Posts Tagged ‘Breast Cancer’
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 »
Chemotherapy for breast cancer
In cancer treatment, chemotherapy refers to the use of drugs to kill or growth of a rapid multiplication of cells, such as the delay of cancer.
Chemotherapy usually contains a combination of drugs is often more effective than a single drug given alone. There are many combinations of drugs used to treat breast cancer. Ask your doctor for specific information and side effects can you expect from your chemotherapy drugs.
Because chemotherapy for breast cancer
Drugs for breast cancer chemotherapy intravenously (directly into a vein) or orally (by mouth). Once the drugs enter the bloodstream, they travel to all parts of the body to which cancer cells can spread outside the breast to achieve – so the chemotherapy is considered a “systemic” form of treatment for breast cancer. 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 »
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 »
Symptoms of breast cancer
Symptoms of breast cancer varies widely – from lumps to swelling to skin changes – and many breast cancers have no obvious symptoms at all. Symptoms similar to those of breast cancer may result from non-cancer diseases, such as an infection or a cyst.
Self-examination should be part of your monthly health care routine, and you must visit your doctor if you experience breast changes. If you are over 40 or at high risk for the disease, you also need a mammogram yearly physical examination by a doctor. The earlier breast cancer is found and the diagnosis, the better your chances of beating it. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
Breast Cancer Symptoms
In the early stages of breast cancer women often produces no symptoms. The breast pain is not a sign of cancer although 10% of these patients is often present without any palpable mass.
The first sign is usually a lump, to touch, different note of the breast tissue around it. It is often noted with irregular, hard, painless to the touch. Sometimes color changes occur and tension in the skin of the affected area.
Not all malignant tumors have these characteristics as some have regular borders and are soft to the touch. For this reason, when any abnormality is detected you should consult your doctor.
In the early stages, the lump under the skin can move his fingers. In later stages, the tumor is usually attached to the chest wall or overlying skin and does not scroll. The nodule is often clearly palpable and even armpit nodes may enlarge. The symptoms of these steps are varied and depend on the size and extent of the tumor.
Other signs that may occur are:
- Pain or nipple retraction.
- Irritation of the skin or fissures.
- Inflammation of a portion of the breast.
- Redness or scaling of the skin or nipple.
- Discharge from the nipple than breast milk.
Breast Cancer: Risk Factors
The cause of breast cancer is not known but we do know some risk factors. It is considered a risk factor that situation that increases the chance of developing the disease.
Keep in mind that women who are more likely to develop breast cancer (by having more risk factors) can take preventive measures to reduce the likelihood and periodic revisions or changes in your lifestyle.
RISK FACTORS
** Sex
Breast cancer occurs mainly in women though. It can also affect men but the probability is much lower.
** Age
An elderly carries an increased number of cancers. 60% of breast tumors occur in women over 60 years. This percentage increases much more after 75 years.
** Genes
There are two identified genes that, when any change in them (mutation) are associated with an increased likelihood of developing breast cancer. These genes are called BRCA1 and BRCA2, and according to some studies it seems that between 50% and 60% of women who have inherited the mutated genes can develop cancer before age 70.
** Family history
When a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) had breast cancer doubles the risk of autism. If this is a more distant relative (grandmother, aunt, cousin) increases the risk only slightly.
** Personal history
A previous benign breast disease seems to increase risk in women who have a large number of ducts. Still, this risk is moderate. Some abnormal breast biopsy may be related to a slightly elevated risk of breast cancer. The risk of developing cancer in the other breast in women who have had breast cancer is different from the first recurrence or recurrence of cancer.
Stages of Breast Cancer
The cancer has a different prognosis and treatment depending on the stage of development that are in and the risk factors that women have. For this we must perform a series of analysis to facilitate their classification in one or another stage.
The American Joint Committee on Cancer uses the TNM classification system:
* The letter T, followed by a number ranging from 0 to 4 indicates the size of the tumor and spread to the skin or chest wall under the breast. A higher number corresponds to a larger tumor and / or a higher spread to nearby tissues.
* The letter N, followed by a number ranging from 0 to 3 indicates whether the cancer has spread to lymph nodes near the breast and, if so, whether these nodes are attached to other structures.
* The letter M, followed by a 0 or 1, stated whether the cancer has spread to distant organs.
The classification for subgroups is done with numbers ranging from I to IV.
Stage I: indicates that the tumor is less than 2 cm and no metastasis. The relative survival rate 5 years is 98%.
Stage II: includes the following situations:
- No larger than 2 cm but the lymph nodes under the arm are affected.
- Measure 2 to 5 cm and may or may not have spread.
- It is more than 5 cm but the axillary lymph nodes are not affected. The survival rate at 5 years is 88-76%.