Breast Cancer Is There a Cure - Essay Example

Breast Cancer, Is There A Cure? Cherry Hilliard Biology 210-07 Breast cancer, is there a cure? Breast cancer is one of the growing diseases among women all over the world. A lot of cures have been identified for the breast cancer in the recent years. Some of them have their side-effects, which in some cases are manageable and in other cases, are not. A patient has to choose from a wide array of options in order to treat the cancer. Decisions regarding the selection of cure including hormonal therapy, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation often feel overpowering.

Before arriving at the stage of choosing the cure, it is imperative that the patient has an appropriate understanding of the stage to which cancer has progressed and the various options that are available for the treatment of the very level of cancer. In addition to that, it is advisable for the patient to learn the suitable sequence for treatments and their scheduling. It is better to seek a second opinion before finalizing a certain treatment option. Surgery of the breast is often considered as a very appropriate way of achieving objective results.

Most patients approach surgery as the first attack against their cancer. The kind of surgery a patient requires depends upon the stage to which the breast cancer has progressed and the cancer’s personality. Surgery includes conservation of breast through lumpectomy, dissection of lymph node and mastectomy. Sometimes, doctors also have to conduct prophylactic surgery and reconstruct the breast. There are two kinds of surgeries patient of breast-cancer can avail. Mastectomy is the first form of surgery in which the breast is totally removed through surgery.

Lumpectomy is the second type of surgery in which the breast is conserved and not removed. It is often succeeded by radiation to help remove any left-out cells. In a vast majority of cases, lumpectomy accompanied with radiation is just as effective a treatment for the breast cancer as mastectomy is particularly if the cancer has only one site and the tumor is no longer than 4 centimeters. It is for the patient to decide if she wants mastectomy or lumpectomy as the option for surgery. Patients decide thinking whether or not they want their breasts completely removed.

Chemotherapy is one of the options for the cure of breast cancer. In this treatment, cancer cells are destroyed with the help of medicine that weakens them. Among the cells that are destroyed are included both that are at the original starting point of the breast cancer and those that have departed from there to reach other areas of the body. Chemotherapy affects the whole body by flowing with the bloodstream. Chemotherapy usually combines two or more medicines at a time to treat the breast cancer.

Chemotherapy helps getting rid of the cancer cells in the early invasive stage of the breast cancer. The risk of cancer is reduced after the cancer cells have been removed from the body. Sometimes, chemotherapy is also used in the advanced stage of the breast cancer. Doctors usually advise the patient to undergo chemotherapy before surgery so that lesser area has to be operated surgery upon since chemotherapy helps shrink the cancer. Radiation therapy or radiotherapy is often employed as a post-surgery breast cancer treatment technique.

Radiotherapy is an extremely effective technique of destroying any cancer cells which may have stuck around in the body once the surgery has been done. The risk of breast cancer after radiation is decreased by up to 70 per cent. Although many patients fear radiotherapy, yet it can be easily tolerated and the side effects do not show up in areas except for where the radiotherapy has been performed. Hormonal therapy is given to the patient through medicines. There are two ways in which the medicines cure breast cancers that are hormone-receptor-positive.

The first way of treatment includes lowering the quantity of estrogen and the second way blocks the estrogenic action upon the cancer cells in the breast. Ovaries release most of the estrogen which in turn promote the growth of the hormone-receptor-positive cancer of the breast. So if the estrogen-count is reduced in the body, it is likely that the cancer would not show up after the surgery. However, medicines of hormonal therapy do not work upon breast cancer if it is hormone-receptor-negative.

Therefore, before adopting this as a means of curing the breast cancer, the patient must undergo the tests to learn what type of breast cancer she is suffering from. Medicines for the hormonal therapy include but are not limited to estrogen receptor down-regulators and aromatase inhibitors.