Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book: a lasting reference

This page is for readers weighing whether to use Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book. It covers what the book contains, where it is strong, and which parts to check against current guidance.

Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book is written by Susan M. Love, a breast surgeon. We have not checked its publication history or her background against an approved source, so this page does not give edition counts or dates.

Most books in this series are built around one story. This one is a reference. It is meant as a guide to how the breast works, what can go wrong with it, and what to expect from evaluation and treatment. Cancer is one of those conditions.

The book has been revised over time. Check the copyright year of your own copy, and weigh its screening and treatment advice against that date.

Its scope is broader than cancer alone. It covers benign (non-cancerous) breast conditions as well as cancer. Benign findings are a frequent source of fear when a lump or change is first noticed.

The book is organized by topic, not by story. It covers breast anatomy and normal changes across a lifetime. A large part covers benign conditions, such as cysts, fibrocystic changes, and mastitis. It explains how they are told apart from cancer.

The cancer sections cover screening, diagnosis, staging, and treatment options. A diagnosis usually follows these steps:

1. An abnormal finding
2. Further imaging
3. A biopsy, then pathology results
4. A discussion of treatment options, based on cancer type and stage

The book also covers topics next to a diagnosis, such as body image, sexuality after treatment, and relationships and work during illness.

The book's greatest strength is how much it covers. It treats benign conditions with the same care it gives cancer. Many readers who pick up a breast health book are dealing with a benign finding, not a cancer diagnosis.

A practicing breast surgeon wrote it. That gives the explanations of diagnosis and treatment a clinical grounding.

Screening guidance can change faster than any printed book updates. USPSTF (the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force) revised its mammography recommendation in April 2024, so a copy printed before then may describe the older guidance. Treat any screening age or interval in a book as a starting point to verify, not a final answer.

Genetic testing advice also depends on the edition. Check it against current sources such as NCI.

The book's length can also work against a reader in distress after a new diagnosis. That reader may need a shorter, more immediate resource first. A comprehensive reference can wait.

The book covers breast cancer risk factors in its screening and prevention sections. CDC's current material organizes that same information plainly.

CDC lists these risk factors a person cannot change:

• Growing older
• Inherited BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations
• Early menstrual periods or late menopause
• Dense breast tissue
• A personal history of breast cancer or of certain non-cancerous breast diseases
• A family history of breast or ovarian cancer
• Prior chest radiation
• DES exposure during pregnancy

CDC separately lists factors that can be changed:

• Physical inactivity
• Weight gain after menopause
• Taking hormone replacement therapy that combines estrogen and progesterone during menopause (CDC says risk varies by type)
• Some birth control pills
• Reproductive history factors, such as a first pregnancy after 30 or never breastfeeding
• Alcohol: CDC says risk rises the more a woman drinks

Some people have a strong family history or a known BRCA mutation. If that is you, ask your care team about genetic counseling. NCI's BRCA fact sheet reports that more than 60 percent of women with a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 change will develop breast cancer, compared with about 13 percent of women overall.

USPSTF recommends screening mammography every two years for women aged 40 to 74. It is a Grade B recommendation, issued in April 2024. Before that, USPSTF advised making an individual decision for women in their 40s. USPSTF says this recommendation does not apply to people with BRCA1 or BRCA2 changes, prior chest radiation, or a past breast cancer. For women 75 and older, it found not enough evidence to judge screening.

NCI's screening material covers benefits and harms. Finding cancer early may make it easier to treat. False-positive results can cause distress and lead to more tests, such as biopsies. Some cancers found by screening may never have caused problems in a woman's lifetime.

Women at high risk may have breast MRI along with mammography, according to NCI. That decision is made with a clinician. For the fuller current guidance, see breast cancer screening and breast cancer risk factors. See cancer screening overview for how breast screening fits alongside other recommended tests.

Breast cancer care keeps changing. Screening ages, genetic testing and treatment options can all change between editions. A copy from several years ago needs care. Treat its screening, genetic testing and treatment sections as a foundation to check against current sources, not a final word.

This book suits a reader who wants one comprehensive reference to return to across a long process. That process might be a benign finding that needs monitoring. It might be a new cancer diagnosis. It might be ongoing survivorship questions. Its breadth is a genuine advantage for that kind of sustained use.

It suits some readers less well. One is a reader who wants a quick answer to a single urgent question. Another is a reader who wants the newest possible screening guidance without cross-checking. That guidance can move faster than even a well-maintained book's revision cycle. For the most current screening ages and intervals, the source and links below reflect guidance current as of this writing.

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• USPSTF — Breast Cancer: Screening
• CDC — Breast Cancer Risk Factors
• NCI — BRCA Gene Changes: Cancer Risk and Genetic Testing
• NCI — Screening for Breast Cancer

This page discusses Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book for education. It is not medical advice, and nothing here is a judgement of anyone's real medical care.