An experimental ultrasound technique that measures how easily breast lumps compress and bounce back could enable doctors to determine instantly whether a woman has cancer or not without doing a biopsy.

In a small study of 80 women, the technique -- called "elastography" -- distinguished harmless lumps from malignant ones with nearly 100 percent accuracy.

If the results hold up in a larger study, elastography could save thousands of women from the waiting, cost, discomfort and anxiety of a biopsy, in which cells are removed from the breast -- sometimes with a needle, sometimes with a scalpel -- and examined under a microscope.

"There's a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress, a lot of fear involved" with biopsies, said Susan Brown, manager of health education for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. "And there's the cost of leaving work to make a second appointment. If this can be done instead of a biopsy, there would be a real cost reduction."

To explain elastography, Ophir likens the body to a box-spring mattress, but "a crazy mattress made out of millions of small springs and each one is a little different. Each is moving around at a different rate, depending on their individual stiffness." Cancerous tumors are like stiff springs. Normal tissue and benign lesions compress more easily.

Recommendations published in the magazine Consumer Reports this week urge women to avoid eating any canned tuna while pregnant because of uncertainties about the risk of mercury contamination to developing fetuses.

The recommendations are stricter than the federal government's advice issued two years ago. Then, the FDA advised women and young children to limit — but not avoid — consumption of canned tuna because of contamination.

But the magazine's experts say women should avoid the popular item altogether because of FDA data showing that some canned tuna may have higher mercury levels than once thought.

"What we did is take a closer look at the data," says Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., a toxicologist and a senior scientist at Consumer Reports.

But the Consumer Reports analysis of the FDA's data shows that 6% of cans of light tuna contained at least as much mercury as white tuna, also known as albacore. It wasn't enough to skew the average beyond white tuna, but enough to warrant concern for pregnant women, Rangan says.

"We're not telling you not to eat tuna. But for pregnant women in particular where you are talking about potential fetal exposure - and it's an avoidable risk - we're saying go ahead and take some extra measures to reduce your Hg [mercury] exposure at all costs," she tells WebMD.

The arrogance of these lawmakers is simply breathtaking. Women have fought for years for these protections, such as not being forced to change doctors mid-pregnancy just because her doctor is dropped from her insurance plan. If insurance doesn't cover screenings for routine cervical cancer exams, many women won't have them. Most women use their OB/GYN as their primary doctor, relying her to get the correct care and screenings for everything from cancer to osteoporosis: women will have to go to another gateway doctor first before they can get to their OB/GYN under most insurance plans. And the law is so broadly written that many more procedures won't be required to be covered.

Scientists are reporting Friday that the vaccine was 100% effective in preventing cervical cancer and precancerous changes tied to two types of a common sexually transmitted virus.

"It's a very impressive finding," Christopher Crum, director of women's and perinatology pathology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said Thursday.