Breast cancers have various types, and knowledge on all of them is necessary for defining what treatment you need. Naturally, different types of breast cancers will have different causes, show different symptoms and will need different treatments than other types of breast cancer.
According to most sources, breast cancer is ‘cancer of the breast tissue’. Not very helpful. But digging a little deeper makes the answer clear. Cancer is a malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal or uncontrolled cell division. Normal cells become misshapen and grow too rapidly. The result is a mass or lump that continues to grow and may spread.
The prospect of surgery is never pleasant. But fortunately, breast cancer surgery today is more targeted than in years past. That leads to less scarring and quicker recovery, at the same time providing an effective treatment to lower the odds of recurrence.
Many experts are in agreement that for most breast cancer instances, chemotherapy might not always be the best choice for treatment. For the women the treatment is right for, chemotherapy can provide them with long term and effective results.
Patients diagnosed with Stage IV or metastatic breast cancers have disease that has spread from the affected breast to one or more distant sites in the body. Historically, metastatic breast cancer has been considered incurable; the goal of treatment has been to provide relief from symptoms and prolong the duration and quality of life. However, there have been some important advances resulting in the addition of many more treatment options for managing this disease. These include the now widespread use of taxane chemotherapy, the development of targeted therapies, and the development of more active hormonal therapy drugs.
Inflammatory breast cancer has no lump or mass that can be felt. It is a very rare and dangerous type of breast cancer. It cannot be detected by self breast examination and mammogram. In inflammatory breast cancer there is infiltration of the skin and lymph vessels of the breast by cancer cells. The symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer are a swollen, red and warm breast which is brought on by the lymph vessels becoming blocked by the breast cancer cells. The breast has a typical appearance of an individual with cellulite. Other symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include, on the affected side, enlarged lymph nodes present under the arm or it may be above the collar bone.
Radiation treatment for cancer involves large equipment that at first can feel overwhelming and impersonal. At closer inspection, the cancer radiation therapy department is more than the technology. It is a team of very caring people who are interested in a patient?s welfare and determined to give patients all the support they need.
Back in the early part of the 1990’s a film called ‘The Medicine Man’ was released and the story revolved around a doctor working in South America who discovers the cure for cancer, only to lose it in a local disaster. Think about that for a moment. Research over the years has helped our understanding of cancer but not to the point where we are able to foretell exactly when it will happen.
Each year in the UK, there are more than 65,000 new cases of non melanoma skin cancer and more than 8,000 new cases of malignant melanoma. Skin cancer is becoming more widespread: the number of cases has doubled in the past 20 years. In fact, there are more skin cancer deaths in the UK than in Australia, even though Australia has more cases of the disease.
At first, barely a patient lived more than just a few days after surgery and the success was menial, but today lung transplants are on the forefront of medical technology and are improving the lives of end stage lung cancer patients. While the procedure may sound risky and somewhat controversial, it’s far reaching ability to change and improve health has made it a medical breakthrough.
