Tolmačenje

BREAST CANCER

Breast cancer is a cancer of the breast tissue. Worldwide, it is the most common form of cancer in females - affecting, at some time in their lives, from 1 out of 37 up to 1 out of 3 women who reach age ninety in the Western world. It is the second most fatal cancer in women (after lung cancer), and the number of cases has significantly increased since the 1970s, a phenomenon partly blamed on modern lifestyles in the Western world. Because the breast is composed of identical tissues in males and females, breast cancer also occurs in males, and as statistics show, it is on a massive increase, hence the mass TV promotions aimed at men at present.

Breast cancer may be one of the oldest known forms of cancer tumors in humans. The oldest description of cancer (although the term cancer was not used) was discovered in Egypt and dates back to approximately 1600 BC.

The French surgeon Jean Louis Petit (1674-1750) and later the Scottish surgeon Benjamin Bell (1749-1806) were the first to remove the lymph nodes, breast tissue, and underlying chest muscle. Their successful work was carried on by William Stewart Halsted who started performing mastectomies in 1882. He became known for his Halsted radical mastectomy, a surgical procedure that remained popular up to the 1970s.

Age

The risk of getting breast cancer increases with age. For someone who lives to the age of 90, the chances of getting breast cancer is about 14.3% or one in seven during their lifetime. Men can also develop breast cancer, but their risk is less than one in 1000. This risk is modified by many different factors. In a very small 5% of breast cancer cases, there is a strong inherited familial risk. But all women and men are at risk for breast cancer, regardless of hereditary factors. In fact, 85 to 90 percent of breast cancer incidences cannot be explained by inherited genetic predisposition.

Alcohol

Alcohol generally appears to increase the risk of breast cancer. The Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products Non-Technical Summary concludes, "The new research estimates that a woman drinking an average of two units of alcohol per day has a lifetime risk of developing breast cancer 19% higher than a woman who drinks an average of one unit of alcohol per day. The risk of breast cancer further increases with each additional drink consumed per day.

 

Obesity

Gaining weight after the menopause can increase a woman's or man's risk. Putting on 9.9kg (22lbs) increased the risk of developing breast cancer by 18%

 

Environmental causes

Other known risk factors and personal characteristics include

personal or family history of breast cancer,

high breast tissue density,

earlier onset of menstruation (8 years or younger),

later menopause (55 years or older),

late first-term pregnancy (25 years or older),

no children or no breast-feeding,

early or recent use of oral contraceptives,

more than four years use of hormone replacement therapy,

postmenopausal obesity,

alcohol consumption,

exposures to secondhand cigarette smoke and

exposure to ionizing radiation.

When all known risk factors and characteristics are added together including genetics and family history, as much as 50 percent of breast cancer cases remain unexplained.

The Breast Cancer Fund suggests the following environmental prevention methods:

 

• Practice Healthy Purchasing: Don’t bring toxic chemicals home from the store. Choose chlorine-free paper products to reduce dioxin, a carcinogen released when chlorinated products are incinerated.

• Read food labels, and choose pesticide-free, organic produce and hormone-free meats and dairy products.

• Replace harmful household cleaners that contain bleach with cheaper, nontoxic alternatives like baking soda, borax soap and vinegar.

• Look for alternatives to chemical weed and bug killers— many contain toxic chemicals that accumulate in our bodies.

 

• Advocate for Clean Air: The soot and fumes released by factories, automobiles, diesel trucks and tobacco products contain chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are linked to breast cancer. Indeed, breathing these compounds from secondhand tobacco smoke may increase your risk for breast cancer more than active smoking. Stay away from secondhand smoke, and advocate for stronger clean air protections.

 

• Avoid Unnecessary Radiation: Ionizing radiation is a known cause of breast cancer. Radiation damage to genes is cumulative over a lifetime—thus many low doses may have the same effect as a single high dose. Mammograms, other X-rays and CT scans expose you to radiation. While mammography screening may benefit postmenopausal women, mammography for women in their 30s and 40s remains controversial. Whenever you have an X-ray or scan, request a lead shield to protect the areas of your body not being X-rayed.

The mainstay of breast cancer treatment is surgery when the tumor is localized.

Treatment possibilities also include Radiation Therapy, Chemotherapy, Hormone Therapy, and Immune Therapy.

The emotional impact of cancer diagnosis, symptoms, treatment, and related issues can be severe. Most larger hospitals are associated with cancer support groups which can help patients cope with the many issues that come up in a supportive environment with other people with experience with similar issues.

Screening

Due to the high incidence of breast cancer among older women, screening is now recommended in many countries, the same also applies to men. Screening methods suggested include breast self-examination and mammography. Mammography has been shown to reduce breast cancer-related mortality by 20-30%. Routine (annual) mammography of women older than 50 is encouraged as a screening method to diagnose early breast cancer and has demonstrated a protective effect in multiple clinical trials.

The U.S. National Cancer Institute recommends screening mammography with a baseline mammogram at age 35, mammograms every two years beginning at age 40, and then annual mammograms beginning at age 50. In the UK, women are invited to attend for screening once every three years beginning at age 50.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been shown to detect cancers that are not visible on mammograms, but it has several disadvantages. For example, although it is 27-36% more sensitive, it is less specific than mammography. As a result, MRI studies will have more false positives (up to 5%), which may have undesirable financial and psychological costs. It is also a relatively expensive procedure, and one which requires the intravenous injection of a chemical agent to be effective.

 

Although environmental exposures are not generally cited as risk factors for the disease (except for diet, pharmaceuticals and radiation), a substantial and growing body of evidence indicates that exposures to certain toxic chemicals and hormone-mimicking compounds including chemicals used in pesticides, cosmetics and cleaning products contribute to the development of breast cancer.