Breast Cancer
From Breast Cancer Surgery
Surgery is usually the first line of attack against breast cancer. This section discusses the different types of surgery for breast cancer.
Decisions about surgery depend on many factors. You and your doctor determine the type of surgery that is best for you depending on the stage of cancer, cancer personality, and is acceptable for you in terms of your long-term peace of mind. Read the rest of this entry »
Radiation breast cancer
Radiation therapy – also called radiotherapy – is highly targeted, very effective way to destroy breast cancer cells that stick around after the surgery. Radiation can reduce the risk of recurrence of breast cancer by about 70%. Despite what many are afraid of radiation is relatively easy to tolerate the side effects and is limited to the treated area.
The radiation treatments will be monitored by a radiation oncologist, a physician specializing in radiation therapy of tumors.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy is using a large machine called a linear accelerator for the precise amounts of high-energy rays to kill cancer cells provide. The radiation stops the reproduction of tumor cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. Radiation therapy has been shown that survival in women with breast cancer to improve. Read the rest of this entry »
Breast cancer chemo
Chemotherapy (chemotherapy) treatment with the cancer killing drugs are administered intravenously (by injection into a vein) or orally. The drugs travel through the bloodstream to reach cancer cells in many parts of the body. Chemotherapy is given in cycles, with each treatment period, followed by a recovery period. Treatment usually lasts several months.
Chemotherapy is the use of anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. The goal of chemotherapy is the maximum damage to cancer cells while doing so that the minimal damage to normal tissue. Women with chemotherapy for breast cancer:
before surgery to reduce cancer. This is known as neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. Read the rest of this entry »
Treatment options for breast cancer
There was an explosion of life-saving treatment advances against breast cancer, leading to new hope and enthusiasm. Instead of just one or two options, today there is an overwhelming menu of treatment choices that the complex mix of cells in every fight against cancer. Decisions – surgery, radiation could, the anti-estrogen hormonal therapy, and / or chemotherapy – can be confusing.
After breast cancer is diagnosed and staged, the team recommended medical treatment. The treatment plan will be based on the type of cancer you have, the size, quality and biological characteristics of cancer, hormonal status, and your general health. Read the rest of this entry »
Treatment For Breast Cancer
Different types of treatment available for patients with breast cancer. Some treatments are standard (the currently used treatment), and some have been tested in clinical trials. A treatment clinical trial is a study to improve current treatments or obtain information on new therapies for patients with cancer. When clinical trials show that a new treatment is better than the standard treatment, the new treatment is the standard treatment. Patients may want to think about participating in a clinical trial. Some clinical trials are open only to patients who have not started treatment.
Surgery
Most patients with breast cancer surgery to remove breast cancer. Some lymph nodes under the arm are usually outside and looked under a microscope to see if they contain cancer cells.
Breast-sparing surgery, surgery to remove the tumor, but not the breast itself, includes the following: Read the rest of this entry »
Screening for Breast Cancer
Screening for breast cancer before symptoms are important. Screening can help doctors detect and treat cancer early. The treatment is more likely to work well when cancer is found early.
Your doctor may suggest the following screening tests for breast cancer:
Screening mammography
clinical breast examination
self-examination
you should tell your doctor about when to start and how often to check for breast cancer.
Screening mammograms Read the rest of this entry »
About Breast Cancer
A breast is made up of three parts: glands, ducts, and connective tissue. The glands produce milk. The ducts are passages that carry milk to the nipple. The connective tissue (composed of fibrous and fatty tissue) connects and holds everything together.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women in North America and Europe. Nearly 200,000 cases of breast cancer was diagnosed in the United States in 2001. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American women lung cancer. The risk the life of a woman developing breast cancer is about 1 in 8 although the lifetime risk of dying from breast cancer is much lower than 1-28. Men are also at risk of developing breast cancer, although this risk is much lower for women. Read the rest of this entry »
Signs of breast cancer
Breast cancer begins with abnormal cells in the development of breast tissue. It may be confined to the breast and can spread on your chest or other parts of the body. The most common form of breast cancer starts in the pipes for the transport of milk to the nipple. Cancer, but may also occur in small bags that milk production, called lobules, or in other tissues of the breast. Breast cancer treatment options vary greatly, and are selected to your individual needs.
Breast cancer can occur in various forms, including the following five types:
breast cancer in situ ducal carcinoma in situ and LCI – many breast cancers detected early, usually by mammography are classified as in situ or invasive breast cancer. These early cellular changes may develop into invasive cancer. Two types of breast cancer in situ are: Read the rest of this entry »
Stage Of Breast Cancer
1 .- Stage 0
Noninvasive breast cancer or in situ.
a) Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS): Cancer cells are located within a duct, there is no invasion of surrounding fatty tissue.
b) Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS): The atypical cells grow inside the milk-producing glands, and do not penetrate through the walls of the lobe.
2 .- Stage I
The tumor is less than 2 centimeters in diameter. Has not spread beyond the breast.
3 .- Stage II
It is divided into IIA and IIB.
a) Stage IIA. It includes three categories: non-palpable tumor with positive lymph nodes but mobile, not fixed to each other, tumor less than or equal to 2 cm in greatest diameter with positive axillary nodes and tumors moving between 2 and 5 cm with negative axillary nodes.
b) Stage IIB. Two modes: Tumors between 2 and 5 cm in greatest diameter, axillary node-positive phones, tumors larger than 5 cm in greatest diameter, with negative lymph nodes in the armpit.
4 .- Stage III
This stage is divided into IIIA and IIIB:
a) Stage IIIA. They have the following modalities: non-palpable tumors, tumor diameter greater or less than 2 cm and tumors between 2 and 5 centimeters, if they have positive lymph nodes, fixed to each other or that have invaded other structures in the armpit. O tumors larger than 5 cm in greatest diameter with any positive node in the armpit.
b) Stage IIIB: Breast cancer of any size that has spread to the chest wall, skin of the breast or chest wall or skin and inflammatory carcinoma of the breast. Or any size tumor with positive nodes in the internal mammary tumor on the same side.
5 .- Stage IV
Cancer regardless of its size, has spread (metastasized) to distant organs such as bones, lungs or
Breast Cancer Monitoring
After the woman has undergone treatment for the elimination of breast cancer, you need to make stricter controls over the first five years. After they shall continue to be controlled like any healthy woman.
The controls are:
During the first two years, physical examinations will be conducted every three months and annual mammography.
Over the next three years, the physical examinations conducted every six months and annual mammography will also.
These controls will not require any other evidence provided that the woman is asymptomatic and her doctor so it sees fit.
Other tests are not uncommon blood tests, chest radiography and serial bone X-rays. You can perform some other evidence relating to any symptoms that the patient present.