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Category: Breast Cancer

Tips to Prevent Breast Cancer

3 March, 2010 (22:21) | Breast Cancer | By: admin

Breast cancer is one of the leading killer cancers for women. Normally people know that it is only women that are susceptible to this. But did you know that there are many cases where men have also gotten this type of cancer? As this is very common form of cancer so each person needs to educate themselves about prevention of breast cancer. There is no definite way to prevent breast cancer but you can do much to reduce your risk of developing it significantly. Especially women should concentrate on keeping breast health through healthy diet and exercise to prevent breast cancer.
Following are the few tips to lower your chances of breast cancer:

  1. Daily physical activity is very essential. It is not only important for overall health; it also can reduce the risk of breast cancer.
  2. You should maintain your body weight. The main reason to significantly increase breast cancer risk is basically weight gain in midlife.
  3. Women who gain weight in mature age are at a higher risk for than women who have been overweight since babyhood.
  4. Women who breastfeed their offspring may have a somewhat lower risk of developing breast cancer.
  5. It is essential to regular intake of natural vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. You should take eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible. It helps to reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Usually, a woman who had cancer in one breast has more chances of developing cancer in the opposite breast. It is preferable to follow a healthy living style to be secure from the return of breast cancer.
These are some tips if you follow these than these will definitely increase your chances to prevent breast cancer.

Avoid Breast Cancer

24 December, 2009 (17:52) | Breast Cancer | By: admin

Due to the increased life expectancy increasing number of people affected by cancer. In adults, very often operate on cancers that affect organs such as lung, pancreas or colon cancer. In children, however, carcinomas occur as well as never before. For them, the leukemia is the most common form of cancer.

Men are affected statistics resulted almost twice as often, subject to age this is the 68th Year of life lies.

A healthy diet and regular check-ups can act prophylactically, or leave a disease seen very quickly. The earlier cancer is detected, the greater are the chances of recovery.

In women, breast cancer and cervical cancer is a very common form. Here, too, through regular examinations quickly detect and treat cancer. In order to have breast cancer preventions, certain hormones (contraceptive pill) is very well proven and especially women, whose ancestors had ill with cancer, regular screening should to be taken over by the health perceptions.

For breast cancer prevention also includes the regular scanning. Exactly how this works, will explain to a gynecologist. These small lumps or other breast tissue or under the arm can be felt much quicker. Also, the mammography is one of the screening tests. This investigation form is particularly suitable for women over 40 years.

In younger women, this investigation does not arise often incorrect results and therefore occurs in women under 40 years, only less frequent mammography as an investigation into question. But if breast cancer runs if your family, and your grandmother and / or mother had it, you should get checked more often.

Better safe than sorry when it comes to your health.

Men and Breast Cancer

9 December, 2009 (03:47) | Breast Cancer | By: admin

The men of any age may develop breast cancer, but is usually detected in men between 45 and 65 years of age. Breast cancer found in men is less than 1% of all cases of breast cancer. Although rare, the inflammatory breast cancer found in males is a very aggressive cancer that grows quickly. It’s called inflammatory because cancer cells block the lymph vessels and this is manifested in the skin, which becomes thick and hollowed, the appearance is similar to that of an orange peel.

You may find the following types of breast cancer in males:

  • Infiltrating ductal carcinoma: Cancer that has spread beyond the cells lining the breast ducts. This is the kind suffered by the majority of men with breast cancer.
  • Ductal carcinoma in situ: Abnormal cells found in the lining of a duct, also called intraductal carcinoma.
  • Inflammatory breast cancer: A type of cancer in which the breast looks red and swollen and feels warm.
  • Paget’s disease of the nipple: the surface of an underlying tumor ducts underneath the nipple.

Inflammatory breast cancer can spread in just a few weeks, is often mistaken for other things like a rash or infection. The symptoms are:

  • Redness, swelling and warmth in the breast
  • Red skin, purple or bruised
  • Skin with bumps and / or marks as an orange
  • Burning, pain and tenderness
  • Increased breast size and an inverted nipple

Because usually this cancer does not form like a regular ball of tissue, but it spreadsthroughout the breast tissue right a way. This is why it is very difficult to detect with a mammogram alone, and the magnetic resonance imaging and biopsies can not usually diagnose it accurately either. However, surgical biopsy and positron emission tomography (PET) can be used effectively to detect it. In the near future, PET may be the most important diagnostic test for the inflammatory breast cancer. Although still under evaluation, Doctors have found that PET is able to see more inflammatory breast cancer, including lymph nodes removed from the breast, which will determine the presence of metastases at diagnosis better than other test.

Certain factors affect prognosis (chance of recovery) and treatment options. 
The prognosis and treatment options depend on the following aspects:

  • The stage of cancer (if located in the breast only or has spread to other parts in the body).
  • The type of breast cancer.
  • The concentration of estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors in tumor tissue.
  • If cancer is also found in the other breast also.
  • The age and general health of the patient.

I hope that you find this informayion helpful.

Why does Breast Cancer Spread?

4 December, 2009 (03:56) | Breast Cancer, Cancer | By: admin

Breast cancer can spread to any part of your body through the blood and lymphatic system. The metastasis of breast cancer cells is what makes the disease very dangerous. Metastasis means the cancer cells have traveled from the place of origin, i.e. the breast, to other parts of the body.

When the cancer cells travel from the breast to the underarm lymph nodes, it is still considered to be early stages of breast cancer and it has a high potential to be completely cured. With surgery and treatment there is a very high chance that all the disease can be completely eradicated from the body.

When the cancer cells travel beyond the lymph nodes to other distant parts of the body, the patient is said to have distant metastasis. The bones, lungs and liver are the most commonly affected places in the body that breast cancer cells spread to. Though treatment is available for breast cancer and for metastasic breast cancer, once the cancer has traveled beyond the breast and underarm lymph nodules, it can no longer be totally cured.

Scientists have recently discovered a molecule that could be the main reason behind the spreading of breast cancer cells to different parts of the body. The molecule known as Brk is found in almost 60% of breast cancers and they accelerate the growth of the tumor cells, encouraging metastasis to other parts of the body.

The study was conducted on breast cancer patients who had extremely poor responses to the treatments. The Brk molecule was found in very high concentration in these patients, which means that not only does it cause the cancer to grow more aggressively; it also encourages its rapid spread to other parts of the body.

The study also came out with another crucial finding. The tumor cells died when the Brk molecule was inhibited, but the cancer cells re-emerged when the molecule was introduced again. This points to a significant level of involvement that the Brk molecule has in encouraging the breast cancer cells to survive, grow and spread.

Scientists are currently studying how exactly the Brk molecule promotes the growth of breast cancer cells so that they can develop ways to prevent that from happening. The findings are quote encouraging and shed new light on the age old battle of mankind against cancer.

Prevention of Breast Cancer

25 November, 2009 (18:04) | Breast Cancer | By: Health news

Practices on this cancer prevention are only for women with moderate to high breast cancer risk. There are still no guidelines for the prevention for women with average risk.

However, how can we identify the group of women at known risk in general population? Thus, it is important for us to know whether we are in risk of breast cancer by knowing the risk factors and do the early detection steps frequently.

In General
Generally, we can do some prevention steps in our daily life no matter we are in risk or not. Leading a healthy lifestyle is an essential prevention step for all the cancer.

1. It is advised that women need to maintain a healthy body weight throughout their daily life without consuming high fat food.

2. Women have to do some regular physical activities such as jogging, swimming and so on.

3. Breastfeeding is a good practice to prevent the breast cancer.

4. Consume diets that rich in grains, fruits and vegetables. Less meat in diet will be too good to be practiced.

5. Moderate use of alcoholic beverages. It is too good not to consume the alcoholic beverages at all.

6. Minimize yourself from the exposure to exogenous hormones.

7. Reduce the sugars in the diet.

Women with Moderate to High Risk
There are several ways for the prevention of this kind of cancer in women at significantly increased risk.

Who are those with moderate to high risk in breast cancer?

  • Women who are the carriers of BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation.
  • Women with multiple affected relative cancer presenting at early age.
  • Women with family history of this kind of cancer and so on.

There are many options for the women in risk to prevent from breast cancer. Most of the strategies are to remove the tissue which may become cancerous and decrease the endogenous hormone exposure. The most common is bilateral prophylactic mastectomy.


In conclusion, it is important for us to recognize the group of women with high risk or moderate risk who will ultimately develop this type of cancers. There are many risk assessment can be done through the cancer research. This will reduce the need for many women to unnecessarily undergo aggressive surgery.

Have You been Diagnosed with Breast Cancer?

20 November, 2009 (04:37) | Breast Cancer | By: admin

There is important research being done on breast cancer and almost everyday new findings are being revealed. An important piece of information that will directly affect one out of every four women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer is that Herceptin is highly effective in the treatment of breast cancer.

Herceptin is used to boost the benefits of Chemotherapy and surgery, and now experts say that it must be used to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and overall health.

Herceptin is a drug that is highly effective in the treatment of breast cancer in its early stages. It is specifically targeted against certain receptors in the body that aggravate the cancer. Approximately 25% of patients have tumors that are diagnosed as HER2+, this is a receptor in the body called Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2. HER2+ tumors tend to grow and metastasize more rapidly than others. Herceptin is especially effective in the treatment of HER+ tumors. Herceptin usage is seen to reduce the risk of distant recurrence of the disease by almost 50%, which is a phenomenal rate of decrease for cancer risk.

HER2+ breast cancer is very aggressive and therefore it becomes important to find out the HER2 status of your breast cancer. This helps the doctor the treatments that may be right for you.

Each breast cell that is normal actually contains a copy of the HER2 gene, this is something that allows normal cells to grow. The gene is found in the DNA, and it contains the information for producing the HER2 protein.

Also called the HER2 protein, the HER2 receptor, is found also found on the surface of some normal cells. The HER2 proteins send out signals from the outside to the inside of the cell to grow and divide.

In Breast Cancer that is HER2+, the cancer cells have an abnormally high number of HER2 genes in every cell. This extra HER2 protein appears on the surface of cancer cells as well adding to the rapid growth and multiplication of cancer cells. This is the reason why HER2+ breast cancer is usually extremely aggressive.

Women who have been treated with Herceptin during or after chemotherapy and surgery show remarkable improvement. The drug also decreases the chance of developing breast cancer in the other breast. Over a prolonged period of time, the treatment via Herceptin has shown tremendous reductions in the recurrence of breast cancer.

Experts are now of the opinion that Herceptin must be included as standard care for breast cancer treatment unless there is some specific reason not to. Even for those with early stage cancer of the breast, Herceptin is now considered an important treatment.

Breast Cancer – The Common Causes

1 November, 2009 (19:21) | Breast Cancer | By: admin

The breasts holds significant meaning to female sex.

Those woman who got breast cancer easily get emotional and physical trauma because the chance of losing this vital part of the body is very high severerly erodes a woman’s self image. Worldwide statistics shows that breast cancer affects approximately one out of 12 women. Although rare, this most dangerous disease also affects men as well but the percent is low as 1% of all breast cancer cases.

There are many factors that related to the cause of breast cancer such as wearing under-wires bras but the actual causes of breast cancer is still unkown. The common factors that causes breast cancer are listed below.

  • The Family History.

Those with family of breast cancer are at high risk to get breast cancer. The risk in increase fourfold is two first degree relatives are affected.

  • Use of Oral Contraceptives & Hormone Replacement Therapies.

The prolonged use of birth control pills and hormone replacement therapies (HRT) is linked to heightened risk of breast cancer by 1.2 and 1.3 times respectively. This is because the hormone estrogen is believed to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.

  • Diet and Obesity

Excessive consumption of saturated fat can increase the risk of getting breast cancer. Obesity has been found to be a breast cancer risk in studies, especially for women after menopause. Although the ovaries produce most of estrogen, fat tissue produces a small amount of estrogen. Having more fat tissue can increase your estrogen levels and increase your likelihood of developing breast cancer.

Other risk factors are nulliparity or not having children, abortion of the first pregnancy, early onset of menstruation (before age 12) and late menopause (after age 55).

Breast cancer is very traumatic for women as it affects them mentally, physically and emotionally. Family support is very vital to see them through the various treatments and later return to normal daily life.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) Symptoms & Diagnosis

27 October, 2009 (19:11) | Breast Cancer, Cancer | By: admin

Inflammatory breast cancer, or IBC, is an accelerated type of breast cancer, which usually cannot be detected by ultrasound or mammogram. It is a relatively rare form of cancer, which accounts for about 1 to 3 percent of all cancers of the breast. One of the signs of this type of breast cancer is that the affected breast becomes inflamed and swollen. This occurs because the lymphatic cells that exist under the breast’s skin get blocked by the cancer cells. This results in the lymph flow blockage, which leads to the inflamed redness, also known as mastitis, which characterizes IBC.

The Symptoms of Inflammatory Breast Cancer are:

  • Breast pain. Since IBC is often mistaken for an infection of the breast, it is treated with antibiotics. Hence, if the inflammation does not subside after a week, you need to either get a referral to a breast cancer specialist or ask for a breast biopsy.

  • Breast becoming red. Inflammatory breast cancer’s most distinctive characteristic is the redness, which can involve either the whole or part of the breast. Sometimes the redness may come and go.

  • Warmth of the breast. The redness may also be accompanied by the area becoming warm.

  • Changes of skin in the breast area. The redness on the breast, often is also accompanied by the skin getting the thickness and texture of an orange peel, also referred to as peau d’orange.

  • A bruise forming on the breast that does not go away.

  • Retraction of the nipple or discharge from it.

  • Itching sensation of the breast.

  • The breast suddenly swelling up.

  • The lymph nodes in the neck or under the arm swelling up.

  • Around 50 percent of women afflicted with IBC also have a mass or a lump in their breast, but it usually cannot be detected during breast examination because the breast often becomes harder and larger than normal.

These symptoms usually occur very quickly, within a period of mere weeks.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer Diagnosis

As has been explained, the nature of the symptoms of IBC makes it very hard to diagnose accurately. Because of the rarity of the disease, many medical practitioners generally do not come across it. Besides, compared to other forms of breast cancer, inflammatory breast cancer has not been studied quite as much. Usually, when the breast gets swollen or red, an infection is commonly the cause; hence doctors diagnose it as such at first. However, infections usually have a cause, for example breast-feeding, and they subside with adequate antibiotic treatment, however, IBC, is not responsive to antibiotics.

Inflammatory breast cancer is diagnosed primarily by conducting a physical examination, although ultrasound, breast MRI, or mammogram may also be used sometimes. A biopsy is usually used to confirm the diagnosis. However, there are cases when a biopsy of IBC comes back clear, although the swelling and the redness worsen. Hence, as is evident, it can be very tricky to get a confirmed and accurate diagnosis.