In November 2003, the American Cancer Society stated that breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 44. In the United States, there are approximately 200,000 new cases of breast cancer and more than 40,000 deaths; making the U.S. one of the countries with the highest death rates due to breast cancer. Perhaps the most alarming statistic is 1: 8 women will eventually develop breast cancer over their lifetime.
Generally Accepted Risk Factors for developing breast cancer can be divided into two categories; those a woman can control and those she cannot. Women who choose pharmaceutical hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and oral contraceptives may increase their risk of breast cancer. Additionally, a woman who consumes one or more alcoholic drinks per day or lives a sedentary lifestyle faces an increased risk for acquiring breast cancer. Those factors that are beyond the immediate control but still may lead to increased risk include: onset of menstruation prior to age 12 or onset of menopause after the age 50 and inheritance of the breast cancer genes, BRCA 1 and BRCA 2. Inheriting the breast cancer genes, BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, are known to be associated with both breast and ovarian cancers, but only account for 5-10% of all breast cancer. In 70% of all cases, the cause of breast cancer is still yet unknown.
Conventional screening methods all examine structure. For example, mammography uses X-ray to examine breast tissue. Any structure that has grown large enough to be seen by X-ray could be detected by mammography. However, mammography can have a high false positive rate. In fact, only 1 in 6 biopsies are found to be positive for cancer when found by mammography or clinical breast exam. This leads to increased psychological stress, physical trauma and financial worries.
Other risks of mammography include the radiation exposure, although this has been debated by doctors for many years. Recently published in Radiation Research, 2004 the author suggests that the risks associated with mammography screening may be FIVE times higher than previously assumed and the risk-benefit relationship of mammography needs to be re-examined.
Breast Cancer- There Is A Way Through Your Fears !
Have you had breast cancer in the past, or are you undergoing treatments now? Then SoulCollage™ is a practice that you will find immensely helpful. Get in touch with the voices inside of you that have something to say about your cancer. Open yourself to the gifts they bring you. Free yourself from your fears.
This is the story of my breast cancer journey, and how gluing magazine pictures onto mat board led me back to my spirit.
In December of 2001, breast cancer was the furthest thing from my mind. I was busy. I had a loving husband, a nice home, three beautiful stepchildren, a good job. Then my perfect little world was suddenly turned inside out and upside down.
A routine, suspicious mammogram. A phone call. Mammogram #2. A stereotactic core biopsy.
My diagnosis: breast cancer, stage 2, infiltrating, ductal, HER2.
All of the above happened within the fearful, anxious, unbelievable time span of 7 days. And my life has never been the same.
The next nine months held a most strange quality of disbelief and exhaustion. It also held two surgeries, four chemotherapy treatments spaced three weeks apart, and 47 radiation treatments (spaced daily, over the course of 9 weeks).
It's been three years since my life was turned upside down and inside out…. Three years. My prognosis is very good. I hear this every three months depending on which doctor my appointment is with: breast surgeon, medical oncologist, or radiation oncologist.
Three years have passed. I look good. I feel good. And yet nothing has been able to quiet the storms of fear that threaten to overwhelm me from time to time. The insidious fear that the breast cancer might return. The intimidating fear of another potentially deadly diagnosis.
This is the story of my breast cancer journey, and how gluing magazine pictures onto mat board led me back to my spirit.
In December of 2001, breast cancer was the furthest thing from my mind. I was busy. I had a loving husband, a nice home, three beautiful stepchildren, a good job. Then my perfect little world was suddenly turned inside out and upside down.
A routine, suspicious mammogram. A phone call. Mammogram #2. A stereotactic core biopsy.
My diagnosis: breast cancer, stage 2, infiltrating, ductal, HER2.
All of the above happened within the fearful, anxious, unbelievable time span of 7 days. And my life has never been the same.
The next nine months held a most strange quality of disbelief and exhaustion. It also held two surgeries, four chemotherapy treatments spaced three weeks apart, and 47 radiation treatments (spaced daily, over the course of 9 weeks).
It's been three years since my life was turned upside down and inside out…. Three years. My prognosis is very good. I hear this every three months depending on which doctor my appointment is with: breast surgeon, medical oncologist, or radiation oncologist.
Three years have passed. I look good. I feel good. And yet nothing has been able to quiet the storms of fear that threaten to overwhelm me from time to time. The insidious fear that the breast cancer might return. The intimidating fear of another potentially deadly diagnosis.
Hormone Replacement Therapy And Breast Cancer !
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HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY AND BREAST CANCER: THE RISKS IN PERSPECTIVE
Janet M., a fifties-something woman, entered my office and said as she sat down, "I've read that if I take hormones I'll increase my breast cancer risk. I'm going crazy without sleep and with these mood swings, but I don't want to increase my breast cancer risk by taking hormones."
Like many women, Janet had heard that a recent study, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), definitively showed that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increases breast cancer risk. Janet, like most people, didn't realize that this study found no statistically significant increase in breast cancer risk to women who took HRT.
When differences are not significant, an increase in risk may well be due to other factors, not the one being studied, such as HRT use. As often happens when a medical story is reported, the emphasis was on the increase in risk, not whether the increase was likely to be due to the agent being studied or to the size of the risk.
The actual size of a risk is important in any woman's decision making process. In this case the risk was exceedingly small -- only 8 in 10,000 women a year -- which is 0.08% or eight hundredths of one percent! Janet was amazed to learn the actual size of the increase, and said, "You mean I was getting all concerned for a risk that small!"
"And," I pointed out, "even this very small difference in risk may not be due to hormone use." I explained that breast cancers take an average of eight years to reach about half an inch in size. This means that breast cancers started in the first year of the study would not be detected for eight or more years. The study followed women for only about five years, so all or most of the breast cancers found were probably present in an undetected state before the study began.
HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY AND BREAST CANCER: THE RISKS IN PERSPECTIVE
Janet M., a fifties-something woman, entered my office and said as she sat down, "I've read that if I take hormones I'll increase my breast cancer risk. I'm going crazy without sleep and with these mood swings, but I don't want to increase my breast cancer risk by taking hormones."
Like many women, Janet had heard that a recent study, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), definitively showed that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increases breast cancer risk. Janet, like most people, didn't realize that this study found no statistically significant increase in breast cancer risk to women who took HRT.
When differences are not significant, an increase in risk may well be due to other factors, not the one being studied, such as HRT use. As often happens when a medical story is reported, the emphasis was on the increase in risk, not whether the increase was likely to be due to the agent being studied or to the size of the risk.
The actual size of a risk is important in any woman's decision making process. In this case the risk was exceedingly small -- only 8 in 10,000 women a year -- which is 0.08% or eight hundredths of one percent! Janet was amazed to learn the actual size of the increase, and said, "You mean I was getting all concerned for a risk that small!"
"And," I pointed out, "even this very small difference in risk may not be due to hormone use." I explained that breast cancers take an average of eight years to reach about half an inch in size. This means that breast cancers started in the first year of the study would not be detected for eight or more years. The study followed women for only about five years, so all or most of the breast cancers found were probably present in an undetected state before the study began.
Of Lumps, Bumps And Breast Cancer !
Friday, August 13, 2010
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You feel a mild soreness in the breast so you checked for lumps. You felt a little bump. The next best step is to consult a doctor, you might have breast cancer. Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that starts from the cells of the breast. Breast cancer occurs mainly in women but this does not mean that men are safe from this disease.
A woman's breast is made up of lobules, which are glands that make the milk; ducts, which connect lobules to the nipples; fat and connective tissues; blood vessels; and lymph vessels. Most breast cancers begin in the ducts. It may also begin in the lobules then spread to other tissues.
When one feels a lump in the breast, there is really no virtual worry because most lumps are benign which means that they are not cancerous. In fact, benign breast tumors are abnormal growths but do not really pose threats because they do not spread outside of the breast. However, some benign lumps increase the risk in having breast cancer.
Then there are lumps that are not really tumors at all which are often caused by fibrocystic changes -- cysts are fluid-filled sacs while fibrosis is the formation of scar-like tissue. These changes can cause swelling of the breasts resulting to being lumpy and sometimes a fluid discharge from the nipples.
There are different types of breast cancer and knowing them will greatly help in assessing the disease.
Carcinoma in situ is a term used for early stage of breast cancer where the cancer cells are still confined to the place where it started. In particular, the cancer cells are confined in the lobules or the ducts, depending on where it started. The cancer cells have not gone into the fatty tissues in the breast nor spread to other organs of the body.
Ductal carcinoma in situ is the most common type of noninvasive breast cancer. Similar with Carcinoma in situ, the cancer cells have spread through the walls of the duct into the fatty tissue of the breasts. Almost all women with breast cancer at this stage can be cured and the best way to find is through the use of mammogram.
A woman's breast is made up of lobules, which are glands that make the milk; ducts, which connect lobules to the nipples; fat and connective tissues; blood vessels; and lymph vessels. Most breast cancers begin in the ducts. It may also begin in the lobules then spread to other tissues.
When one feels a lump in the breast, there is really no virtual worry because most lumps are benign which means that they are not cancerous. In fact, benign breast tumors are abnormal growths but do not really pose threats because they do not spread outside of the breast. However, some benign lumps increase the risk in having breast cancer.
Then there are lumps that are not really tumors at all which are often caused by fibrocystic changes -- cysts are fluid-filled sacs while fibrosis is the formation of scar-like tissue. These changes can cause swelling of the breasts resulting to being lumpy and sometimes a fluid discharge from the nipples.
There are different types of breast cancer and knowing them will greatly help in assessing the disease.
Carcinoma in situ is a term used for early stage of breast cancer where the cancer cells are still confined to the place where it started. In particular, the cancer cells are confined in the lobules or the ducts, depending on where it started. The cancer cells have not gone into the fatty tissues in the breast nor spread to other organs of the body.
Ductal carcinoma in situ is the most common type of noninvasive breast cancer. Similar with Carcinoma in situ, the cancer cells have spread through the walls of the duct into the fatty tissue of the breasts. Almost all women with breast cancer at this stage can be cured and the best way to find is through the use of mammogram.
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