Breast Cancer and You
Posted Under: Cabo San Lucas
Breast Cancer occurs when some cells in your breast grow out of control. It’s in the top 3 of cancers for women and is one of the leading causes of female mortality in early middle age, although survival rates are increasing every year.
All the publicity and campaigns have raised the profile of breast cancer and women are very aware of the risks. Survival rates improve every year and the earlier the cancer is found higher the cure rate. Men get breast cancer as well but it is 100 times less common.
Breast Cancer Incidence
Breast cancer rates have increased by more than 50% over the last twenty years. The highest rates of breast cancer occur in Northern Europe and North America and the lowest rates are in parts of Africa and Asia. The good news is thanks to better diagnosis and treatment survival rates are improving.
The number of women surviving breast cancer has increased since 1990 thanks in part to better diagnosis. Specialists in breast cancer credit this and improvement in other treatment with the increase.
Breast Cancer Treatment
Treatment usually depends on the type of cancer and whether the cancer has spread outside the breast to the rest of the body. This is known as staging and goes from stage 0 to stage 4. Stage 0 is local cancer and stage 4 is widespread cancer. Treatment is decided by the stage of your cancer and is similar for men and women.
Surgery, powerful cancer fighting drugs, x-rays, hormones and new drugs like Herceptin are the mainstays of modern treatment. Your treatment can be aimed locally at the tumour or more widely affect the rest of your body.
Localised therapy for breast cancer includes surgery and sometimes x-ray therapy. The drug treatments can affect your whole body as well as the cancer but with modern regimens the side effects are not as bad as they used to be.
Breast Cancer Survival
Increasing numbers of women are beating breast cancer every year. Roughly speaking a woman with stage 0 cancer has the best chance of beating cancer and stage 4 the worst. These are only rough guides and are derived from thousands of women a year. We are all individuals and respond differently so it’s important to remain as upbeat as possible. Both sexes have similar chances of beating the disease.
Breast cancer is on the rise worldwide and is no respecter of age or status. Having a diagnosis of breast cancer is shocking news. The most important key to overcoming breast cancer is awareness and early detection.
A diagnosis of breast cancer is not a death sentence but a huge challenge, which can be beaten. As many breast cancers have a genetic link other family members may receive counselling if needed.
