Health-Tips-And-Info

by Ray Lam

Stage IV breast cancer has traditionally been considered an incurable cancer. In the mid to late 1980’s the average patient with stage IV breast cancer treated with low-dose chemotherapy survived 8-10 months before their cancer relapsed and less than 5% of patients could expect to survive 5 years without their cancer recurring. In 1988, the results of a small clinical trial treating 22 women with stage IV breast cancer treated with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplant were published. Fourteen percent of these patients treated with high-dose chemotherapy survived without their cancer recurring beyond 5 years.

Over the years since the original publication describing high-dose chemotherapy for the treatment of stage IV breast cancer, thousands of women have been treated. All of the more recent publications demonstrate that the complete remission rate for high-dose chemotherapy as initial treatment for stave IV breast cancer is 40%-60%, the mortality from therapy has decreased to 1%-5% and the number of patients alive without evidence of cancer recurrence is 15%-25% 4-5 years from treatment. The results from two clinical trials comparing high-dose to lower dose chemotherapy have also been published.

In general, women who have advanced breast cancer at the time of diagnosis live approximately 18 months after diagnosis (median survival rate). Those who are still alive five years after their diagnosis of advanced breast cancer can live an additional 3.5 years (median survival rate) according to the American Cancer Society.

This study suggested that there were no differences in survival between the standard-dose and high-dose chemotherapy regimens in women with metastatic breast cancer who had a complete or partial response to initial standard-dose therapy. However, the number of women treated in this trial does not allow the identification of any subsets of women that might benefit more than the overall group from the high-dose regimen.

Additional clinical trials directly comparing conventional chemotherapy treatments to high-dose chemotherapy treatments are currently ongoing to help determine which patients may benefit most from high-dose chemotherapy treatment.

Early detection procedures must include monthly self-examinations done at the same time each month. From age 20-40, healthy women should have clinical breast exams performed by their health care providers every three years. After age 40, the breast exams should be annually and should include a mammogram or similar procedure.

North American white women have the highest rates of breast cancer in the world, but the 5-year survival rate for all stages (Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, and Stage 4) combined is 88% for the U.S. A recent study found European countries have lower 5-year breast cancer survival rates, with England at 77.8% and Ireland at 76.2% (Lancet Oncology).

About the Author:

Learn about breast cancer foundation and get a limited FREE report on Latest Breast Cancer Drugs by visiting http://breast-cancer-remedy.info, a popular website that provides free breast cancer care advice.

by Ray Lam

For every disease there are some risk factors it is same with breast cancer. There are some risk factors which are not under the control of a person and some risk factors are those which depend on the life style of a person.

External and internal environment. External environment is food, water, pollution, sound noise, smoke etc. Internal environment is hereditary genes, hormones, stress. Hereditary risk it has been known that woman whose sister and mother had breast cancer have a more chances to develop the breast cancer when a women inherits a susceptible gene from her parents.

Women who have relatives with breast cancer are also at a greater risk of developing the cancer themselves. This risk increases with first-degree relatives like a mother, sister, or daughter. A male relative with prostate cancer also increases the risk of developing breast cancer. If a mother and sister both have breast cancer then the risk is increased.

If a women started menstruating in an early age or went through menopause in later age both of these conditions increase the risk of breast cancer. If a women has gone under radiation therapy in the area of chest because of treatment of other cancers are also at increased risk of breast cancer. Some pregnant women are given diethylstibestrol this is a drug which prevents miscarriage, but the women taking this drug are at increased risk of breast cancer.

Examine your breast every month beginning at age of 20. Consult your doctor to get instruction for self-breast examination. Check for a new lump is it painful or not? Unusual thickening of tissue, discharge from nipple, and change in the skin of nipple or breast or different breast size or shape than before.

You have a higher risk of suffering breast cancer if you have one or more family members who have developed breast or ovarian cancer themselves. The more members of your immediate family suffering from breast cancer, the greater your risk of developing the disease. If this is the situation, be keen on doing monthly self examination.

About the Author:

Learn about breast cancer support and get a limited FREE report on Latest Breast Cancer Drugs by visiting http://breast-cancer-remedy.info, a popular website that provides free breast cancer care advice.

by Ray Lam

The diagnosis of breast cancer is overwhelming. After the initial phase of diagnosis comes the discussion of your breast cancer treatment type. This decision should involve more than just your physician. Choosing the most appropriate breast cancer treatment type is a decision that ideally involves the patient, family, and healthcare team.

Ultimately, you and your physician must decide which breast cancer treatment type is right for you. While you need the input from friends and family the decision should be yours. You should feel confident about the decision you make. Becoming educated to what is available will help your decision-making process.

Surgery: Lumpectomy or the removal of the lump is a technique in surgery. Doctor may need to remove lymph nodes from your armpit or breast depending on the stage.

There are various treatment options available for different types and stages of breast cancer. These treatment types are based on four main techniques: surgery, quimiotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal treatment. The primary breast cancer treatment is determined by tumor factors and by patient preference.

Hormonal therapy: Doctors use some anti-estrogen, aromatase inhibitors or LHRH analogues to stop the hormone estrogen production and effects. Estrogen is a sex hormone found in women body which helps in growth of the breast cancer. When Estrogen is stopped then the growth of the tumours also ceased.

Every woman diagnosed with breast cancer wants complete recovery and the ability to return to a normal life. The path to total recovery may be filled with time consuming treatments and recovery processes.

About the Author:

Learn about breast cancer foundation and get a limited FREE report on Latest Breast Cancer Drugs by visiting http://breast-cancer-remedy.info, a popular website that provides free breast cancer care advice.

by Roselyn Capen

Breast cancer can be very terrifying, especially if your cancer has advanced. It is inevitable to feel lonely, even when you have the support of your family and friends. You will feel they do not understand your fears, and, in such times, interacting with other breast cancer patients and survivors can go a long way in alleviating your fears and misery.

There are, for such terrible times, support groups which have been started by women who know exactly how you feel and know just want you need. These groups not only let you interact with breast cancer victims and survivors from across the world, but also give you priceless information on your cancer and treatment, because they combine experience with research.

Susan G. Komen’s cms.komen.org, besides providing you all the information on breast cancer that you may need, has internal research projects to help you cure better and faster. Being the largest group of breast cancer survivors, you will never feel left out in the presence of these women. Also are groups, like bcsupport.org and y-me.org, which have chat rooms where breast cancer survivors and activists can meet up and interact with each other, receive news on latest developments in the field, and suggest better treatment methods as well as inform you on the prevalent technology and breast cancer know-how.

Two breast cancer victims started breastcancersupport.org in 1988, realizing the lack of importance the society attached to breast cancer and its victims’ needs. Another group, y-me.org, has the sole objective of not letting you feel you are alone. Do you now realize how many people, who will not treat you as aliens, want to help you?

All these organizations basically help you survive through your treatments by letting you know you are not alone, and that there have been many women who have gone through exactly what you are going through. You will come to feel such attachment for those women, and know how many women go through the same plights that you do, that you may want to yourself volunteer helping others. Giving others the support you yourself needed at some point of time will mentally energize you to fight the disease.

Not only do these organizations give you emotional support, if you are financially insecure, they make donations for your treatments, which are entirely voluntary. Your only decision is to ask for help in this matter, and you will find a whole new world of love and affection.

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The best decision is to get support from good breast cancer support groups. The right breast cancer treatment center can help to increase treatment success.

by Roselyn Capen

Treating an ailment has become very easy in the 21st Century, with dozens of options available for every disease varying with every symptom. The same goes for breast cancer, and people suffering from it can opt for various therapies ranging from surgery to laser therapy.

Certain forms of surgeries, like biopsies, are used to diagnose breast cancer. These focus on specific areas of the body, like the breasts and lymph nodes, and not the whole body. When cancer is positively diagnosed, the patient has two options. Either she can opt for complete removal of breasts, as is the case with mastectomy, or removal of just a part of the breast, like in partial mastectomy. These two surgeries are most effective when the patient has small malignant tumors. Also, they are effective when the patient has had large tumors previously which are now small and have been successfully shrunken by chemotherapy.

Cancer in advanced stages can spread to adjoining organs and other parts of the body. To get rid of malignant cells elsewhere, systemic therapy is a safe treatment. Systemic therapy helps shrink the cancerous tumor and can possibly lead to remission of the malignant tissues, which is beneficial for all.

This treatment is mainly decided by the characteristics of the cancer. The more aggressive the caner is then it will have a higher risk of spreading outside that area and into other areas where treatment can be harder to do.

You can get the therapies administered either orally through pills or directly into the breasts by injections. A very famous therapy, Chemotherapy, can be taken in either manner. Chemo kills all cancerous cells that it encounters and is known to show immediate results. Another therapy that works like flu shots work, the Immune therapy, incites the body to fight back by faking an attack, and the body’s defense mechanism gets activated. White blood cells start fighting the infection, and the body starts the process of self-healing. However, this therapy is not famous, and is used very rarely, mainly on account of being so new.

Many people are turning to what is known as Complementary therapy. The principle behind Complementary therapy is that it restores the body’s natural health so that the body becomes capable of fighting infections on its own. Complementary therapies include yoga, massages, chiropractic, herbal remedies’ intake and acupunction. People who have tried this therapy are more than just satisfied by the results, and they can reaffirm that it makes them feel a lot better while they’re surviving the disease. There is absolutely nothing to lose by trying this therapy, only a chance to feel better and healthier.

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Get an overview about the best treatment for breast cancer. How to win the fight against your tumor. Get all the details about your individual breast cancer treatment option.