Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is one health condition that has been found in my family. My mother was diagnosed about 4 years ago. Although it was a huge shock to me, I've come to learn that breast cancer isn't that uncommon. Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies found in women in the United States. Cancer is a condition when mutated cells invade surrounding tissue, disrupting normal metabolic processes, and eventually may spread to other areas of the body. These cells appear when there is an abnormality in the genes that control the cycle of cell growth and rest. This type of malignant growth occurs in breast cancer.

Although a great amount of resources are going into breast cancer research, the cause of breast cancer is still unknown. Signs of breast cancer have been identified, though. The most common sign of breast cancer is a lump in the breast. Other things to look for are dimpling of the breast, a lump in the underarm, nipple pain or discharge, skin irritation, or swelling.

"Once a sign of breast cancer has been recognized, the medical field has established a guideline for diagnosing breast cancer through a process known as triple assessment. The first step is a clinical examination. After that is done, if there is still concern that the patient may have breast cancer, an imagining procedure may be required. Mammograms, breast ultrasounds, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are all examples of the second assessment. The third step is a biopsy. " This is all stated by the website Breast Cancer Prevention. This is surgery performed to remove the tissue detected by the physical examination or imaging procedure. Although there are three steps to the triple assessment, not every step is performed each time a breast cancer examination takes place.

There are many identified risk factors associated with breast cancer. According to Breast Cancer Prevention,"Women over fifty are more prone to the disease. Women who start menstruating before age 12, who have their first pregnancy after the age of 30, and who have never given birth are at a higher risk for the disease. Other risk factors to be aware of are a family history of breast cancer, obesity, moderate alcohol use, and raceÐ'--breast cancer is slightly more common with Caucasian women."

"Treatment of breast cancer depends on the stage of the disease. Breast cancer is often not identified until the cancer is past the early stages. The most common treatments are surgery