Archive for the 'Breast Cancer' Category

Treating an ailment has become very easy in the 21st Century, with dozens of options available for every disease varying with every symptom. The same goes for breast cancer, and people suffering from it can opt for various therapies ranging from surgery to laser therapy.

Breast cancer is usually diagnosed through some form of surgery, like a biopsy, which is concerned specifically with specific parts or the body, and in this case, with the breast or lymph nodes. Once it is diagnosed for certain, two very effective surgeries can be used for treating it. Mastectomy, which includes removal of the entire breast, and partial mastectomy, which entails with removal of a part of the breast. These surgeries are most effective when the malignant tumor is small and the cancer has not spread out. Also, for women who had large tumors, which have shrunken due to chemotherapy, partial mastectomy is a great option.

To kill cancerous cells that may have spread outside the cancer-affected area, that is, the breasts, Systemic therapy is a good option. Cancer can spread outside breasts at some stage and form tumor there. This treatment is required, then, as it helps in shrinking those tumors and can also lead to degeneration of cancerous cells, which is helpful for all victims.

This treatment is mainly decided by the characteristics of the cancer. The more aggressive the caner is then it will have a higher risk of spreading outside that area and into other areas where treatment can be harder to do. Treatments are dependent on the status and harmful effects of cancer. The more advanced the stage, the harder it is to treat it, since it’s more likely that the cancerous cells are not confined to just the breasts, then. This means the treatment has to extend outside the breasts, and can make the procedure complicated and tiresome.

Treatments are administered in various manners. For breast cancer, oral treatment, along with injectibles, are prevalent in treatments today. A very effective therapy, Chemotherapy, kills cancerous cells, and can be taken either orally or injected. Another therapy, called the Immune therapy, makes the body produce antibodies by introducing a foreign article, and the body fights back, reacting to the foreign invasion. This is much like the flu shots work. However, this is widely unknown and not used much on grounds of being new.

Many people are turning to what is known as Complementary therapy. The principle behind Complementary therapy is that it restores the body’s natural health so that the body becomes capable of fighting infections on its own. Complementary therapies include yoga, massages, chiropractic, herbal remedies’ intake and acupunction. People who have tried this therapy are more than just satisfied by the results, and they can reaffirm that it makes them feel a lot better while they’re surviving the disease. There is absolutely nothing to lose by trying this therapy, only a chance to feel better and healthier.

Going through the misery of breast cancer and the tiredness associated with its treatment can easily make you give up hope. You will feel lonesome even in presence of your family since they’ll treat you as a fragile object sometimes, at other times, insensitively. What you really need is some understanding, which only people who have suffered what you have can give you.

For such times, many breast cancer support groups offer all the information you need for your disease. These groups are mostly run by women who have experienced what you now experience, and will understand all your needs. Through such organizations, you can meet and interact with other survivors, who will give you the strength to defeat your cancer, and other patients, who suffer from the same fears you do, and will help you coming out of your loneliness.

Groups like bcsupport.org have chat rooms for women to interact with other cancer patients, receive latest news on researches going on in the field, update women about breast cancer issues and treatments, and make them feel at home. Other organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure themselves have research laboratories for improving technology, providing extensive information on everything a breast cancer victim may need. This group is the largest group of breast cancer survivors and activists; they will surely understand what you need.

Two breast cancer victims started breastcancersupport.org in 1988, realizing the lack of importance the society attached to breast cancer and its victims’ needs. Another group, y-me.org, has the sole objective of not letting you feel you are alone. Do you now realize how many people, who will not treat you as aliens, want to help you?

By interacting with the many women who have survived the disease, you will see your mental strength increase ten-folds, and a new ray of hope within you. You will come to love these women; they will be your friends in the worst phase of your life, and you’ll want to volunteer helping out other women like yourself! This will give you an unprecedented determination to defeat your cancer!

Support groups are not limited to providing you emotional support; in case of financial needs, many people will volunteer donations for your treatment, just as you might, some day when you are cured, for another woman. There is no reason why you should stay lonely and fight this when you have so many people who willingly want to stand by you.

Of all the types of breast cancer, the one claiming more lives than not is Inflammatory breast cancer. IBC is a very aggressive cancer, and it gets its name from the symptoms women diagnosed with it show. This can occur in women of any age, and is fortunately, a rare type of cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer can also develop in men, though the chances are extremely thin.

There are lymph vessels in the breasts. When a person develops IBC, the malignant cancerous cells block these vessels. IBC develops in women at a younger age, compared to other forms of breast cancer. Some studies also suggest that White people are less likely to develop this cancer than the African Americans, who are also said to be vulnerable at a younger age.

Inflammatory breast cancer can start showing symptoms early on, and become very advanced within a matter or few days. This can be very sad, especially when women delay seeking medical advice regarding the symptoms, as the cancer can advance very rapidly, and it can be very late already, when they seek medical help. However, the symptoms for IBC are so alarming that women almost immediately seek advice, and this is one reason for relatively earlier diagnosis of Inflammatory breast cancer, in most cases.

Mammography and ultrasounds are not the best diagnosis techniques for Inflammatory breast cancer, since it is not usually accompanied with the formation of a lump. This characteristic makes the cancer undetectable. However, if other symptoms prevail, a biopsy can certainly determine if cancer growth is present.

Typical symptoms for Inflammatory breast cancer are extreme reddish to purple-ish, bruised appearance of the breasts, tenderness and immense swelling, which accounts for its inflamed appearance. The skin around the breasts may be rough and uneven, the nipples may get inverted, there might be persistent itching and heaviness accompanied with burning aching sensations. Usual symptoms like change in color and texture of areola and breasts are present, too. You might also have swellings under your arm and above and below your collarbone, which you should never ignore.

IBC is often misdiagnosed as mastitis, a breast cancer infection accompanied with redness and swelling of the breast. The most important thing to remember here is that symptoms persist even after two weeks of treatment for IBC, which is not the case with mastitis. It is also good to know that previous chest operations may partially block your breast lymph vessels, and this is not a breast cancer condition.

Due to tremendous number of researches going into the field, Inflammatory breast cancer can be cured in almost fifty five out of every hundred IBC cases. What used to be a certain death two decades back is curable today! Today, the treatment for IBC is very extensive, although it gives a lot to hope for. Systemic therapies like chemotherapy and hormone treatments are backed up by surgeries like mastectomy and then by radiation therapy, to eliminate chances of a recurrence, and the treatment is done!

Through all the misery of Inflammatory breast cancer, you should remember the figures of mortality rate decreasing immensely. These indicate that you have a great chance of fighting if off and being happy like all other people that you know.

Which treatments are used is determined by which stage the cancer is in as well as where it is located and how big the tumor is found to be. Treatments for breast cancer are: chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radiation therapy, lumpectomy, mastectomy and lymphatic tissue removal.

0 – The Earliest Stage

At stage 0, a blockage is found in the mammary or the ducts in the mammary. The first type, lobular carcinoma, is not yet deadly and usually the doctor will keep an eye on it by having the patient come in for frequent visits. Even with early cancer, the very fact that a tumor has formed in one breast makes the risk for cancer in the other much higher. Recently, many women have found it more acceptable to have a double mastectomy than to wait and find out if they will have cancer in the other breast and how far it will go. Ductal carcinoma is usually removed and the surgery is followed with other forms of treatment. Breast removal is an option with ductal carcinoma, too.

Stages II through IV

In these stages, women are often treated with chemo, radiation and hormones before surgery is attempted. If the cancer is larger and is spreading quickly, a mastectomy is done followed with the removal of the lymph nodes in the axillary area. Radiation, chemotherapy and hormone therapies are used after this major surgery.

Women find that trying to treat the cancer with radiation and chemo can significantly increase their chances of keeping their breasts. If the treatment does its job, only a lumpectomy is necessary.

Regardless of whether or not a full mastectomy is performed, radiation and chemotherapies are usually indicated. Hormone therapies are an added measure. All of these make a woman’s chance for survival much higher.

Once the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, there is no choice but to remove them from the axillary area. A mastectomy is also performed in this case.

The Last Stage of Cancer

In the fourth stage, it is too late to operate with any success. A woman may be treated with radiation, hormones and chemotherapy to allow her to live a while longer. Many women don’t have these therapies and instead choose to be given supportive care. Supportive care offers pain management and stress therapies for a woman who is dying. Nothing is done to prolong her life but instead, the focus is on the quality of her life in the short time she has to live.

Reoccurrences of cancer do happen sometimes. If a woman is prepared and catches on very quickly, there is still a chance she will survive. If the cancer was “hiding” in the lymph nodes or elsewhere in the body, it is probably in its last stages. Supportive care is usually the best way to treat this stage of cancer.

Though it seems unlikely, men have been known to get breast cancer. They are treated in the same manner as women are when this happens.

In the unfortunate event where a full mastectomy is required to treat breast cancer, reconstruction is often a much welcomed option. With modern technology, techniques, and materials that are available it is possible to restore the breasts appearance to its original form with hardly any visible scarring. When this procedure is carried out it is done so by plastic surgeons specializing in restoration. It has now become a commonplace following a full mastectomy.

There are many different approaches and each case is unique and different. Consultation with a physician is necessary in order to choose the technique that is right for you.

Breast implants are one commonly chosen option. Today, these are usually saline filled bags with a silicon outer shell. They are placed in front of the chest wall muscles under the skin covering the breast area.

In years past, silicon filled implants were more typical. There was a concern for the possibility of silicon leaking into the body and causing immune system problems. But the FDA recently announced, after years of careful study, that there was little basis for worry and silicon breast implants are now legal again. Some prefer them for their different behavior.

In some cases, reconstruction is done during the mastectomy. In others, physicians recommend a waiting period to allow the body to heal before any further surgery. Each case is individual and can only be decided on its own merits.

Usually, two-staged delayed reconstruction is performed if the skin and chest wall tissues are flat. In this instance an implant, called a tissue expander that functions much like a balloon under the tissue, is placed underneath the muscle. A surgeon then injects saline in stages over a specific period of time. In some cases the expander itself eventually becomes the implant. In other instances the expander is removed during a later procedure and replaced with a permanent implant.

Tissue flap procedures are another category of breast surgery. These use skin from the stomach, the thighs or other area as part of the total process.

TRAM (transverse rectus abdominis muscle flap) is one of the most common types of tissue flap procedures. This procedure uses tissue from the lower abdominal wall. A pedicle flap leaves the tissue attached to the original blood supply and stretches the tissue all the way up into the breast area.

Another, almost equally common procedure takes tissue from the upper back. A flap is moved in front of the chest wall in effort to create a pocket. A breast implant is then inserted into the pocket. Additionally, other procedures are available such as gluteal muscle tissue.

In each instance nipple and/or areola reconstruction might be required. It can be done simultaneously, later, and sometimes not at all. The nipple from the original breast is usually not used out of fear that it could regenerate cancer.

Reconstructive surgery is not entirely without risks, of course.

All of the normal surgical complications such as infection or scarring, and capsular contracture (scar tissue forming around the implant) can occur. Additionally breast implants might not last a lifetime, and depending upon each individual’s circumstances including age. Replacing your implants might require an additional surgery at a later time period in life. The end result might or might not be what the patient wanted or expected. Only a consultation with a physician specializing in reconstruction will provide the patient with realistic outcomes to expect.