by Dr Taylor Cromish

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.

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.

Thousands of  women are cured of breast cancer each year compared to 1990. Breast cancer experts say this is related to better and earlier diagnosis and improved treatment.

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.

Local treatments are surgery and radiotherapy purely round the breast. Systemic treatments affect the whole body. So chemotherapy, hormone and biological therapy are systemic treatments. Treatment for breast cancer is not a smooth road, and there are days when the cure feels worse than the disease.

Surviving Breast Cancer

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.

Breast cancer does not mean you are going to die but it is an enormous shock, which can be taken on and overcome. Female relatives may need to be assessed as many cancers are related to particular genes.

About the Author:
After working for 20 years in medicine, Dr Taylor Cromish has plenty of knowledge and experience which he uses to provide accurate online medical information. For the facts about cancer of the breast please visit his site.

Filed under: Health Articles

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