The main risk factors for developing breast cancer are sex, age and genetics. Because women can do something about these risks, regular screening is recommended to allow early detection and to avoid the death of breast cancer.
Regular screening includes breast self-examination, clinical breast examination and mammography.
Self-examination (BSE) is cheap and easy. Monthly review of routine can be useful. Previously thought to be critical, more recent studies suggest that breast self-examination may be less valuable than previously thought, especially for women with a routine clinical breast and / or mammography.
Women who are menstruating, the best time to study just menstruation.
For women who do not menstruate, or whose periods are very irregular, choose a certain date each month seems to work best.
Breast self-exam teaching technique can be your health care provider or one of several organizations interested in breast cancer.
Clinical Research: The American Cancer Society recommends breast examination, trained health care provider every three years from the age of 20 years and then annually after the age of 40 years.
Mammograms are recommended every one or two years from the age of 40 years. Women have a high risk of developing breast cancer, mammography screening may start earlier, usually before 10 years of age younger than a close relative developed breast cancer.
Obesity after menopause and excessive alcohol consumption may increase breast cancer risk slightly. Physically active women may have a lower risk. All women are encouraged to maintain a normal body weight, especially after menopause and reduce the excessive consumption of alcohol. HRT should be limited in time, if medically necessary.
In women who are genetically at high risk of developing breast cancer, tamoxifen has been shown to significantly reduce the incidence of the disease. Side effects should be carefully discussed with your health care provider before starting therapy. Another drug, raloxifene (Evista) is now used to treat osteoporosis, also blocks the effects of estrogen and appear to prevent breast cancer. Preliminary studies have shown that both tamoxifen and raloxifene were able to reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer, but raloxifene does not have this protective effect against invasive cancer. Studies are underway to better characterize the efficacy and indications for the use of raloxifene as a preventive medication for breast cancer.
Sometimes, a woman of very high risk of developing breast cancer choose to undergo preventive or prophylactic mastectomy to avoid developing breast cancer. Moreover, removal of the ovaries reduces the risk of developing breast cancer in women with a BRCA1 mutation and who have their ovaries surgically removed before reaching the age of 40 years.
Showing posts with label Breast cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Breast cancer. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Medical Treatment Of Breast Cancer
Many women are in addition to surgery, which may include radiotherapy, chemotherapy or hormone therapy. The decision, which requires further treatment based on stage and cancer, the presence of hormones and / or HER-2/neu receptor, and the health of patients and preferences.
Radiation therapy is used to kill cancer cells if left after surgery.
Radiation is a local treatment and, therefore, works only in tumor cells, which are directly within its range.
Radiation is used more often by people who have undergone conservative surgery such as lumpectomy. Conservative surgery is designed to leave the place as the breast tissue as possible.
Radiation therapy is given five days a week for five to six weeks. Each treatment lasts only a few minutes.
Radiation therapy is painless and has relatively few side effects. However, it can irritate skin or cause a sunburn sunburn in the region.
Chemotherapy involves the administration of drugs that kill cancer cells or stop them from growing. In breast cancer, three different chemotherapy strategies are used:
First Adjuvant chemotherapy is given to people who have had a cure for breast cancer such as surgery and radiotherapy. It is given to reduce the likelihood of cancer recurrence.
2. Presurgical chemotherapy is given to shrink a large tumor and / or to kill stray cancer cells. This increases the likelihood that surgery will get rid of cancer altogether.
3. Treatment with chemotherapy is routinely administered to women with breast cancer that has spread beyond the confines of the chest or local.
Most anticancer drugs given through the IV line, but some people are given the pills.
Chemotherapy is usually given in "cycles". Each cycle includes a period of intensive treatment that lasts a few days or weeks followed by a week or two for a refund. Most people with breast cancer have at least two, often four cycles of chemotherapy to begin. The tests are then repeated to see what treatment had an effect on cancer.
Chemotherapy differs from radiation in that it treats the whole body and can focus stray tumor cells that have migrated from the breast area.
Side effects of chemotherapy are well known. Side effects depend on the drugs are used. Many of these drugs have side effects that include hair loss, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue and low blood cell counts. Low blood counts can cause patients to be more susceptible to infections, feeling sick and tired, or bleed easily than normal. Medications are available to treat or prevent most of these side effects.
Hormone therapy may be because breast cancer (particularly those with a lot of estrogen receptor or progesterone) are often sensitive to hormonal changes. Hormone therapy can be administered to prevent a recurrence of a tumor or treatment of existing diseases.
In some cases, it is beneficial to remove a woman's natural hormones with drugs, is beneficial to add other hormones.
In premenopausal women, ovarian ablation (removal of ovarian hormones) may be useful. This can be done with drugs that inhibit the ability of the ovaries to produce estrogen, or surgically removing the ovaries, radiation therapy, or less frequently.
Until recently, tamoxifen (Nolvadex), an anti-estrogen (a substance that blocks the effects of estrogens), hormone therapy was the most commonly prescribed. It is used both for prevention of breast cancer and treatment.
Fulvestrant (Faslodex) is another agent that acts via the estrogen receptor, but instead of blocking it, this drug eliminates. It can be effective if the breast cancer no longer responds to tamoxifen. Fulvestrant is given only to women already in menopause and is approved for use in women with advanced breast cancer.
Toremifene (Fareston) is another anti-estrogen tamoxifen closely linked.
Aromatase inhibitors, which prevent the effect of the hormone affects the central tumor, may be more effective than tamoxifen in the adjuvant setting. Drug, anastrozole (Arimidex), exemestane (Aromasin) and letrozole (Femera) have a different set of risks and side effects than tamoxifen.
Aromatase inhibitors are rapidly moving patterns in the first line hormonal treatment. In addition, frequently used after two or more years of tamoxifen therapy.
Megace (megestrol acetate) is a substance similar to progesterone, which can also be used as a hormone therapy.
Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies against proteins in or around a cancer cell. The antibodies recognize an "invader" - in this case a cancer cell - and attack.
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is an antibody against the HER-2 protein, a protein responsible for the growth of cancer cells in many women with breast cancer (about 15-25% of breast cancers). Addition of trastuzumab to chemotherapy given after surgery has been shown to reduce the rate of recurrence and mortality in women with early breast cancer HER2/neu-positive. The use of trastuzumab with chemotherapy has become the standard adjuvant treatment for these women.
Lapatinib (Tykerb) is another drug that is directed against HER2/neu protein and can be administered in combination with chemotherapy. It is used in women with HER2-positive are no longer helped by chemotherapy and trastuzumab.
Another monoclonal antibody, Bevacixumab (Avastin) has been shown to have activity in treating breast cancer and is used in combination with chemotherapy. This compound targets the ability of cancer cells to form new blood vessels.
Surgery
Surgery is usually the first step after diagnosis of breast cancer. The type of surgery depends on the size and type of tumor and the patient's health and preferences.
Lumpectomy involves removal of cancerous tissue and a surrounding area of normal tissue. This is not considered curative, and should almost always be done in conjunction with other treatments such as radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy or hormonal therapy.
At that time, lumpectomy, axillary lymph nodes (glands in the armpit) is the estimated spread of cancer. This can be done either by removing the lymph nodes or sentinel node biopsy (biopsy of a lymph node closest to the tumor).
If a sentinel node biopsy is performed at the time of lumpectomy, may allow the surgeon to remove only some of the lymph nodes. In this procedure, a dye is injected into the tumor site. The way the substance is when it moves to the lymph nodes. At the first node is the sentinel node. This node is considered the most important for biopsy in the evaluation of tumor spread.
If the sentinel node biopsy is positive, the surgeon will usually remove all the lymph nodes in the armpit (axilla).
A simple chest to remove the entire breast, but not other structures. If the cancer is invasive, surgery alone will not cure. It 'a common treatment for ductal carcinoma in situ, non-invasive type of breast cancer.
Modified radical to remove the chest (armpit) lymph nodes of breast and axillary, but does not eliminate the underlying muscle in the chest. Although additional chemotherapy or hormonal therapy is almost always available, surgery alone is considered sufficient for the disease if it has metastasized.
Radical mastectomy involves removal of the breast and underlying muscles of the chest wall and content of the armpits. This is no longer done because current treatments are less bulky and has fewer complications.
Radiation therapy is used to kill cancer cells if left after surgery.
Radiation is a local treatment and, therefore, works only in tumor cells, which are directly within its range.
Radiation is used more often by people who have undergone conservative surgery such as lumpectomy. Conservative surgery is designed to leave the place as the breast tissue as possible.
Radiation therapy is given five days a week for five to six weeks. Each treatment lasts only a few minutes.
Radiation therapy is painless and has relatively few side effects. However, it can irritate skin or cause a sunburn sunburn in the region.
Chemotherapy involves the administration of drugs that kill cancer cells or stop them from growing. In breast cancer, three different chemotherapy strategies are used:
First Adjuvant chemotherapy is given to people who have had a cure for breast cancer such as surgery and radiotherapy. It is given to reduce the likelihood of cancer recurrence.
2. Presurgical chemotherapy is given to shrink a large tumor and / or to kill stray cancer cells. This increases the likelihood that surgery will get rid of cancer altogether.
3. Treatment with chemotherapy is routinely administered to women with breast cancer that has spread beyond the confines of the chest or local.
Most anticancer drugs given through the IV line, but some people are given the pills.
Chemotherapy is usually given in "cycles". Each cycle includes a period of intensive treatment that lasts a few days or weeks followed by a week or two for a refund. Most people with breast cancer have at least two, often four cycles of chemotherapy to begin. The tests are then repeated to see what treatment had an effect on cancer.
Chemotherapy differs from radiation in that it treats the whole body and can focus stray tumor cells that have migrated from the breast area.
Side effects of chemotherapy are well known. Side effects depend on the drugs are used. Many of these drugs have side effects that include hair loss, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue and low blood cell counts. Low blood counts can cause patients to be more susceptible to infections, feeling sick and tired, or bleed easily than normal. Medications are available to treat or prevent most of these side effects.
Hormone therapy may be because breast cancer (particularly those with a lot of estrogen receptor or progesterone) are often sensitive to hormonal changes. Hormone therapy can be administered to prevent a recurrence of a tumor or treatment of existing diseases.
In some cases, it is beneficial to remove a woman's natural hormones with drugs, is beneficial to add other hormones.
In premenopausal women, ovarian ablation (removal of ovarian hormones) may be useful. This can be done with drugs that inhibit the ability of the ovaries to produce estrogen, or surgically removing the ovaries, radiation therapy, or less frequently.
Until recently, tamoxifen (Nolvadex), an anti-estrogen (a substance that blocks the effects of estrogens), hormone therapy was the most commonly prescribed. It is used both for prevention of breast cancer and treatment.
Fulvestrant (Faslodex) is another agent that acts via the estrogen receptor, but instead of blocking it, this drug eliminates. It can be effective if the breast cancer no longer responds to tamoxifen. Fulvestrant is given only to women already in menopause and is approved for use in women with advanced breast cancer.
Toremifene (Fareston) is another anti-estrogen tamoxifen closely linked.
Aromatase inhibitors, which prevent the effect of the hormone affects the central tumor, may be more effective than tamoxifen in the adjuvant setting. Drug, anastrozole (Arimidex), exemestane (Aromasin) and letrozole (Femera) have a different set of risks and side effects than tamoxifen.
Aromatase inhibitors are rapidly moving patterns in the first line hormonal treatment. In addition, frequently used after two or more years of tamoxifen therapy.
Megace (megestrol acetate) is a substance similar to progesterone, which can also be used as a hormone therapy.
Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies against proteins in or around a cancer cell. The antibodies recognize an "invader" - in this case a cancer cell - and attack.
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is an antibody against the HER-2 protein, a protein responsible for the growth of cancer cells in many women with breast cancer (about 15-25% of breast cancers). Addition of trastuzumab to chemotherapy given after surgery has been shown to reduce the rate of recurrence and mortality in women with early breast cancer HER2/neu-positive. The use of trastuzumab with chemotherapy has become the standard adjuvant treatment for these women.
Lapatinib (Tykerb) is another drug that is directed against HER2/neu protein and can be administered in combination with chemotherapy. It is used in women with HER2-positive are no longer helped by chemotherapy and trastuzumab.
Another monoclonal antibody, Bevacixumab (Avastin) has been shown to have activity in treating breast cancer and is used in combination with chemotherapy. This compound targets the ability of cancer cells to form new blood vessels.
Surgery
Surgery is usually the first step after diagnosis of breast cancer. The type of surgery depends on the size and type of tumor and the patient's health and preferences.
Lumpectomy involves removal of cancerous tissue and a surrounding area of normal tissue. This is not considered curative, and should almost always be done in conjunction with other treatments such as radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy or hormonal therapy.
At that time, lumpectomy, axillary lymph nodes (glands in the armpit) is the estimated spread of cancer. This can be done either by removing the lymph nodes or sentinel node biopsy (biopsy of a lymph node closest to the tumor).
If a sentinel node biopsy is performed at the time of lumpectomy, may allow the surgeon to remove only some of the lymph nodes. In this procedure, a dye is injected into the tumor site. The way the substance is when it moves to the lymph nodes. At the first node is the sentinel node. This node is considered the most important for biopsy in the evaluation of tumor spread.
If the sentinel node biopsy is positive, the surgeon will usually remove all the lymph nodes in the armpit (axilla).
A simple chest to remove the entire breast, but not other structures. If the cancer is invasive, surgery alone will not cure. It 'a common treatment for ductal carcinoma in situ, non-invasive type of breast cancer.
Modified radical to remove the chest (armpit) lymph nodes of breast and axillary, but does not eliminate the underlying muscle in the chest. Although additional chemotherapy or hormonal therapy is almost always available, surgery alone is considered sufficient for the disease if it has metastasized.
Radical mastectomy involves removal of the breast and underlying muscles of the chest wall and content of the armpits. This is no longer done because current treatments are less bulky and has fewer complications.
Treatment Of Breast Cancer
Surgery is an important part of breast cancer. Choosing which type of surgery is based on several factors, including size and location of the tumor, tumor type, and general health of the person and personal aspirations. Breast-conserving surgery-it is often possible.
Cancer is staged using the information from surgery and other tests. Staging is a classification that reflects the extent and spread of tumor and treatment decisions and influence the prognosis for recovery.
Staging of breast cancer is based on the size of the tumor, which parts of the chest are involved, how many and which nodes are affected and whether the cancer has spread to another part of the body.
Cancer can be characterized as invasive if it has spread to other tissues. Those who do not spread to other tissues are called invasive. Carcinoma in situ is an invasive cancer.
Breast cancer is stage IV 0.
Stage 0 breast cancer is invasive or carcinoma in situ does not affect the lymph nodes or metastases. This is the most advantageous stage breast cancer.
Phase I, breast cancer is less than 2 cm (3 / 4 inches) in diameter and has not spread beyond the breast.
Breast cancer stage II, which is relatively small in size but has spread to lymph nodes in the armpit and the cancer that is slightly larger, but has not spread to lymph nodes.
Stage III breast cancer and a larger, more than 5 cm (2), greater involvement of the lymph nodes or inflammatory.
Stage IV metastatic breast cancer: a tumor of any size or type that has spread to another part of the body. It is currently the least favorable.
Cancer is staged using the information from surgery and other tests. Staging is a classification that reflects the extent and spread of tumor and treatment decisions and influence the prognosis for recovery.
Staging of breast cancer is based on the size of the tumor, which parts of the chest are involved, how many and which nodes are affected and whether the cancer has spread to another part of the body.
Cancer can be characterized as invasive if it has spread to other tissues. Those who do not spread to other tissues are called invasive. Carcinoma in situ is an invasive cancer.
Breast cancer is stage IV 0.
Stage 0 breast cancer is invasive or carcinoma in situ does not affect the lymph nodes or metastases. This is the most advantageous stage breast cancer.
Phase I, breast cancer is less than 2 cm (3 / 4 inches) in diameter and has not spread beyond the breast.
Breast cancer stage II, which is relatively small in size but has spread to lymph nodes in the armpit and the cancer that is slightly larger, but has not spread to lymph nodes.
Stage III breast cancer and a larger, more than 5 cm (2), greater involvement of the lymph nodes or inflammatory.
Stage IV metastatic breast cancer: a tumor of any size or type that has spread to another part of the body. It is currently the least favorable.
Symptoms Of Breast Cancer
Initially, breast cancer does not cause any symptoms. Built-in may be too small to feel or cause unusual changes in self-conscious. Often the area becomes an abnormal screening mammogram (breast x-ray), which leads to additional testing.
In some cases, however, the first sign of breast cancer is a new piece or lump in the breast that you or your doctor can feel. A piece that is not painful, hard and has uneven edges is more likely to be cancerous. But sometimes the cancer can be tender, soft and rounded. It is therefore important to have something unusual checked by your doctor.
According to the American Cancer Society, one of the following unusual changes in your breast may be a symptom of breast cancer:
swelling of all or part of the breast
skin irritation or dimpling
chest pain
nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
redness, peeling or thickening of the skin of the nipple or breast
nipple discharge other than breast milk
a lump in the armpit
These changes can also be signs of less serious conditions that are not cancer, such as infection or a cyst. It 'important to have verified all the changes in the breast your doctor immediately.
In some cases, however, the first sign of breast cancer is a new piece or lump in the breast that you or your doctor can feel. A piece that is not painful, hard and has uneven edges is more likely to be cancerous. But sometimes the cancer can be tender, soft and rounded. It is therefore important to have something unusual checked by your doctor.
According to the American Cancer Society, one of the following unusual changes in your breast may be a symptom of breast cancer:
swelling of all or part of the breast
skin irritation or dimpling
chest pain
nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
redness, peeling or thickening of the skin of the nipple or breast
nipple discharge other than breast milk
a lump in the armpit
These changes can also be signs of less serious conditions that are not cancer, such as infection or a cyst. It 'important to have verified all the changes in the breast your doctor immediately.
Causes Of Breast Cancer
Many women who develop breast cancer have no risk factors other than age and sex.
Gender is the biggest risk because breast cancer occurs mostly in women.
Age is another critical factor. Breast cancer may occur at any age, though the risk of breast cancer increases with age. The average woman at age 30 years has one chance in 280 of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years. This chance increases to one in 70 for a woman aged 40 years, and to one in 40 at age 50 years. A 60-year-old woman has a one in 30 chance of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years.
White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than African American women in the U.S.
A woman with a personal history of cancer in one breast has a three- to fourfold greater risk of developing a new cancer in the other breast or in another part of the same breast. This refers to the risk for developing a new tumor and not a recurrence (return) of the first cancer.
Genetic Causes
Family history has long been known to be a risk factor for breast cancer. Both maternal and paternal relatives are important. The risk is highest if the affected relative developed breast cancer at a young age, had cancer in both breasts, or if she is a close relative. First-degree relatives, (mother, sister, daughter) are most important in estimating risk. Several second-degree relatives (grandmother, aunt) with breast cancer may also increase risk. Breast cancer in a male increases the risk for all his close female relatives. Having relatives with both breast and ovarian cancer also increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer.
There is great interest in genes linked to breast cancer. About 5-10% of breast cancers are believed to be hereditary, as a result of mutations, or changes, in certain genes that are passed along in families.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are abnormal genes that, when inherited, markedly increase the risk of breast cancer to a lifetime risk estimated between 40 and 85%. Women with these abnormal genes also have an increased likelihood of developing ovarian cancer. Women who have the BRCA1 gene tend to develop breast cancer at an early age.
Testing for these genes is expensive and may not be covered by insurance.
The issues around testing are complicated, and women who are interested in testing should discuss this with their health-care providers.
Hormonal Causes
Hormonal influences play a role in the development of breast cancer.
Women who start their periods at an early age (11 or younger) or experience a late menopause (55 or older) have a slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer. Conversely, being older at the time of the first menstrual period and early menopause tend to protect one from breast cancer.
Having a child before age 30 years may provide some protection, and having no children may increase the risk for developing breast cancer.
Oral contraceptives have not been shown to definitively increase or decrease a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer.
A large study conducted by the Women's Health Initiative showed an increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women who were on a combination of estrogen and progesterone for several years. Therefore, women who are considering hormone therapy for menopausal symptoms need to discuss the risk versus the benefit with their health-care providers.
Lifestyle and Dietary Causes
Breast cancer seems to occur more frequently in countries with high dietary intake of fat, and being overweight or obese is a known risk factor for breast cancer, particularly in postmenopausal women.
This link is thought to be an environmental influence rather than genetic. For example, Japanese women, at low risk for breast cancer while in Japan, increase their risk of developing breast cancer after coming to the United States.
Several studies comparing groups of women with high- and low-fat diets, however, have failed to show a difference in breast cancer rates.
The use of alcohol is also an established risk factor for the development of breast cancer. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed. Women who consume two to five alcoholic beverages per day have a risk about one and a half times that of nondrinkers for the development of breast cancer. Consumption of one alcoholic drink per day results in a slightly elevated risk.
Studies are also showing that regular exercise may actually reduce a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. Studies have not definitively established how much activity is needed for a significant reduction in risk. One study from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) showed that as little as one and a quarter to two and a half hours per week of brisk walking reduced a woman's breast cancer risk by 18%.
Benign Breast Disease
Fibrocystic breast changes are very common. Fibrocystic breasts are lumpy with some thickened tissue and are frequently associated with breast discomfort, especially right before the menstrual period. This condition does not lead to breast cancer.
However, certain other types of benign breast changes, such as those diagnosed on biopsy as proliferative or hyperplastic, do predispose women to the later development of breast cancer.
Environmental Causes
Radiation treatment increases the likelihood of developing breast cancer but only after a long delay. For example, women who received radiation therapy to the upper body for treatment of Hodgkin's disease before 30 years of age have a significantly higher rate of breast cancer than the general population.
Gender is the biggest risk because breast cancer occurs mostly in women.
Age is another critical factor. Breast cancer may occur at any age, though the risk of breast cancer increases with age. The average woman at age 30 years has one chance in 280 of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years. This chance increases to one in 70 for a woman aged 40 years, and to one in 40 at age 50 years. A 60-year-old woman has a one in 30 chance of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years.
White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than African American women in the U.S.
A woman with a personal history of cancer in one breast has a three- to fourfold greater risk of developing a new cancer in the other breast or in another part of the same breast. This refers to the risk for developing a new tumor and not a recurrence (return) of the first cancer.
Genetic Causes
Family history has long been known to be a risk factor for breast cancer. Both maternal and paternal relatives are important. The risk is highest if the affected relative developed breast cancer at a young age, had cancer in both breasts, or if she is a close relative. First-degree relatives, (mother, sister, daughter) are most important in estimating risk. Several second-degree relatives (grandmother, aunt) with breast cancer may also increase risk. Breast cancer in a male increases the risk for all his close female relatives. Having relatives with both breast and ovarian cancer also increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer.
There is great interest in genes linked to breast cancer. About 5-10% of breast cancers are believed to be hereditary, as a result of mutations, or changes, in certain genes that are passed along in families.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are abnormal genes that, when inherited, markedly increase the risk of breast cancer to a lifetime risk estimated between 40 and 85%. Women with these abnormal genes also have an increased likelihood of developing ovarian cancer. Women who have the BRCA1 gene tend to develop breast cancer at an early age.
Testing for these genes is expensive and may not be covered by insurance.
The issues around testing are complicated, and women who are interested in testing should discuss this with their health-care providers.
Hormonal Causes
Hormonal influences play a role in the development of breast cancer.
Women who start their periods at an early age (11 or younger) or experience a late menopause (55 or older) have a slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer. Conversely, being older at the time of the first menstrual period and early menopause tend to protect one from breast cancer.
Having a child before age 30 years may provide some protection, and having no children may increase the risk for developing breast cancer.
Oral contraceptives have not been shown to definitively increase or decrease a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer.
A large study conducted by the Women's Health Initiative showed an increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women who were on a combination of estrogen and progesterone for several years. Therefore, women who are considering hormone therapy for menopausal symptoms need to discuss the risk versus the benefit with their health-care providers.
Lifestyle and Dietary Causes
Breast cancer seems to occur more frequently in countries with high dietary intake of fat, and being overweight or obese is a known risk factor for breast cancer, particularly in postmenopausal women.
This link is thought to be an environmental influence rather than genetic. For example, Japanese women, at low risk for breast cancer while in Japan, increase their risk of developing breast cancer after coming to the United States.
Several studies comparing groups of women with high- and low-fat diets, however, have failed to show a difference in breast cancer rates.
The use of alcohol is also an established risk factor for the development of breast cancer. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed. Women who consume two to five alcoholic beverages per day have a risk about one and a half times that of nondrinkers for the development of breast cancer. Consumption of one alcoholic drink per day results in a slightly elevated risk.
Studies are also showing that regular exercise may actually reduce a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. Studies have not definitively established how much activity is needed for a significant reduction in risk. One study from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) showed that as little as one and a quarter to two and a half hours per week of brisk walking reduced a woman's breast cancer risk by 18%.
Benign Breast Disease
Fibrocystic breast changes are very common. Fibrocystic breasts are lumpy with some thickened tissue and are frequently associated with breast discomfort, especially right before the menstrual period. This condition does not lead to breast cancer.
However, certain other types of benign breast changes, such as those diagnosed on biopsy as proliferative or hyperplastic, do predispose women to the later development of breast cancer.
Environmental Causes
Radiation treatment increases the likelihood of developing breast cancer but only after a long delay. For example, women who received radiation therapy to the upper body for treatment of Hodgkin's disease before 30 years of age have a significantly higher rate of breast cancer than the general population.
Breast Cancer Overview
Although breast cancer is primarily a disease of women, almost 1% of breast cancers occur in men. In 2007, it is estimated that 2,030 men in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer.
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women with the exception of nonmelanoma skin cancers. It is the second leading cause of death by cancer in women, following only lung cancer.
In 2007, the American Cancer Society estimated that 178,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer would be diagnosed among women in the United States, and that a further 62,030 new cases of in-situ (noninvasive) breast cancer would be diagnosed.
A woman has a lifetime risk of developing invasive breast cancer of about one in eight, or 13%.
Death rates from breast cancer have been gradually declining and continue to decline. These decreases are likely due both to increased awareness and screening and improved treatment methods.
The breasts are made of fat, glands, and connective (fibrous) tissue. The breast has several lobes, which are divided into lobules that end in the milk glands. Tiny ducts run from the many tiny glands, connect together, and end in the nipple.
These ducts are where 80% of breast cancers occur. This condition is called ductal cancer.
Cancer developing in the lobules is termed lobular cancer. About 10-15% of breast cancers are of this type.
Other less common types of breast cancer include inflammatory breast cancer, medullary cancer, phyllodes tumor, angiosarcoma, mucinous (colloid) carcinoma, mixed tumors, and a type of cancer involving the nipple termed Paget's disease.
Precancerous changes, called in situ changes, are common.
In situ is Latin for "in place" or "in site" and means that the changes haven't spread from where they started.
When these in situ changes occur in the ducts, they are called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). DCIS may be identified on routine mammography.
When in-situ changes happen in the lobules, it is called lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS).
When cancers spread into the surrounding tissues, they are termed infiltrating cancers. Cancers spreading from the ducts into adjacent spaces are termed infiltrating ductal carcinomas. Cancers spreading from the lobules are infiltrating lobular carcinomas.
The most serious cancers are metastatic cancers. Metastasis means that the cancer has spread from the place where it started into other tissues distant from the original tumor site. The most common place for breast cancer to metastasize is into the lymph nodes under the arm or above the collarbone on the same side as the cancer. Other common sites of breast cancer metastasis are the brain, the bones, and the liver.
Monday, 25 July 2011
How can Reduce Breast Cancer by Coffee
 |
| Breast Cancer |
According to new medical research, the risk of some types of breast cancer can reduce the daily coffee intake high as 60%. Breast cancer is a complex disease with two types of response of the hormone (estrogen receptor ER) hormone-dependent and non-subtype (ER negative).
Objectives:
In a recent health problem, it was revealed that consumption of more than five cups of coffee a day may reduce the risk of developing a subtype of breast cancer called estrogen receptor-resistant anti-estrogen (ER-negative) breast cancer.
Design:
It is proposed that coffee is a mixture of caffeine and polyphenols that act as cancer and chemotherapy agent protection.
Setting or Location:
The team of Swedish researchers, based at the Karolinska Institute has made a comparison of women with breast cancer who took a coffee with women who have found that coffee drinkers have fewer cases of breast cancer by 57% .
Participants:
women with breast cancer.
Results:
It was found that coffee increases after menopause, breast cancer. But the daily intake of coffee reduces breast cancer ER-negative postmenopausal women.
Conclusion: We concluded from this research that consumption during the last five cups of coffee a day reduces the risk of breast cancer, especially breast cancer ER-negative.
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