Doctors say new advancements are helping detect breast cancer and treatments

The fight against breast cancer has a long uphill battle before a cure is found, but the number of men and women surviving the disease is increasing.

Dr. Brianna McDevitt, a breast cancer surgeon with Penrose-St. France Breast Cancer Center, says new technology is helping doctors detect and treat patients better.

“We used to treat all women very similarly thinking that all breast cancers reacted the same but now we know they react differently,” said Dr. McDevitt.

Dr. McDevitt says how a cancer acts can determine what treatment is right for a patient.

“We send out a very specific test where we take a portion of the tumor and we find all the high-risk markers and depending on those markers turn will decide what each patient gets,” McDevitt said.

Funding new technology comes at the cost of billions of dollars in research, some of which comes through fundraisers like Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure.

Karen Svarverud, executive director for Susan G. Komen – Colorado South says 75 percent of their total net profits go to local non-profits that serve the community, or in other words, your neighbors. She says the other 25 percent goes to research grants which helps everyone.

The annual Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure is Sunday, September 9th. You can learn more information about the event by clicking here.