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Breast Cancer : Cancer And Cancer

Decent Essays

Roughly one in eight women in the United States will develop an invasive breast cancer in their lifetime. In 2016, a projected 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer are estimated to be detected, along with an additional 61,000 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer. There are greater than 2.8 million women with a diagnosis of breast cancer in the United States, including women presently being treated and women who have completed treatment. Research developments over the past twenty years have ultimately altered the prognosis of breast cancer care. In recent years, there has been an eruption of life-saving advances against breast cancer. Death rates have declined approximately thirty-six percent, believed to be the product of treatment advancement and earlier detection. This paper is intended for those breast cancer patients who are considering breast-conservation surgery, also known as lumpectomy, followed by intracavitary radiation brachytherapy. Patients must be at least forty years old, with a single primary tumor less than three centimeters, negative surgical margins by at least two millimeters, and be without lymph nodal involvement, to be considered candidates for this form of treatment. Radiation therapy is a highly precise and effective way to extinguish minuscule cancer cells that may have been neglected or undetected during surgery. Radiation is often delivered after breast-conserving surgery to reduce the risk that the cancer will recur in the

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