Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Breast Cancer Causes, Symptoms, & Treatment
Causes
Although Janet Lane-Claypon performed the first scientific analysis of breast cancer epidemiology throught the mid-1920s, we still do not know exactly what causes breast cancer. We know that all cancers are considered to result from damage caused to the DNA. Thee mutation of DNA is known to have occurred from exposure to radiation, estrogen hormones, dietary influences, geographical location, and a variety of other inconclusively related factors. The majority of breast cancer causes remain unknown which unfortunately limits our ability to find a cure. Breast cancer risks increase with age, as women who live to be 90 have a one in seven chance of getting breast cancer. Women who have family history of breast cancer are also more likely to experience mutation.
Symptoms
Early symptoms of breast cancer are painless, making it difficult to diagnose in early stages. This is why regular mammograms are so important. A lump under the arm or above the collarbone that does not go away is one sign. Other symptoms include breast discharge, changes in skin, and nipple inversion.
Treatment
The most popular form of treatment is surgery, usually combined with some kind of hormonal therapy. Patients are divided into high risk and low risk cases. The severity of a patient’s condition determines the specific cycle of surgery and hormonal treatment.
During radiation therapy, patients are subjected to high powered X-rays or gamma rays that target the cancerous tumor(s). With the use of a machine called a linear accelerator, radioactive rays bombard the cancer. This type of therapy is usually used in tandem with surgery as a precaution to ensure that the cancer will not recur. Unfortunately, radiation must be used sparingly to prevent damage to normal tissue. Each treatment takes about fifteen minutes per day throughout a period of five to seven weeks. Normal cells are able to repair themselves more readily than cancerous cells, which makes radiation therapy a practical treatment.
Chemotherapy is used before or after surgery. The following are different types of chemotherapy:
Tamoxifen blocks the estrogen receptor in cells to prevent the transport of estrogen.
Aromatase inhibitors can lower the amount of estrogen in post-menopausal women.
GnRH-analogues are used during the early stages of cancer.
Ovarian ablation or suppression is used in pre-menopausal women to stop the ovaries from producing hormones.
Mimi Rothschild
http://www.articlesbase.com/homeschooling-articles/breast-cancer-awareness-month-breast-cancer-awareness-month-breast-cancer-causes-symptoms-treatment-141227.html
Filed under: treatment for cancer
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You know a lot about this subject and I commend you. Regardless how the pageant turns out, continue making a difference in the world based on the passions you have in your heart. Will winning a pageant make a difference in your world?
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No advice, but I would like to know if this is really your lifelong passion, and whether you intend to become a scientist so that you can help cure cancer? Raising awareness in the victims pales in comparison with ending the disease.
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Is this a good miss outstanding teen platform?
my platform is ovarian cancer awareness. this is my first time in a pagaent ever. im 14 and am competing for miss outstanding teen pagaent and i want to kno if theres any way to make my platform better. heres my platform:
The diagnosis of ovarian cancer for a woman and her family can be demoralizing. Ovarian cancer is the number five killer of women in the United States. Most of these deaths occur because the cancer is not detected until its later stages. Increasing awareness of the early warning signs of this deadly disease will reduce the mortality rates for women.
My family was devastated six years ago when my grandmother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. That year, nearly 20,000 women were diagnosed with this disease, and almost 15,000 died. We knew little about the symptoms, causes or treatment options. What little information we could find did not provide much encouragement or hope since the disease was already in its advanced stages. The most frustrating part of this disease is that its early warning symptoms are very ordinary and non-specific.
Women need to be educated about the early warning symptoms to increase their chances of survival. Through the Miss America Outstanding Teen program I would like to raise awareness for ovarian cancer. As a leading organization for women throughout the country, I believe that this is the perfect opportunity to promote awareness for this deadly killer. Knowledge is the first step towards saving the lives of thousands of women each year, and saving their families from the heartache I myself have experienced.
Through the Miss America organization, I would also like to partner with the “Ovarian Cancer National Alliance”. Their mission is to “conquer ovarian cancer by uniting individuals and organizations in a national movement”. Since 1982, when the Susan G. Komen Foundation was formed, the survival rate for women diagnosed with breast cancer has increased from 74% to 98%. I would like to see the same statistics for ovarian cancer in the next 25 years.
The state of New Jersey is currently considering making the month of February “Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month”. I would like to see this legislation passed, not only in New Jersey, but across the country. The Miss America Outstanding Teen Program, should I win at the state and national level, would provide me with a voice to bring this issue to the American public.
This issue is one of great importance for women and their families across America. With the help of the Miss America Organization, I hope to raise awareness of ovarian cancer which will lead to early detection and an increased survival rate so that fewer families will be devastated by this dreaded disease.
any comments or any advice on how to make it better?