Breast cancer is a cancer of the breast tissue.
Today, it is the most common cancer diagnosed in women.
Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in women.
One out of eight women will suffer with breast cancer in their lifetime.
In the United States, over two million women are diagnosed with breast cancer and approximately forty thousand women die of breast cancer yearly. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, over 1.2 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide this year.
With great efforts of researchers and medical professionals, several effective breast cancer treatment options are available for you. Today, with the advances in the treatment options, you with breast cancer do not have to lose your breast.
However, these breast cancer treatment options depend upon several factors: size, location, stage and laboratory test reports of your breast cancer.
Breast cancer is a complex disease where your cancer may be in one of five stages. Most of the women today with breast cancer are diagnosed within first three stages where they can lead a long life.
Similar to all other cancer treatments, breast cancer treatment kills the cancerous tumor and the cancer that has spread to other parts of the body without damaging the healthy tissue.
Breast cancer has developed into more and more treatable over the years where the survival rates have increased significantly. One of the breast cancer treatment options most widely preferred is surgery.
With surgery, the surgeon removes the breast cancer, breast tissue around the lump and some lymph nodes and a radiation treatment is used to kill any remaining or spreading cancerous cells.
Radiation treatment is usually used in addition to surgery but it is primarily considered as a second form of breast cancer treatment because it alone can be used in radiation therapy (a non-surgical treatment option) where by using high-energy waves (x-rays/gamma rays) penetration, radiation emits from these beams kills cancer cells by breaking down their genetic material completely and abolishing their ability to reproduce.
Next, a most commonly recognized breast cancer treatment is chemotherapy. It prevents the growth of cancer cells by stopping the cells from dividing. You can take drugs orally or injection depending upon the stage of your breast cancer being treated.
The major side effects of chemotherapy are hair loss, vomiting and nausea, extreme fatigue, and many more. Despite of its side effects, it has become one of the most effective breast cancer treatments available today.
Finally, you have hormone therapy to eliminate the hormones present in cancerous cells and obstruct their ability of growth.
With the advances in breast cancer treatment options the probability that a diagnosis of a cancer is no longer a prescription for breast removal or death.
Researchers and health professionals are very optimistic that the rate of treatable breast cancer survivors will continue to increase gradually as the years pass. Is this not good news for those who are at risk for breast cancer!
