Breast Cancer

By: Katina Galante & Taylor Wakefield

Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is a malignant growth when abnormal cancer cells are uncontrollably growing. It usually begins in the cells that line the ducts in your breast. It can then be spread through the lymph nodes which fight off infection. Finding cancer in the lymph nodes is not good because it can spread throughout the body and the cancer will enlarge.

Causes
We do not know exactly what causes breast cancer or the risk factors of it. Hormones are known to play a big role most of the time. Another cause, is genes. There are sometimes mutations in DNA when genes are trying to slow down or speed up cell division, which can cause a cancerous breast cell. Sometimes, you can inherit a gene from your parents that can have mutations. Once a gene is mutated, the growth of the gene will be ruined and this usually ends in cancer.

Risk Factors
Just because you have a risk factor of breast cancer does not necessarily mean you are definitely going to get it. One of the main risk factors is your gender. Males are able to get breast cancer, but it is very rare because of the amount of female hormones they have which form breast cancer. Females are more likely to get the disease. As you increase in age, you become more susceptible to breast cancer.

Symptoms
Most of the time, symptoms of breast cancer will not be visible. You could have a large cancerous, painless lump under your arm or on your breast or it may be too small to see or feel. Also, if you have any irritation, pain, swelling, discharge, or redness you should get checked out because they are unusual and are symptoms of possible breast cancer.

Diagnosis/Detection
All women who believe they do not have any breast problems should receive a screening mammogram, which is an x-ray of the breast to look for any breast disease they may have. Then, a diagnostic mammogram will be done which will diagnose the women with breast disease if it exists. Getting an MRI scanning of the breast is another way of finding any type of irregular lumps in your breast, but it takes more time.

Treatments
There are multiple standard methods used to treat breast cancer. Surgery is performed to remove the lump and cancer from the breast. Most of the time, some or all of the breast will need to be removed as well just to be safe. A biopsy will occur after the surgery to remove to remove fluid. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to get rid of cancer or prevent it from spreading. Chemotherapy does the same thing but by using chemicals. All of these methods work effectively to treat breast cancer and prevent it from coming back. Although it is not 100% successful all the time, it helps a lot.

Side Effects

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Side effects from chemotherapy and radiation can be very painful and uncomfortable. Some include diarrhea, loss of appetite, vomiting, weakness, hair loss, bleeding, and many more. Although they seem like short-term effects, they could last a long time. There are more serious side effects to treatment of breast cancer including anxiety, depression, weight loss, blood clots, heart problems, high blood pressure/cholesterol, and insomnia. The list of effects are neverending. On the positive side, some good side effects are getting rid of cancer cells, and stopping them from growing.

Trial Treatments

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Doctors released that there may be a new treatment for

some breast cancer patients. It's a drug called trastuzumab emtansine. Women who used this had their tumors not growing for over 3 months, longer than cancer patients who take chemo. Doctors created a combination therapy for treatment of breast cancer. They combined the drug everolimus to exemestane. This caused the women to live 4 months longer without their breast cancer progressing. This could be the start to a lifechanging treatment.

Prevention
Limiting your amount of alcohol intake is something you can do to lower your rate of getting breast cancer. Smoking cigarettes not only causes cancer of the lungs, but it could also lead to breast cancer as well. You should also watch your weight. Limiting your hormone intake is very important because it increases your risk. The most important prevention, is staying out of contact with radiation which is the cause of multiple different types of cancer. Visiting a doctor and getting a mammogram every few years especially during your mid-life will help you stay aware and could save your life.

 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. "About 39,510 women will die from breast cancer". 30% of cancers in women are breast cancer. "In 2011, there were more than 2.6 million breast cancer survivors in the US." In 2012, breast cancer will kill 410 men. "250,000 US women living with the disease are under the age of 40." "70% of women who develop breast cancer have no identifiable risk factors." "8 out of 9 women who are diagnosed with breast
cancer have no family history of the disease."

Statistics

Statistics

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Works Cited
www.cancer.org/index http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc/ symptoms http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/brea st/Patient/page5 http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/guide/treatmentside-effects http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/type/breast