A woman
is diagnosed with breast cancer
every three minutes in the United States. For these women, treatments can be
highly effective. A diagnosis is established through medical history and
examination, imaging tests (including mammograms, MRIs, ultrasounds, ductograms
and newer emerging scintimammography and tomosynthesis), biopsy and evaluation
of the prognostic factors. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment can lead to a
complete cure.
Breast cancer management is mainly by surgery,
in addition to or followed by chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and radiation.
Most women will eventually require
surgery. It offers them the best
chance for a cure. The surgical procedures can be divided into breast
conserving surgery and mastectomy. Breast-conserving
surgery removes only a part of the breast that contains the cancerous cells.
Mastectomy, however, requires removal of the entire breast tissue.
Radiation therapy,
sometimes used along with surgery, destroys cancer cells by high energy rays.
External beam radiation is the usual way
to administer radiotherapy. An external machine focuses a beam of radiation
onto the affected area. Another form is brachytherapy. It uses radioactive
seeds that are implanted into the breast.
Chemotherapeutic drugs are given either
before (neo-adjuvant) or after (adjuvant) surgery. There are many different
chemotherapeutic agents that can be given alone or in combination. They are
usually given in cycles or intervals. Currently, drugs are being developed that
aim to target only the cancer cells. They tend to have fewer side effects than
chemotherapy but are still under study.
Hormones like estrogen and progesterone aid
in the growth of cancer cells in the breast. Hormonal therapy focuses on
suppressing the hormone production to arrest the cancer growth. Dugs like
Tamoxifen and Fulvestrant can be used to administer this therapy.
Recent advancements in technology and imaging
are now offering more, minimally invasive ways to fight cancer of the breast.
These include treatments such as thermal ablation and laser therapy. Although
the devices used in ablation, cryoablation and laser therapy are FDA approved,
more research and long-term data are needed to determine the role these
procedures will have in the fight against cancer.
Breast
cancer, like any other disease can be
prevented by lowering the chances of as many modifiable risk factors as
possible. More information on risk factors can be found on healthcarevilla.com.
- Exercise
- Weight reduction
- Diet and lifestyle modifications
- Estrogen (decreased exposure)
- Selective estrogen receptor modulators
- Aromatase inhibitors
- Prophylactic mastectomy
- Prophylactic oophorectomy
- Fenretinide
As cancer of the breast poses a serious
threat to patients, new ways of prevention are currently being studied all over
the world. The best option still remains that of prevention over a cure.
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