Katie Couric Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Katie Couric opened up about her recent diagnosis with breast cancer and encouraged more women to get tested.

Couric said she felt compelled to share her breast cancer story to remind other women to be proactive about regular screenings. The American Cancer Society [recent Instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/p/CjDGexLLTpT/), the 65-year-old TODAY show alum revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer on June 21, 2022, the same day as her eight-year wedding anniversary. [second most common cancer](https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/statistics/) among cisgender women in America. “It made me feel grateful and guilty — and angry that there’s a de facto caste system when it comes to healthcare in America.” She underwent a surgery to remove cancerous tissue on July 14 and started radiation on September 7, receiving her final round earlier this week.

Following her June breast cancer diagnosis, Katie Couric is asking more people to get screened for breast cancer, especially if they have dense breast ...

The differences in who has access to good quality mammograms—and the additional screening that's necessary for those with dense breast tissue—could be attributed to a number of things. "I try to encourage my patients to think along those lines and not be despaired by dense breast tissue and not be scared by it." The mammogram is critical to breast cancer diagnosis and will tell a doctor if a person has dense breasts and needs additional screening in the first place, Dr. It's important to also note that additional breast cancer screening has more than just financial costs—these tests can be anxiety-inducing for many, Dr. "One of the strongest if not the strongest predictor of a good outcome of [a] cure—which is our ultimate goal—is early diagnosis." [American Cancer Society](https://www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/screening-tests-and-early-detection/american-cancer-society-recommendations-for-the-early-detection-of-breast-cancer.html) suggests the same, recommending yearly mammograms (or the option for a yearly mammogram) from ages 40 to 54. "The point of screening is to detect cancers when they are still asymptomatic—before they become a problem, before the woman feels anything, before it affects her health, because that's when they tend to be very small and treatable, and hopefully curable," Dr. Black women are also [less likely to get screened](https://www.jacr.org/article/S1546-1440%2821%2900006-5/fulltext) with newer, more effective 3D mammography technology. But other screening tests are not in place of a mammogram—they're in addition to it. "Ultrasound is sound waves, as opposed to a mammogram, [which] is X-rays," Dr. So if you have dense breasts, it is harder to pick up a white-appearing cancer on a white background," Dr. "It's just the makeup of a patient.

Katie Couric shares she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. The long-time cancer screening advocate and mom of two opens up about the mammogram she ...

“Breast self-examination is not recommended in average-risk women because there is a risk of harm from false-positive test results and a lack of evidence of benefit,” ACOG states. “Women should be familiar with how their breasts normally look and feel and should report any changes to a health care provider right away.” Screening should continue as long as a woman is in good health and is expected to live at least 10 more years. (Average risk of breast cancer is considered having no personal history, no strong family history, no BRCA-gene mutation or previous chest radiation before age 30.) In addition to mammograms, Couric typically gets a routine ultrasound to look for any abnormalities, but not all doctors take this step. The journalist has been an outspoken advocate for preventative cancer screening since she was famously filmed undergoing a colonoscopy after the death of her first husband, [Jay Monahan](https://katiecouric.com/lifestyle/relationships/katie-couric-jay-monahan-wedding/), from colon cancer in 1998, but missed a routine mammogram. “I was warned that I may be fatigued and my skin may turn a little pink. “The bottom line is the earlier you detect it, the better.” During that 24-hour whirlwind, I found out that 85 percent of the 264,000 American women who are diagnosed every year in this country have no family history.” The idea of losing another was unfathomable,” she writes. She fretted about calling her daughters, Ellie and Carrie, with the news. Her sister Emily died of pancreatic cancer at 54, and her mother-in-law Carol passed away after fighting ovarian cancer.