Breast Cancer
Progress in the treatment of breast cancer has been painfully slow. Treatment changes can occur after physicians and their patients have been convinced that a new treatment is equal or superior to another already in use. Treatment of breast cancer depends on a woman’s age and health as well as the type, extent, and location of the tumor, and if the cancer has remained in the breast or has spread to other parts of the body. Treatment may include surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radiation or a combination of treatments.There are various surgical techniques that might differ in the amount of breast tissue that is removed with the tumor, such as whether it has spread away form the breast or with in it and the patients feelings towards which surgery. The surgeon normally removes some lymph nodes under the arm as part of the operation, so they can test for the presence of cancer cells. One surgical treatment includes Lumpectomy, also called breast conservation. The surgeon removes the cancerous area and the surrounding area of the normal tissue. A second incision may be made in order to remove the lymph nodes (Andrew). The treatment aims to maintain a normal breast appearance when surgery is done; less painful and least amoun
Now if the cancer cells have moved to spreading through the lymph nodes, then they will be recommended to get chemotherapy. In chemotherapy, the patient takes cancer fighting medications that travel trough the body to slow the growth of cancer cells or even kill them. If no cancer cells are found in the tissue other than the breast, chemotherapy may be given in addition to surgery to reduce the risk that the cancer will come back (Spatt). It also may be used as a primary treatment for women with more advanced cases of breast cancer to reduce the size of the tumor for more convenient surgical removal. In these cases high doses of chemotherapy kill cancer cells, but also kill stem cells, blood-producing cells in the bone marrow (Spatt). Some women in sophisticated stages of breast cancer may undergo chemotherapy followed by a bone-marrow transplant to restore healthy stem cells, although it is not clear whether the method helps prolongs a woman’s survival. Long term physical therapy might have to come in later after chemotherapy is done; as well as not the cheapest procedure to conduct. Radiation therapy is a form of cancer treatment that uses high levels of radiation to kill cancer cells or keep them form growing and dividing back while minimizing damage to healthy cells. Radiation is delivered to the affected breast and in some cases, to them lymph nodes under the arm or at the collarbone. The therapy is usually given after a lumpectomy and sometimes after a mastectomy to reduce the risk of local recurrence of cancer in that breast (Spatt). The treatments generally start several weeks after surgery so the area has some time to heal. Once therapy treatments start, there are expected to receive small daily does of radiation over a period of several days to several weeks. Small marks resembling freckles will be tattooed on the skin along the treatme
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Approximate Word count = 1255
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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