Breast Cancer Screening Controversy
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women affecting one in eight women during their lives. Can occur at any time, but the risk of developing increases as women get older. It is much more common in postmenopausal women and the risk continues to increase with increasing age.
Cause
The cause Breast cancer is unknown and, although it can occur in men, the much higher incidence in women involves estrogen.
Today, the Breast cancer, like other forms of cancer, it is considered that the end result of several environmental and hereditary factors. Breathing secondhand smoke increases the risk of breast cancer by 70% in young, primarily premenopausal women.
A recently published study indicates a correlation between the fall in breast cancer and decreased in women taking HRT.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
Breast cancer causes many fears, including those relating surgery, death, loss of body image and loss of sexuality, however, is more easily treated and often curable if detected early, therefore the normal self-examination and detection is critical. Breast cancer usually appears as a lump or thickening in the breast tissue, although most of breast tumors are not cancerous.
Some predisposing factors are clear.
Women at high risk are those who:
Having a family history of cancer breast.
They have long menstrual cycles, began early menstruation or late menopause.
Never been pregnant
For the first time pregnant after 31.
Having had unilateral breast cancer.
Endometrial cancer or ovarian cancer.
Were exposed to low level ionizing radiation.
Many other possible factors are under investigation including, obesity, alcohol and environmental factors.
Those with less risk are women that:
Were pregnant before age 20.
Have had multiple pregnancies.
Are Native American or Asian.
Breast cancer is more frequent in the chest and left upper quadrant.
Indications of breast cancer than a lump may include changes in breast size or shape, dimpling the skin, nipple inversion, or spontaneous single-nipple discharge.
TYPES
When breast cancer cells invade dermal lymphatics, small lymph vessels in the skin of the breast, its presentation can resemble skin inflammation and thus is known as inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). Symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include pain, swelling, warmth and redness throughout the breast, and a texture orange peel to the skin known as orange peel.
The most common histologic type of breast cancer are invasive ductal carcinoma, malignant cancer ducts of the breast and invasive lobular carcinoma, malignant cancer of the breast lobules.
Occasionally, breast cancer occurs as the disease metastases, ie cancer that has spread beyond the original organ. Bone or joint pains can sometimes be manifestations of cancer metastatic breast, as can jaundice or neurological symptoms.
TREATMENT
There is still much controversy over the treatment of cancer breast, options include: surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy, Herceptin and complementary treatments.
The mainstay of cancer treatment Breast cancer is surgery when the tumor is localized, with possible adjuvant hormonal therapy (tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor), chemotherapy and / or radiotherapy.
In February 2007, MammaPrint became the first breast cancer predictor to obtain formal approval from the Food and Drug Administration. This is a new genetic test to help predict whether women with early-stage breast cancer will fall by 5 or 10 years, this could help influence the aggressiveness is the initial tumor.
Interstitial laser thermotherapy (ILT) is an innovative method for treating breast cancer and minimally invasive way without surgical removal, and the absence of any adverse effects on health and survival of patients during the follow through.
PREVENTION
Routine (annual) mammography of women older than age 40 or 50 is recommended by many organizations as a screening method to diagnose early breast cancer and has shown a protective effect in multiple clinical trials.
Women with one or more first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) with premenopausal breast cancer should begin screening at an early age.
PROGNOSIS
There are many prognostic factors associated with breast cancer: staging, tumor size and location, grade, if the disease is systemic (has metastasized, or traveled to other parts of body), recurrence of the disease, and age of the patient.
With advances in detection, diagnosis and treatment, the cancer mortality rate breast has decreased by 20% over the last decade, and research is ongoing to develop more effective screening and treatment programs.
