According to the American Cancer Society, “Breast cancer is the common disease of women in the United States, other than skin cancer.” After lung cancer, it is the leading secondary cause of cancer death in women. It helps to have some basic facts about the normal makeup of the breasts to understand breast cancer. In the past, this disease was one of the most feared forms of cancer due to its fatality rate and because complete recovery often required breast removal. The best way to fight this disease is to have a plan that helps you detect the disease in its early stages. Now, however, treatment options have been expanded and there is a higher probability of full recovery than ever before. Lives can be saved by increasing awareness of breast cancer through education and by providing mammograms for those in needs. Therefore, women can increase their chances of surviving breast cancer if they overcome their fears, receive thorough check-ups, and seek proper treatments.
Now, what is breast cancer? Breast cancer is a condition in which malignant cells form in the tissues of the breast. It is considered a heterogeneous disease differing by their age and even the kinds of cells and tumors themselves. “Evidently no woman wants to hear this diagnosis, but hearing the words “breast cancer” does not always signify a conclusion. It can be the launch of learning how to confront, obtain the facts, and find hope” (ACS, 2010). While, it found predominantly in women, men can be at risk too. It is about 100 times more common in women than in men. Here, I will only talk about breast cancer in women because a woman is more susceptible to this disease.
Each breast contains 15 to 20 sections called lobes. Inside each lobe is several, tiny lobule. L...
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“So I started getting worried about my hormones. Then I read this other article about how you can tell if you have cancer or not. It said if you had any sores in your mouth that didn't heal pretty quickly, it was a sign that you probably had cancer. I'd had this sore on the inside of my lip for about two weeks. So figured I was getting cancer.”
Over the past decade breast cancer has become one of the most predominant diseases in the United States. Breast cancer starts out as a malignant tumor in the tissues of the breast which is formed from the uncontrolled growth of abnormal breast cells. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, but it can also appear in men. (Stephan, 2010)
Breast cancer is most commonly diagnosed in Stage I and Stage II, where the size of the tumor is less than five centimeters in diameter. In these situations, surgery is often the second treatment option after chemotherapy and radiation therapy, both of which are used to shrink the tumor to a manageable size first. If the patient chooses to, the ...
Cancer is the term used to describe a group of diseases consisting of hundreds of ailments and although there exists so many different types of cancer, they all begin in a similar way. The body is made up of over a trillion cells, and cancer is the uncontrolled growth of malfunctioning cells in the body (Dawson, 1996). “Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person’s life, normal cells divide faster to allow the person to grow. After the person becomes an adult, most cells divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells or to repair injuries” (American Cancer Society, 2012).
Breast cancer is a type of cancer originates from breast tissue, generally from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas whereas from ducts are called ductal carcinomas. (Ref: Breast Cancer, National Cancer Institute) Invasive breast cancer is breast cancer that has spread from the point of origin in the breast ducts/lobules to the surrounding normal tissue cells. In exceptional cases, breast cancer can start in at other sites in breast. Breast cancer occurs in both women and men, though male breast cancer is uncommon.
Some risk factors cannot be changed such as age, race, and gender. A person 's risk increases as they get older. Approximately 1 out of 8 women are at risk of developing breast cancer are younger than 55. Approximately 2 out of 3 women are at risk of developing breast cancer who are older than 55 (American Cancer Society, 2014). To decrease this rate, women need more timely follow ups and access to high quality treatments (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Men can develop breast cancer, but this disease is more common among women than men. (American Cancer Society, 2015).
What is breast cancer? According to the National Cancer Institute at the National Institute of Health breast cancer is a, “cancer that forms in tissues of the breast" (cancer.gov). More specifically breast cancer is a malignant tumor that grows inside the breast tissue. What happens is one cell in the tissue does not get the stop signal and keeps dividing into this big mass. This big mass continues to grow and grow and could eventually taking over space that is meant for other tissue or getting into the blood stream taking the dividing cells elsewhere. Breast cancer normally starts in one of two places.
“One in every ten women in the United States will develop breast cancer sometime during her life”. (Breast Care). More than six percent of these cases are linked to hereditary. There are many measures that can be taken to detect breast cancer early in its stages. Women who believe they have a higher risk should have the breast cancer gene testing.
Breast cancer is a disease that is frightening and can be harmful to many people, however as more time passes more is known. The thirty percent decrease in death due to breast cancer is tremendous and it is just a start. By understanding the prevention, treatment, symptoms breast cancer is a disease that can be beat.
Breast Cancer is defined as “a group of solid tumor malignancies arising in the tissues of the breast” (Sarah Crawford, Richard Alder, 2013) in human and other mammals. It can happen to both men and women. For women, breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death. According to National Cancer Institute, in the United States, the 2014 estimated new cases and deaths of female from breast cancer are 232,670 and 40,000, respectively. For male, it’s 430 deaths out of 2,360 new cases. From these numbers, we can see that women in the U.S. are greatly affected by breast cancer, thus, it’s not difficult to imagine the impact on a worldwide level. Although these numbers look frightening, people can actually survive from breast cancer if it is detected early and treated properly, so it is extremely important for all of us, especially women, to have a better understanding of breast cancer.
Trevena L. (2009) Cancer screening Reprinted from Australian Family Physician: School of Public Health, University of Sydney, New South Wales. Vol. 38, No. 4
Historically speaking breast cancer has been around for hundreds of years. Thankfully the treatment has improved. Patients who get the cancer removed and take care of themselves after, for example, by exercising and eating healthy, will live longer. There are many risks that increase the likelihood of developing breast cancer, for instance, age, family history, and race. A women who made history with breast cancer was Betty Ford, Betty was one of the first lady’s to speak openly about her disease. Betty encouraged women who have been affected with the disease to go to their doctor as soon as possible and told women who had shared that they didn’t have breast cancer to do self breast exams regularly and get mammograms. She also said when women get diagnosed with it don’t be embarrassed. Treatments in the past were pretty good and quite the same compared to the treatments given to people now, for instance, mastectomy’s which was the primary...
"Endometrial Cancer Staging - EMedicineHealth: Symptoms, Prognosis, Treatment and Risk Factors by." Endometrial Cancer. Web. 07 Jan. 2012. .