Breast Cancer Awareness

     The recent school article about “boobies” bracelets got me thinking, what exactly is breast cancer and how does it affect the body? With three of my aunts having breast cancer I wanted to do more research. Breast cancer forms usually in the tissues of the breasts, mostly around the ducts (tube that carry milk to nipple) and one of the 20 lobules (make milk). Breast cancer occurs in both men and women, but is much more likely to be seen in women. In the United States so far in 2012 there were 226,870 female cases reported and 2,190 males. Of the reported cases of women, 17.4% resulted in death, where in men were at 18.6%.

 

Most adults don’t realize that they are supposed to do monthly self-breast exam.  If you do this on a regular basis, you are more likely to notice the smaller chances in your breast. If you do notice something unusual, that doesn’t mean you have breast cancer but if you are concerned it is strongly recommended to talk to your health care provider.  An unusual tenderness of your breast area, a lump growing near or around your breast or underarm area, unusual skin texture, enlargement of pores are all signs of the cancer.  As it progresses swelling or shrinkage of the breast, asymmetry, dimpling, or change in shape in size of the breast are also signs of the cancer. Also note wither the nipple is unusually inverted or a milky discharge is leaking from the breast.

Cancer begins in the cells of the breasts tissue. A lump/tumor (cancerous or not) forms from the excess growth of cells and when the damaged cells do not die off as they should. Benign (non-cancerous) tumors usually aren’t harmful, don’t spread, and can easily be removed without growing back. Malignant (Cancerous) tumors can be life threating, spread, can invade nearby organs, and sometimes grow back after removal.  Breast cancer cells easily spread when they break away from the tumor and travel through the body’s many vessels. The cells then attach to other body parts tissue and begin to grow to form new tissues. When it spreads the new tumor still carries the abnormal cells so no matter where the cells spread the patient is still treated as breast cancer.

Breast cancer grows in various stages. There are 5 stages, starting at zero or no breast cancer. Stage I describes an invasive cancer or where the cancerous cells are invading normal breast tissue. You can have small lumps at this stage, no bigger than 2 cm and the cancer doesn’t spread. Stage 2 has a lump usually from 2-5 centimeters and can spread to the lymph nodes. Stage 3 describes a cancer where body structures. The final stage of cancer is Stage 4 which usually has spread beyond the breast and lymph nodes to other major organs of the body, as well as skin, bones, or even the brain.

There are many different options possible to treat the effects of breast cancer. Some options include: surgery, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, chemotherapy, and different kinds of bone-directed therapy. Surgery helps not only to treat cancer but also to diagnose or even prevent.  A special surgery called a mastectomy, completely removes either on or both breasts so the cancer doesn’t spread. A common treatment, chemotherapy, is a combination of different medications and drugs to treat or slow the cancer.  Another common treatment for any type of cancer is radiation. Radiation is a very energy draining process in which doctors use high-energy particles to try and destroy the cancer cells.

Can you tell the differences between the 5 stages of breast cancer?

Do you know and can explain the different types of breast cancer? (Ex DCIS)

What are some symptoms of the treatments of breast cancer? (Ex radiation)

2 thoughts on “Breast Cancer Awareness

  1. Breast cancer can be a very scary thing. It can be very bad where it is not able to be treated, however you can also be affected where it can be treated very easily.Without the technology we have today we would not be able to detect the cancer cells in the breast. If you have any history of family members having breast cancer you are at a high risk of possibly get some degree of breast cancer. However, if you have no history of the disease, there are steps you can take to keep your risk as low as it can be. Those steps can be found at this link.
    http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/understand

  2. Breast cancer is a tumor that starts in the cells of the breast. The cancer begins in the cells that are building blocks that make up the tissue. When the process of cell growth goes wrong sometimes new cells form that the body does not need then old or damaged cells do not die as they should. When this process occurs a buildup of the cells often forms a mass tissue that is called a tumor. The tumor is a group of abnormal cancer cells that can grow into/invade other cells and the surrounding tissues in the body and soon spread to other distant areas of the body. The disease is most common in women but men can get this type of cancer as well.
    http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/what-is-cancer

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