'Boy Meets World' star says she's been diagnosed with a form of breast cancer that's curable

Danielle Fishel, who played Topanga Lawrence in the teen sitcom "Boy Meets World," has a curable form of breast cancer.

In a story by Annabelle Timsit in today's editions of The Washington Post, Fishel urged other women to get their mammograms, or breast cancer screenings, to catch any issues early.

Danielle Fischel

The diagnosis, Fishel disclosed, is that she has DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), which affects more than 55,000 women in the United States each year but usually is noninvasive and curable. 

The 43-year-old Fischel, who now also uses the name Fishel-Park, having added her second husband, a comedian, to the appellation, says she's having surgery to remove the abnormal cells and will receive "some follow-up treatment," according to Timsit's story.

The Post piece also quotes the television star as saying that "the only reason I caught this cancer when it is still Stage 0 is because the day I got my text message that my yearly mammogram had come up, I made the  appointment."

Cancers are rated from 0, the least dangerous form of the disease, to 4, the most advanced (and normally deadly).

The Cleveland Clinic maintains that "DCIS accounts for up to a quarter  of all new cancer diagnoses," the story adds.

Although modern medical imaging technology "has made it possible to detect DCIS whereas it would typically go undetected before and could in some cases turn into invasive and deadly forms of breast cancer," the article continues, Nigel Bundred, an emeritus professor of surgical oncology at Manchester University, emphasizes that DCIS can recur "and turn into invasive breast cancer and therefore requires close monitoring and, in many cases, treatment."

To learn more about DCIS, buy Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his wife's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

AP story suggests liquid biopsies may be 'a new frontier in cancer screening for healthy people'

Liquid biopsies, or blood tests that look for cancer by checking for DNA fragments shed by tumor cells, are being billed "as a new frontier in cancer screening for healthy people."

A story in this week's San Francisco Chronicle by Associated Press medical writer Carla K. Johnson notes that these tests already are being "used in patients with cancer to tailor their treatment and check if tumors come back."

But one California-based company, Grail, is promoting the $949 test, the article says, "as a way to detect tumors in the pancreas, ovaries and other sites that have no recommended screening method."

Most insurance companies do not cover the cost, and the tests are being marketed "without endorsements from medical groups or a recommendation from U.S. health authorities," Johnson's piece says.

The Associated Press also observes that Federal Drug Administration "authorization, clearance or approval of such tests is required by law, but the agency historically has not enforced most regulatory requirements for ones – like Grail’s – that are designed, manufactured and used within a single laboratory."

The story quotes FDA spokesman Jim McKinney as reporting that the agency is working with Congress on legislation "to update the regulatory framework, which would include active oversight for such tests."

Although Grill intends to get FDA approval, it currently is marketing its test "as it submits data to the agency."

Meanwhile, Johnson's piece says, "U.S. government researchers are planning a large experiment — with 200,000 participants and possibly lasting seven years — to see if the blood tests can live up to the promise of catching more cancers earlier and saving lives."

Dr. Lori Minasian

"They sound wonderful, but we don't have enough information," the story quotes Dr. Lori Minasian of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Prevention, who is involved in planning the research. "We don't have definitive data that shows that they will reduce the risk of dying from cancer."

Whereas screening tests — mammography, PAP, colonoscopy, for example — look for one cancer at a time, claims Dr. Joshua Ofman, an executive at Grail, the new blood tests look for many cancers at once, a definite advantage.

More information on testing for disease can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.