Practical Guide to Breast Cancer

CITY OF MEXICO

A cancer diagnosis is often accompanied by an ocean of doubts. The American Wendy Wisbaum was diagnosed with bad cancer in 2012. After being disappointed by the lack of a comprehensive guide to the disease from the patients' point of view, she wrote: "Breast Cancer . Practical Guide & # 39; (The sphere of books) to try to dispel the doubts of many people.

I had bad cancer. In those first few minutes, with these few words, my life pbaded before my eyes and it took a turn of one hundred and eighty degrees. I started with the dizzying process of additional tests, doctors, results, treatment options and implications. To face all this was overwhelming. It's something that surprised me because bad cancer is very common and affects 1 in 8 women. In fact, I had at least 5 friends who had suffered, "says the master in Harvard University Health Policy and Management

In this manual, which also endorses the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), was supervised by Dr. Lucia Gonzalez-Cortijo, specialist in bad gynecology and oncology and president of the Foundation Life in Rose, and points out among other points

* according to the World Health Organization, Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women worldwide It affects 1 in 8 women in industrialized countries at some point in their lives. It is about an easily controllable type of cancer and the 5-year survival rate exceeds 85% In cases where no cancer is present tected outside the bad, the survival rate at 5 years exceeds 98%.

* Breast cancer occurs when bad cells divide and develop. of control and generate a tumor . There are many types of bad cancer and each of them is defined by bad cells that become tumors.

Most bad cancers occur in the milk ducts (they carry milk up to the nipple). . A smaller percentage is born in the lobes and an even smaller percentage in the other tissues of the bad. "The most unusual thing about bad cancer is that, in most cases, the disease is not visible or palpable, so early detection and surveillance badessments are very important," she says. Wisbaum.

Types of Cancer:

• Invasive Cancer: Invasive ductal carcinoma is a cancer that is born in bad ducts and infiltrates into the outer bad tissue. Invasive lobular cancer is a cancer that develops in the lobules of the bad and infiltrates into the bad tissue outside of them.

The less common form of bad cancer is Paget's disease (an unusual type of cancer that affects the skin of the nipple and areola and almost always appears to be badociated with a bad tumor); inflammatory bad cancer (bad cancer detected by inflammation and redness caused by tumor cells when blocking the lymphatic vessels of the skin); Tumor filodes (a very rare type of bad cancer that appears in the connective tissue and not in the lobes); and angiosarcoma (cancer that occurs in the cells of blood vessels). It is a rare cancer that can appear exceptionally years later as a complication of bad radiotherapy.

• Noninvasive Cancer: In situ ductal carcinoma or DCIS occurs when tumor cells develop in the bad ducts and have not yet developed outside of them. In situ lobular carcinoma or CLIS is less common and is characterized by the presence of abnormal cells in the lobes that have not yet developed outside of them. Although in both cases these are non-invasive cancer types, DCIS and CLIS may end up becoming an invasive cancer if they are not treated properly.

Among the most important procedures and tests for the diagnosis of cancer. bad are clinical bad exploration, mammography, bad ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and bad biopsy. On occasion, the doctor will ask for additional diagnostic tests before or after a biopsy.

* The treatment of bad cancer has been studied extensively and is carried out according to very detailed and internationally agreed procedures and protocols. "In addition, oncology continues to grow. To improve and evolve constantly, "he explains.

Your doctor and his multidisciplinary clinical team will badyze and discuss your pathological report and the stage of your tumor's location in order to elucidate the best treatment for you. Much of this decision is based on a series of international protocols and documented results from clinical trials and other well-known studies. Put yourself in the hands of your doctor. Let the clinical team responsible for your care make difficult and informed decisions on your behalf, "says the author.

Surgery is invariably a crucial part of bad cancer treatment Some women undergo lumpectomy or surgery This technique is usually followed by radiation therapy sessions.Other women must undergo a mastectomy, which involves complete removal of the bad.

Chemotherapy is administered to destroy the tumor cells. Surgery and radiotherapy, which target specific areas of the body, chemotherapy aims to eliminate tumor cells from the whole body.It attacks and destroys the malignant cells that can be disseminated by the body, under the microscope, and may metastasize in the future.

Chemotherapy is usually badociated with surgery, radiotherapy or both Chemotherapy can be used to reduce the size of the tumor before or after surgery. In both cases, its goal is also to eliminate micrometastatic disease. Finally, it can be used alone or in combination with other treatments in case of cancer recurrence.

Radiotherapy is a high-energy treatment that eliminates tumor cells. There are two basic types of radiotherapy:

1. External radiotherapy consists of radiographing a device called a "linear accelerator" that emits rays on the body's position;
2. Internal radiation, brachytherapy or introduction of a material. radioactive in a place of the body for a certain period of time.

* Two-thirds of bad cancers are hormone-dependent, with a positive estrogen receptor (ER +) and / or a positive progesterone receptor (PR +). "If your bad cancer is ER-positive or PR-positive, you will likely receive a type of hormone therapy in addition to surgery (and possibly chemotherapy or radiation therapy) .The hormone therapy is given in the form of pills and sometimes injected.His goal is to prevent hormones from stimulating tumor cell receptors, thereby reducing the risk of growth and spread, "said the expert.

Information from Europa Press.

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