. Screening refers totests and exams used to find a disease, such as cancer, in people whodo not have any symptoms. Earlydetection meansusing an approach that allows earlier diagnosis of breast cancer thanotherwise might have occurred. Breast cancers that are found because they are causingsymptoms tend to be larger and are more likely to have already spreadbeyond the breast. In contrast, breast cancers found during screeningexams are more likely to be smaller and still confined to the breast.The size of a breast cancer and how far it has spread are some of themost important factors in predicting the prognosis (outlook) of a woman with this disease.Because I can't say it enough.Reuters:Actress Christina Applegate, famed for playing ditzy daughter KellyBundy on TV comedy "Married ... With Children," is fighting breastcancer, but expected to make a full recovery, her spokeswoman said onSaturday. Applegate, 36, was diagnosed with cancer during a regular MRI, spokeswoman Ame Van Iden said in an email.If you have a family history, like Christina does, one must be very diligent about these regular checks.The ACA website, again: Breast cancer risk is higher among women whose close bloodrelatives have this disease. Having 1 first-degree relative (mother, sister, or daughter) withbreast cancer almost doubles a woman's risk. Having 2 first-degreerelatives increases her risk about 5-fold. Although the exact risk isnot known, women with a family history of breast cancer in a father orbrother also have an increased risk of breast cancer. Overall, about20% to 30% of women with breast cancer have a family member with thisdisease. (It's important to note this means that 70% to 80% of womenwho get breast cancer do not have a family historyof...