Breast Cancer Detection, Treatments and Prevention

Breast cancer is the number one disease that women in the United States fear the most, and for compelling reasons. According to the American Cancer Society, this year about 175,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and about 43,300 deaths from breast cancer will occur among women in the USA.Breast cancer is a rapid, uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in one or both breasts. Researchers have identified lots of risk factors (such as age, diet, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, and family history), but the specific causes of breast cancer remain elusive.There are five main stages of breast cancer. If breast cancer is detected in its early stages, the 5 year survival rate is greater than 95%.Breast cancer is more easily treated and often curable if it is found early. Monthly breast self-examinations should begin at age 20. Recommended screening methods include breast self-examination and mammography. Treatment for breast cancer usually depends on the type of cancer and whether the cancer has spread outside of the breast to the rest of the body. Treatment options include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and endocrine/anti-hormone therapy. It's very important to diagnose inflammatory breast cancer quickly so that treatment can begin. After surgery, radiation treatment is used to try to kill any remaining cancer cells.Possible surgical treatments are either a mastectomy (complete removal of the breast) or breast conserving therapy. Even if a mastectomy is needed (about 30-40% of patients need this), building a new breast, called reconstruction, offers a natural looking breast replacement. Breast-conserving surgery (which removes only some of your breast) often works just as well as a mastectomy (which removes all of your breast).Mammograms can detect tumors in the earliest stages, however, a standard mammogram can miss 15-20% of cancerous tumors. Heightened awareness of breast cancer risk in the past decades has led to an increase in the number of women undergoing mammography for screening, leading to detection of cancers in earlier stages and a resultant improvement in survival rates.Research suggests that routine exercise may help prevent breast cancer. Up to 10 percent of breast cancer patients eventually suffer a recurrence in the other breast. The cause of breast cancer is unknown. Early detection of breast cancer is therefore vital as it increases the chances of successful treatment. The chance of a woman in her 40s developing breast cancer is about one in 70, whereas the risk of a woman in her 80s developing breast cancer is one in 25. When breast cancer is confined to the breast the five year survival rate is over 95%. For women aged 40-49, the evidence that screening mammography reduces mortality from breast cancer is weaker, and the absolute benefit of mammography is smaller, than it is for older women.The good news is that breast cancer is a disease that can be treated and cured. More than 90 out of 100 women whose breast cancer is found early will be cured. While there is still no cure for the disease, the experts and leading organizations such as the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Doctors and scientists are working on finding cures for all types of breast cancer. Finding and treating breast cancer early is the best way to increase your chances of survival and cure.

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Genetic Screening and Breast Cancer

Could you be at a greater risk of developing Breast Cancer? Well some women are, and some women are getting genetic counseling and screening. The report tells them if they have the mutated gene BRAC and give them a likely percentage of developing Breast Cancer. When the Family history has gone back for years with Breast Cancer being prevalent in the Family, the risk is even higher! What should a woman do in this instance?In some cases although Breast Cancer was diagnosed it was not concluded as the BRAC form...simply because BRAC screening wasn't being done in those days of old! However it can be done now and for women that know there is more than a slight chance of getting Breast Cancer and perhaps from that will stem other cancers in the female organs, what are they to do?Why, you ask, because if it is the BRAC form it is almost 100% sure that these women will get one form of breast cancer....and when they have seen it take its course in their family, when a woman has to live out her life knowing this, most women want to know their chances for survival, and at a early age more than later in life..BRAC is in the class of genes known as tumor suppressors and women with this gene usually have strong family history of breast and ovarian cancers which have a tendency to come on before menopause. If a woman finds herself in this predicament, they really want an answer to their fears of developing any type of breast cancer or cancer in any of the female organs, the uterus, cervix, ovaries and even in the tubes.From reading medical journals according to the National Cancer Institute in the US, predict 12% of women will develop breast cancer at some time during their lives. However they also have predicted that 60% with a BRAC mutation will develop cancer in their female organs, most usually breast cancer, on occasion ovarian cancer. So what is a woman to do? Most women feel that their breasts define femininity! Most women who know what this has done to women in their family, live their lives as if they were cancer survivors, so in my mind the only way to be sure is to have the screenings. In a recent case of a family with 4 girls, now women, 2 had the BRAC genes....Two did not show any mutation at all! Not every cancer will be the result of the BRAC mutation and not every woman with BRAC will have cancer or will all female family members have the gene! Also if a woman chooses a double mastectomy due to her having the BRAC gene, there is no guarantee that the surgery will eliminate her risk of breast cancer! Decisions...decisions and these women once their fate is known, must make their own decisions knowing full well all that has been spoken about in former paragraphs.Other decisions more daunting are those about possible hysterectomy because of the risk of ovarian and cervical cancer.
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