Breast cancer is one of the scariest, most common cancers in the US at this time. About 1 out of 8 women will develop invasive breast cancer. There were over 232,000 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in just 2014. About 40,000 of those were expected to die. These are just a few of the scary statistics of Breast cancer.
Breast cancer is a disease in which certain cells in the breast become abnormal and multiply without control or order to form a tumor. Early cancer does not usually have any symptoms or show any signs. You may notice a lump or thickening near or around the breast as the cancer progresses. People who have the cancer rarely know about it until there is a noticeable symptom or sign. Breast cancer can happen at any age, but it is most common in females over 40 years old.
This cancer is genetic, which means it can be hereditary and be carried down to your children. About 15% of cases are hereditary and passed down through to the next generation. The risk of getting breast cancer almost doubles if a first-degree relative (mom, sister, or daughter) has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The BRCA1 and BRCA2 are the most common mutations found to cause breast cancer. Women who have the BRCA1 mutation have a 55-65% chance of developing this cancer. Women who have the BRCA2 mutation have a 45% risk of developing breast cancer. Even though the risk of getting the cancer is very high, there is no guarantee.
Breast cancer can be hereditary, but there is also a very high risk of getting it even when no other family member has it. The percentage of women that get breast cancer without any family history is about 85%. The reason you can get it is because of the mutations like BRCA1 or BRCA2. These mutations are just two of the many that can be linked to breast cancer. Anybody can get breast cancer, even males, it can happen to anyone.
Even though breast cancer is very common, the five year survival rate for invasive breast cancer is very high. In the mid-1970’s the survival rate was 75%, it is now up to a 90% survival rate. Females with localized breast cancer, which means it hasn’t spread outside the breast, have a 98.5% survival rate. There are also over 2.8 million breast cancer survivors in just the U.S. All of these statistics are very good and mean there are many more people that survive this than there are that don’t. Every day we are getting closer to finding a cure for breast cancer, it’s only a matter before we do.
- What are some of the ways scientists are trying to find a cure?
- How does breast cancer affect your life after it’s gone?
- How can breast cancer affect other organs of your body?
I thought this topic was very interesting to learn about. Breast cancer is a huge problem for women in the United States. My grandma had it last Christmas but she had radiation done. She is now a survivor of breast and skin cancer. I learned that breast cancer is genetic and can be transferred through generations. There I learned that there are a lot of options to treat and cure cancer. I did a little research and this shows what organs that breast cancer affects. http://www.livestrong.com/article/23300-breast-cancer-affect-body/
Breast cancer is hard for people who have it and their loved ones. There are many treatments for this which aren’t guaranteed to be effective but there’s a good possibility that it can be. First, you should start out by talking to your doctor. Your doctor will walk you through the process and help you through your tough journey. Some treatments are Surgery, Radiation, and Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is the most used treatment for cancer. Learn more about treatments on http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/overviewguide/breast-cancer-overview-treating-general-infor
Breast cancer can also effect many men also. It can happen to any men at any age by it generally found in men 60 to 70 years of age. Breast cancer for men though only makes up about 1% of all cases. There are four types of breast cancers that are found in men, Infiltrating ductal carcinoma, Ductal carcinoma in situ, Inflammatory breast cancer, and Paget disease of the nipple. There many reasons why people have a higher risk of getting cancer but here are some ways breast caner can occur in men, radiation, having family members with breast cancer, and having a disease that may have something to do with high levels of estrogen in the body.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/malebreast/Patient
Breast cancer is very common for women in the U.S., in fact according to Mayo Clinic. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/breast-cancer/basics/definition/con-20029275, “After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the United States”. Doctors say that you need to go see a doctor if you have a lump of any kind and that you need to go in, even if you are a male or a female. Also that it can be very hard to see early symptoms, because usually their are none. Even if you think you have breast cancer you should go in.
Breast cancer would bee very hard to deal with. For treatment, there are many options… talk to your doctor, chemo, radiation. hormone therapy, surgery, and more. Some women have to surgically get their breasts removed if the cancer as spread enough around the area. If the cancer spread then farther then your breasts, then it is most likely you will need to begin chemo, radiation, and/or surgery. This is an interesting topic to write about.
http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/what-is-breast-cancer