Breast Cancer Screening Can Save Your Life....!!!

One in 9 women is expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime. One in 27 will die of it. Breast cancer attacks mainly women, however there's 1% of breast cancer patients are men.

Obviously, a woman’s chance for survival improves when a cancer is found early. Cancer screening increases the chances of detecting certain cancers early.
 

All women starting from age 20 are recommended to do breast cancer screening according to the following guidelines:

For women in their 20s and 30s, take clinical breast examination once in every three years, for women 40 and older, take it once every year.

For women 40 and older, take a mammogram every year. Mammography may have some limitations and could miss some cancers, it is still considered to be the gold standard for early detection of  breast cancer.

Starting from age 20, women may choose to do breast self-examination. The benefits of BSE may not be too obvious as it's probably a little too late when you can notice any changes. It could still be beneficial in that it helps notice any changes in the breasts so you can report them to your doctor.

Breast cancer is mostly curable if found early and given good treatment. Screening is a way to detect it at its early stage. Bear this in mind: breast cancer screening can save you life. Take the time to do it.

"BREAST CANCER" Get the Knowledge and Treatment you need to Beat Breast Cancer.

Cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled growth of cells. Breast cancer forms in the tissues of the breast. It is normally formed in the ducts. It can be detected using a mammogram or a through a self-exam. It is advised that these tests should be done regularly so that early detection can be made. With early detection, advances in treatment and therapy, survival rates are highly increased.

Symptoms include a lump in the breast, discharge from the nipple, or a noticeable change in the size or shape of a breast.

Medical Screening:

The commonly used screening procedure is mammography which is an imaging technique that employs serial X-rays to visualize breast tissues and detect masses not felt during a self-breast examination. This screening procedure is not perfect as it may fail to show some tumors or may show an abnormality in a normal breast.

When a lump is found, a biopsy is done to check for the dreaded cancer.

 

With advancement in research there are many breast cancer treatment options to choose from and the one you are offered depends on certain factors. The main treatments are surgery, hormone therapy, biological (Herceptin), radiotherapy and chemotherapy. These may be given individually or in combination depending on several factors such as:

- the type of breast cancer present
-  whether menopause has occurred or not
- the size of the tumor
- the grade of the cancer cells
- the stage of the cancer
- whether particular receptors are present
- the general health of the patient

Chemotherapy and radiation remain the standard breast cancer treatments. There are other newer treatment methods which are still undergoing clinical trails.

Targeted Biological Therapy is the treatment targeting specific characteristics of cancer cells. This method, when compared to chemotherapy, is less likely to harm normal healthy cells.

Hormone Therapy, also known as anti-oestrogen therapy, retards the ability of oestrogen to stimulate the growth of the cancer cells.

Anti-Angiogenic Medications are drugs which kill the cancer cells by cutting-off blood supply to them (cancer cells).

Breast cancer is curable if it is detected and treated at its early stage or upon discovering symptoms.

For more information on breast cancer try visiting www.cancer-treatment-madurai.com - a website that specializes in providing breast cancer related information and resources including information on breast cancer treatment.