Alternative Breast Cancer Treatments Available

Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer. Five hundred and nineteen thousand people died due to breast cancer in 2004. It is more frequent in women than in man. The first symptom of this cancer is when a woman feels a lump that is different from the surrounding breast tissue. Another indication may be formation of lumps in lymph nodes located in the armpits. Other indications may include changes in breast size or shape, nipple inversion, skin dimpling, single nipple discharge.

There are various causes for the occurrence of breast cancer.

1. If a woman has suffers with cancer in one breast, then there is a high possibility for getting it in another.
2. It's also a genetic disease. If the girl's mother or sister is suffering from breast cancer, then the risk is high for the person.
3. Having certain type of abnormal cells will cause changes in the size of the breast. This kind of changes indicates that the risk of getting this cancer is more.
4. If a woman does not do any physical activity like a normal human being there is a chance for getting cancer in her breast.

Traditionally there are four major options are available for the treatment of this cancer. They are Surgery, Radiation, Chemotherapy, and hormonal Therapy. The common treatment method for breast cancer is Surgery. When tumor expresses estrogen receptors adjuvant hormonal therapy is given. For more advanced stages of disease Chemotherapy is given. To destroy microscopic tumors that have escaped after surgery Radiotherapy technique is used.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer Symptoms

Inflammatory Breast Cancer Symptoms

Signs of Breast Cancer

Most of the common signs of breast cancer are signs that you'll notice right away:

Blood or discharge from a nipple

A nipple that has suddenly become inverted (a nipple that's pointing inward) or a nipple that's situated differently than it was before, or changed shape or size.

A crusty nipple or flaking skin on the nipple

Puckering, dimpling or pitting of the skin of the breast, with or without redness

Breast tenderness and pain with no other explanation such as hormones or your cycle

A change in the size or shape of the breast

Those possible signs of breast cancer are relatively easy to spot. But even though a lump or a change in a specific area of the breast is often a potential sign, this can be the hardest one for most women to detect.

That's because breast tissue is naturally lumpy in spots. A woman giving herself a breast exam may feel normal tissue and worry that it's a lump, or may feel a very small lump an mistake it for normal, glandular breast tissue. Regular mammograms can help detect lumps that you can't feel with your fingers or that are disguised as normal breast tissue. But regular self-exams can help you distinguish the difference between lumps or cysts and normal tissue.

If you feel something suspicious during a self-exam, first relax. Feel the same spot on the other breast carefully to compare. You may find that the opposite breast closely mirrors what you've found, confirming that's it the normal texture of your breasts in that area. If you don't find a matching lump or bump on the opposite breast, take a break and try not to dwell or worry. About 80% of all lumps are benign, so even if you have discovered a lump in your breast, there's a good chance that it's merely a cyst.

Later, repeat the exam to find the lump. Then recheck the other breast. You may find that the tissue seems normal now where it did not before. If you still can't find a matching texture in the other breast, then have it checked by your doctor.

Lumps are one of the most panic-inducing signs of breast cancer because everyone knows that's a possibility, even though a lump isn't likely to be anything dangerous. Another potential sign of breast cancer is even more subtle than a lump and can be missed except when you do regular exams is an area than changes without a lump being present.

If an area on your breast has grown harder or softer, that's something you want to have your doctor check into immediately. There doesn't have to be a lump present. This is one of the reasons that all women should do a monthly breast exam. The more you do the exams, the more familiar you are with your breasts. The more familiar you are with them, the sooner you'll be able to detect a change that could be one of the signs of breast cancer.

The Truth About Breast Cancer and Mastectomies

While breast cancer may be on the rise and is currently ranked as one of the most common and potentially deadly forms of cancer in the United States, many people are still not aware of what their procedure options are and what those procedures may entail. Understanding the procedures often employed in the treatment of breast cancer is critical to overcoming and recovering from this difficult condition.

One of the most widely recognized procedures used in the treatment of breast cancer is the mastectomy. This procedure is a surgery in which one or both of the breasts are removed from the body as a means of eliminating cancerous cells and tumors.

In terms of the amount of mastectomy procedures done, roughly 77% of all women who get cancer in Europe will have a mastectomy performed. This number is compared to only 56% of women in the United States who will undergo a mastectomy procedure as a treatment method for cancer.

While breast cancer is a highly treatable form of cancer with a very high rate of successful diagnosis and treatment, it's remains to be a deadly condition. Early detection is the best way to ensure the highest odds of successful treatment, yet many people do not regularly check themselves for the signs of breast cancer.

In a study performed in 2004, roughly 216,000 people were diagnosed with breast cancer. Of those people, 40,000 were fatal. Depending on the treatment used and the early detection, the successful survival rate of this rype of cancer varies widely from 98% to 10%. The variables involved in the treatment of cancer can sway the odds in extreme ways.

While it is true that cancer of the breast may occur in both men and women, it is statistically over 100 times more likely to be diagnosed in women than men. For this reason, constant and thorough self-examinations are critical to early detection.

The most effective way to detect and treat breast cancer is to begin by understand the treatment options available and to give yourself routine self-examinations on a regular basis. The earlier that cancer is detected the more likely and more varied the effective treatment options will be.

Smoking and Weight Gain Increase Breast Cancer Risk

Aside from being born with hereditary breast cancer, specialists at the Universite de Montreal believe that being overweight and smoking have a huge effect on whether a woman develops the condition, which affects over 45,000 people year in the UK. Healthcare experts at the facility conducted a study of test subjects and found a direct correlation between breast cancer, smoking and being overweight.

This was achieved by analysing whether the patients had the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations and shows that cancer cover holders should avoid these two risk factors, said lead researcher Vishnee Bissonauth. The expert, who is a graduate of the Universite de Montreal's Department of Nutrition and a researcher at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center, said the team focused solely on lifestyle factors when considering the information they had collected.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study conducted on a sample of women without BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, which are often found in French-Canadian women," she explained. According to the research, smoking a pack of 20 cigarettes every day for nine years increases breast cancer risk by 59 per cent.

In addition, women who put on more than 10kgs in weight after the age of 30 are twice as likely to develop the disease than those whose body mass remains stable. The investigation also found that moderate physical activity decreased cancer risks by 52 per cent for pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women, with Dr Bissonauth saying this illustrates the need for breast cancer insurance customers to exercise frequently.

"Cancer is a complex disease and can be latent for several years. Therefore, it is important to work on the factors we can control and to lead a healthy lifestyle, which means watching one's weight, avoid smoking and doing regular exercise," she advised.

Breast Cancer Treatment

Breast cancer treatment is usually a multi-pronged approach. The most common breast cancer treatment plan, in this order, involves surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and hormonal therapy. But there are many different types of breast cancer, so there are many variations in treatment. Also, the stage of breast cancer (0 through IV) will determine which treatments are best.

Surgery

Surgery is often the first step in breast cancer treatment. Removal of the lump and the cancerous tissue is imperative in most cases to keep the cancer from spreading any further. Depending on the stage (which is judged by the size and the spread of the disease) a woman with breast cancer may have a mastectomy or a lumpectomy.

A mastectomy is removal of the entire breast, where a lumpectomy saves the majority of breast tissue but removes only the lump itself and the very nearby affected breast tissue. A doctor will recommend which is the safest course of action for each type of cancer. A Stage I cancer, which has not spread beyond the lump maybe be treated with a lumpectomy and radiation, for instance, where a wider spread cancer like Stage IIB or III involves much more breast and surrounding tissues and may require a complete mastectomy for the best prognosis. During surgery, the surrounding lymph nodes may be removed as well, if the cancer could have spread to these areas. In some cases, the breast can be reconstructed during the cancer surgery or at a later time.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is not always a part of breast cancer treatment. If the cancer was caught very early before it had spread into the tissues of the surrounding area or the lymph nodes, chemo may not be recommended. When it is, it's the introduction of medication given through an IV that kills system-wide cancer cells that may have spread beyond the lump or tumor that was removed. Cancer cells divide rapidly, and the substance in the chemo therapy attacks those cells. There are side effects with chemotherapy, but there are medications that can help make these much milder than they used to be.

Radiation

Radiation breast cancer treatment is usually the third stage, after surgery and chemo. This targets a specific area of the body, such as the breast, to destroy any remaining cancer cells. In some cases, surgery and radiation are given without chemotherapy, depending on how small and localized the cancer was.

The use of radiation can reduce the chances of breast cancer coming back by about 70%, and the side effects are local to the area treated, and often tolerated much better than chemo side effects.

For those with a hormone-receptor positive types of breast cancer, hormonal therapy is also given to help prevent recurrence. This therapy lowers the effectiveness and amount of estrogen in the system, which can help shrink any remaining cancer cells and prevent a relapse. For some types of this cancer, surgical removal of the reproductive organs may be an option, as well. For certain type of cancer, known as hormone-receptor negative cancer, hormonal therapy is ineffective and can even be harmful.

Celebrities With Breast Cancer

While no one wants to hear of other people being stricken with cancer, celebrities with breast cancer often use their illness to help make people more aware of the risks of breast cancer as well as give others with the disease hope that they can overcome it as well.

Edie Falco

Edie Falco, star of both HBO shows "The Sopranos" and "OZ" was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was a young 40 years old, in 2003. She didn't tell people at first, but instead secretly went into treatment. She didn't reveal her cancer until after she was declared cancer free, but after that talked about openly. She was only secretive because she didn't want to be asked constantly how she was feeling and if she was all right.

Jaclyn Smith

Jaclyn Smith whom everyone knows as Kelly Garret, one of "Charlie's Angels" from the same-named TV show of the 1970s, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 56 years old in 2002. Most cases of breast cancer occur in women who are 55 years or older. Jaclyn was treated with a lumpectomy and radiation, because the disease was caught early during a routine self-exam. She works with groups like Susan G. Komen for the Cure and talks publicly about early detection and breast cancer risks.

Christina Applegate

Christina Applegate is one of the youngest and most vocal celebrities with breast cancer. She was diagnosed in 2008 when she was only 36 years old. The former star of "Married with Children" was filming her new successful hit show "Samantha Who?" when she was diagnosed. She tested positive for a gene mutation that greatly increases the risk of breast cancer. And because her mother had also been diagnosed with breast cancer more than once, making heredity just one more risk factor for the young woman, she opted to not just have the breast with the cancer removed, but to have both removed. This double mastectomy was a preventative measure to stave off any future cancer. Applegate speaks out for the available of MRI testing for women of all income levels, because it was this test that detected her cancer early and has probably saved her life by reducing her risk of the cancer spreading or recurring.

Melissa Etheridge

Rocker Melissa Etheridge is one of the most recognizable celebrities with breast cancer. She was diagnosed at age 43 in 2004. She had a lumpectomy, which removes only the lump, and then an aggressive course of chemotherapy to help prevent spread and recurrence. She caught the cancer while giving herself a self-exam in the shower, and gave a performance in 2005 at the Grammy awards while bald, after having lost her hair to the chemotherapy. Many people in her family died of cancer, so she is now an outspoken advocate of prevention and research.

Sheryl Crow

Rocker Sheryl Crow is also one of the most well known celebrities with cancer. She was diagnosed at 44 in 2006, and is outspoken about early detection. Surgery and radiation were her treatments, with no chemo because the cancer was caught in the very early stages.