Why Is Breast Cancer Important

What is breast cancer? A female’s breast is made up of fibrous tissue, fatty tissue, and lobes of glandular tissue that eject milk to the exterior. However, breast cancer occurs when the normal cells in the breast begin to grow and divide at an unregulated speed. In all honesty, I want to know more about this issue because of the proven statics. Approximately forty thousand women and four hundred men die each year from breast cancer. In this article “Our Feel-Good War on Breast Cancer” by Peggy Orenstein she stresses the significance of early detection and creating mindfulness of breast cancer. Orenstein discuss how most people discover they have breast cancer by taking a mammogram conversely the real impact is somewhat different. Whereas,

According to “The Clan of One-Breasted Women,” by Terry Tempest Williams, she discusses how cancer runs in her family. The type of cancer that runs in her family was breast cancer, however her mother, grandmothers, and six aunts all had mastectomies and that lead them to death. Just two of them survive, but they still need to go to chemotherapy and radiation to get check ups. Williams even had her own difficulty with breast cancer and a small tumor within her ribs. She talks about how you can get breast cancer and it’s for these reasons; the risk of percentages with more fatty diets, or getting pregnant after 30 years old.

Breast cancers have been plaguing women since ancient times as it was mentioned in almost every recorded period of history. One of the first to note this disease, more than 3,500 years ago, were the Ancient Egyptians when they referred to “bulging tumors of the breast that have no cure”. Hippocrates who is referenced as the father of Western Medicine had his theories about breast cancer. His suggestion was that the cancer was caused by excessive black bile. In A.D. 200, hundreds of years after Hippocrates ventured his thoughts about the disease, Galen also went on the record suggesting that some breast cancer tumors were more serious than others. It was also believed that this cancer affected the entire body rather than being limited to the breasts.

Understanding ways to prevent breast cancer are important for all women to know and discern. Every woman is at risk of developing breast cancer, however, the risk is not equal among all women. “Some breast cancer risk factors, such as gender and family history, are not changeable. Other risk factors, like age, become more important as a woman grows older. Some of the following lifestyle characteristics could reduce the chance of developing breast cancer. Characteristics include exercise at least one and a half hours a week, maintaining a healthy body weight, and taking Aspirin or Ibuprofen twice a week can lower your chances of developing breast cancer. Alcohol consumption more than doubles the risk of women obtaining breast cancer, and smoking shows increased rates of breast cancer”(Holmes par 1). Some women may not be genetically proven to develop breast cancer, but that doesn’t mean the individual will not get cancer

Women who are at the greatest risk are over the age over the age of fifty years of age. Patients with a family history of cancer, especially in their first degree relatives, may have inherited mutations of BRCA1 and/or BRCA2. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genetic mutations that put patients are risk for cancer. Patients that have a history of breast cancer are five times more likely of developing cancer in the opposite breast. Patients with dense breast are at risk for developing breast cancer due to the fact dense breast contains more glandular and connective tissue. Patients who are exposed to high doses of ionizing radiation to the thorax, early menarche, tobacco use, nulliparity, late menopause, and first child birth after thirty years of age put the patient at risk for breast cancer (Ignatavicius, 2013, p.

Breast cancer is a disease in which certain cells in the breast become abnormal and multiply uncontrollably to form a tumor. Breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. (Only skin cancer is more common.) About one in eight women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime. Researchers estimate that more than 230,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in U.S. women in 2015. Cancers occur when a buildup of mutations in critical genes—those that control cell growth and division or repair damaged DNA—allow cells to grow and divide uncontrollably to form a tumor. Breast cancer can be caused by inherited genetic factors. These genetic

Another factor that contributes to the development of breast cancer is actually the hormone estrogen. This seems unusual because estrogen is a hormone that is essential to the bodies of women in various ways. Estrogen is necessary for normal growth and development of breasts and reproductive organs, as well as for the maintenance of a healthy heart and bones. However, lifetime estrogen exposure may increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. It does not actually produce the mutation in the DNA, nevertheless Estrogen stimulates the proliferation of breast cells that already contain a mutation. These mutated cells will continue to reproduce and have an increased chance of becoming cancerous.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer that affects women in the United States. There are at least two majors genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) that when they mutate can cause breast cancer. These genes can be passed from parent to child, increasing the risk of developing cancer in those child that have parent carrying these genes. BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are located on chromosome 17 and chromosome 13 respectively. There is a 90% chance of developing breast cancer for a woman that has these mutated genes. In contrast, men carrying BRCA1 have no risk to develop breast cancer, but those carrying BRCA2 genes have high risk. It is important to note that mutations in these genes can be passed on to children by either parent. A man with a mutation is just

and it is the most common form of cancer identify a disease or its cause after skin cancer among women. Although both men and women can develop this type of cancer, it affects mostly women. Like any other type of cancer breast cancer happens when there are changes in the cells of the breast making them different from what's usually expected and changing quickly to form a lump in the body. Today, doctors have found that only five to ten percent of breast cancer cases are caused by something valuable you get when older relatives die. When breast cancer is caused by something valuable you get when older relatives die is due to a tiny chemical assembly instruction inside of living things change that is passed through generations in a family. There is some received changed in a bad way tiny chemical assembly instructions inside of living things that have been identified that make a person easily able to be harmed or influenced by a higher risk of breast cancer. Among all this different types of born-in tiny chemical assembly instructions inside of living things the most common one is BRCA1 and BRCA2. Both of these tiny chemical assembly instructions inside of living things not only raise the risk of breast cancer but ovarian cancer also. Among different racial groups, White woman are at higher risk for breast cancer. The number of times something happens for this group of 132.5, however although white

Such findings, all of which relate to hormone-based life events, suggest that breast cancer is somehow affected by prolonged exposure to female sex hormones, such as estrogen. Women with a history of breast cancer in the family are also at greater risk. About five percent of all breast cancers have been attributed to a mutated, or structurally altered, gene known as BRCA1. Mutations in a second gene, BRCA2, contribute significantly to the development of breast cancer in Jewish women. Alcohol, high levels of fat in the diet, and not exercising regularly have also been linked to increased risk for breast cancer (Garber).

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer only surpassed by lung cancer. It involves a cancerous tumour located inside the breast but spreads if treatment is not administered. (Evert et al 2011) Breast cancer can be treated if diagnosed in its early stages but becomes progressively more difficult upon reaching more advancing malignant stages. Breast cancer can be confused with being a female only disease however both sexes suffer. According to statistics in 2011 which measured the abundance of breast cancer in the UK, 50,285 new cases of breast cancer were confirmed with 98% being female and 2% male, these statistics show that the disease is more problematic in females which may result from differences in breast formation or hormonal and genetic differences.

Other risk factors include use of estrogen replacement therapy, age when you started your period, never being pregnant, fertility treatments, smoking, and having polycystic ovary syndrome. It can also be caused by a gene mutation. The genes identified as BRCA-1 and BRCA-2, which put a woman at greater risk of breast cancer, also increase her risk of ovarian cancer as well. Many women who test positive for the genes opt for a double mastectomy as well as surgery to remove their ovaries before developing cancer.

A family history of breast cancer may increase your risk of getting breast cancer. Although someone in your family has breast cancer does not mean you will have it too. About 75% of patients with breast cancer do not have a family history of breast cancer. Girls who have a menstruation before the age of 12 and women who has menopause after the age of 50 can increase your risk of cancer. Older women are at higher risk then younger women. Women over 40 who have there first pregnancy is at risk of getting the disease. White woman are more likely to get breast cancer than African-American women, but African-American women are more likely to die from cancer. Asian, Hispanic, and American Indian women have a lower risk of getting breast cancer then white or black women. According to a study, woman who takes birth control has a slightly greater risk of getting breast cancer. Most studies suggest that use of HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) for relief of menopause symptoms for more than 5 years may slightly increase the risk of breast cancer (Breast Cancer Statistics, 2008).

All women and men are at risk of getting breast cancer. However personal history with family members having breast cancer adds an increase to the risk factor. Contradictory to this though studies have shown that 75% of breast cancer occurs in women with no history and no known risk factors. Not ever having children, or having ones first child after 30 yrs., also increases the risk of breast cancer in women. Heavy alcohol abuse is a risk factor as well. Studies have also shown that women who began menstruation early, twelve years or less, and women who began menopause late, fifty-five years plus, also have a greater risk of breast cancer.

According to statistics from the National Cancer Institute, by age 70, 55% to 65% of women who’ve inherited a BRCA1 gene mutation and approximately 45% of women who’ve inherited a BRCA2 gene mutation will likely be diagnosed with breast cancer. To date, BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations make up almost 20% to 25% of all