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Breast cancer seems to be on the rise in the United States
and will now affect one in every eight women -- up from the
1960s when only one out of every twenty women developed the
disease. No one understands why the incidence of breast cancer
is increasing, but it is doing the same in some foreign countries.
In one year’s time, over 200,000 women will be diagnosed
with breast cancer and over 40,000 women will die from it.
Breast cancer is the second leading cancer that affects women,
trailing only cancers of the skin. It is also the second leading
cause of cancer deaths in women, following lung cancer.
The breast cancer information below covers facts each woman
should know. It may be especially helpful to a woman who is
high-risk or is a recently diagnosed breast cancer patient.
After a woman’s initial diagnosis, further tests are
necessary to establish her precise stage
of breast cancer. These are then used by her doctors to
plan her course of treatment. There are also several factors
which may influence a woman’s potential for cancer
survival that constitute important breast cancer information of
which you should be aware.
It is important to note that each breast cancer patient needs
to secure all of this scientific information in order to make
wise decisions about her treatment plan. The correct treatment
at the start can affect whether the woman has a recurrence
of breast cancer later on, after her first treatment is
completed. You want to do all you can to prevent the disease
from spreading to another part of the body (called a metastasis).
Another section with breast cancer information follows, which
presents the recommended guidelines for detecting
cancer at its earliest stage. At the present time, your
standards still include three very important things: your
monthly self-exams, breast exams by your doctor, and mammograms.
To try to stop breast cancer from ever starting, the risk
factors for breast cancer can be divided into two groups:
ones that involve the actual make-up of you as a person and
which cannot be altered; and ones that involve your environment
or activities, and which you can change. Your knowledge of
this breast cancer information could limit whether you or
your daughter develop this disease – or your husband
or son. Did you know men
are affected by breast cancer also, although the incidence
is low and accounts for less than 1% of the total cases of
breast cancer? Well, you’ve got a lot to learn!
Janet Brown is a medical writer
and graduate of Loyola University New Orleans. Her personal
experiences with breast cancer have drawn her to her current
work developing breast cancer patient education and awareness
materials. She currently lives in Georgia.
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