Download Breast Cancer kiana young

Breast Cancer
Kiana Young
ICDL
Instructor: Mark Provenzano
October 18, 2011
Kiana Young
10/18/11
Breast Cancer
There are two main types of breast cancers Ductal Carcinoma and Lobular Carcinoma.
Ductal starts in the tubes that moves milk from the breast into the nipple and Lobular
starts in the lobules. These cancers are sensitive to hormone estrogen which causes the
tumor to grow. Breast Cancer can either be invasive or noninvasive. If invasive it has
spread from the milk duct or lobules to other tissue in the breast. Noninvasive means it
has not yet spread through other breast tissue.
Some women have HER2-positive breast cancer. “HER2 refers to a gene that helps cells
grow, divide, and repair themselves.” When cells have too many copies of genes they tend
to grow faster. “Experts think that women with HER2-positive breast cancer have a more
aggressive disease and a higher risk that the disease will return (recur) than women who
do not have this type.”
“Over the course of a lifetime, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.” Risk of
developing breast cancer increases as you get older.
Early Breast Cancer doesn’t usually cause symptoms and that is why regular breast exams
are very important. Some symptoms include lumps that don’t usually hurt or cause pain.
Some symptoms change the size, shape or how the breast and nipple feels. Also the skin
may turn red. Fluid may come from the nipple, it can be yellow, bloody, green, clear, or
look like pus. Men can also get breast cancer. Their symptoms include tenderness, lumps,
and breast pains. (Breast Cancer - PubMed Health , 2011)
There are multiple ways to treat breast cancer. They include surgery, radiation therapy,
chemotherapy, and antihormonal therapy. Lumpectomy is a breast conserving surgical
procedure that removes the cancer and some of the breast tissue surrounding it. “Radiation
is used to kill any tiny cancer cells invisible to the naked eye that may have been left behind
after surgery. It may also be used to help control symptoms if cancer spreads.” Another way
to treat breast cancer is Chemotherapy uses anticancer drugs to kill cancer cells. There are
many kinds of chemotherapy drugs and often they are used in combinations called
regimens.
Most treatments to breast cancer have side effects. They can be from mild to very serious.
The more common side effects are fatigue, mouth sores, nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and
something called "chemo brain," which you feel as if you're more forgetful or hazy. One side
effect called lymphedema can happen if lymph nodes in your armpit are removed during
surgery. “With this condition, you get swelling and pain in your arm and stiffness in your
shoulder. But there are ways to prevent it and to treat it.” (How Is Breast Cancer Treated?)
“Scientists have made a new discovery, which may become a new weapon in fight against
breast cancer.” Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have shown that
a peptide found in blood and tissue inhibits the growth of human breast tumors in mice. Patricia
E. Gallagher and E. Ann Tallant demonstrated that the peptide angiotensin attacked breast cancer
in two ways, by inhibiting the growth of the breast cancer cells themselves and by inhibiting the
growth of cancer-associated fibroblasts, cells found in the tumor microenvironment. “In this
study, mice were injected with human breast cancer cells to form the two most common types of
breast tumors - estrogen-receptor and HER2 sensitive.” As the tumors grew, the mice were
injected with either angiotensin or saline for 18 days. The mice treated with angiotensin, there
was a 40 percent reduction in tumor size as compared to the saline-injected mice. Breast tumor
fibrosis also was reduced by 64 to 75 percent in the mice treated with the peptide as compared to
the saline-injected mice. (new discovery to fight breast cancer)
“For women at high risk of breast cancer, an MRI can help detect malignancies early and is
often suggested in addition to annual mammograms.” (national breast cancer awareness
moth:celebrating 25years of awareness,education and empowerment)
October is breast cancer awareness month (October-breast cancer awareness
moth:ayurvedic
view)
Bibliography
Breast Cancer - PubMed Health . (2011). Retrieved October 20, 2011, from nih.gov:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001911/
How Is Breast Cancer Treated? (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2010, from caring4cancer.com:
http://www.caring4cancer.com/go/breast/treatments
national breast cancer awareness moth:celebrating 25years of awareness,education and empowerment.
(n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2011, from nbcam.org/: http://www.nbcam.org/
new discovery to fight breast cancer. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2011, from Indiatimes.com:
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-01-04/health/28367932_1_breast-tumours-breastcancer-mice
October-breast cancer awareness moth:ayurvedic view. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2011, from
newstrackindia.com: http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/247661