Breast Cancer Symptoms, Treatments & Facts

Breast cancer and more specifically one of the symptoms, night sweats, derived from the treatment involved and the recovery from cancer, can be very difficult to handle. More specifically the tumor regression or tumor reduction night sweats that are a result of treatment and recovery.  This Information should bring awareness to the options available for those suffering from this disease as well as how one can deal with night sweats effectively and safely. Many of the side effects to cancer can be dealt with using alternative treatments. This web site will give you alternative to dealing with night sweats.

From this link you will find information regarding magnetic resonance imaging for breast cancer.

Hot flashes are often a side effect to the treatment of this disease, which can often lead to nocturnal hydrosis commonly know as night sweats or bed sweats. Understanding the mechanics of sweating is critical to finding a solution to nocturnal sweating when dealing with with this treatment procedure. From this page you can read detailed information regarding this and how to stop the sweating. Below you will find some Cancer Facts.

Informative Sites Breast Cancer.org

Cancer facts?

It is a group of many related diseases that begin in cells, the body’s basic building blocks. To understand this disease, it is helpful to know what happens when normal cells become cancerous.  

The body is made up of many types of cells. Normally, cells grow and divide to produce more cells as they are needed to keep the body healthy. Sometimes, this orderly process goes wrong. New cells form when the body does not need them, and old cells do not die when they should. The extra cells form a mass of tissue called a growth or tumor. Not all tumors are cancerous; tumors can be benign or malignant.

Benign tumors are not cancer. They can often be removed and, in most cases, they do not come back. Cells in benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body. Most important, benign tumors are rarely a threat to life.

Malignant tumors are cancer. Cells in malignant tumors are abnormal and divide without control or order. Cancer cells invade and destroy the tissue around them. Cancer cells can also break away from a malignant tumor and enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system.

Blood vessels include a network of arteries, capillaries, and veins through which the blood circulates in the body. The lymphatic system carries lymph and white blood cells to all the tissues of the body. By moving through the bloodstream or lymphatic system, cancer can spread from the original (primary) cancer site to form new tumors in other organs. The spread of cancer is called metastasis.

Cancer / breast cancer Signs and Symptoms

Cancer can cause a variety of symptoms. Possible signs of cancer include the following:

• A thickening or lump in the breast or any other part of the body.

• An obvious change in a wart or mole.

• A sore that does not heal.

• A nagging cough or hoarseness.

• Changes in bowel or bladder habits.

• Indigestion or difficulty swallowing.

• Unexplained changes in weight, and

• Unusual bleeding or discharge.

When these or other symptoms occur, they are not always caused by cancer. They can also be caused by infections, benign tumors, or other problems. It is important to see the doctor about any of these symptoms or about other physical changes. Only a doctor can make a diagnosis. A person with these or other symptoms should not wait to feel pain; early cancer does not usually cause pain.

If symptoms occur, the doctor may order various tests and may recommend a biopsy. A biopsy is usually the most reliable way to know whether a medical problem is cancer. During a biopsy, the doctor removes a sample of tissue from the abnormal area. A pathologist studies the tissue under a microscope to check for cancer cells.

What causes breast cancer

Scientists have learned that cancer is caused by changes (called alterations) in genes that control normal cell growth and cell death.

Certain lifestyle and environmental factors can change some normal genes into genes that allow the growth of cancer. Many genetic changes that lead to cancer are the result of tobacco use, diet, exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, or exposure to carcinogens (cancer-causing substances) in the workplace and in the environment.

Some gene alterations are inherited. However, having an inherited gene alteration does not mean that the person is certain to develop cancer; it means that the chance of getting cancer is increased. Scientists continue to examine the factors that may increase a person’s chance of developing cancer.

Although being infected with certain viruses, such as the human papillomavirus (HPV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), increases the risk of some types of cancer, cancer is not contagious. A person cannot catch cancer from someone who has the disease. Scientists also know that an injury or bruise does not cause cancer

Treatment for breast cancer

Cancer treatment can include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and biological therapy. The doctor may use one method or a combination of methods, depending on the type and location of the cancer, whether the disease has spread, the patient’s age and general health, and other factors.

Because treatment for cancer also damages healthy cells and tissues, it often causes side effects. Some patients may worry that the side effects of treatment are worse than the disease. However, patients and doctors generally discuss the treatment options, weighing the likely benefits of killing cancer cells and the risks of possible side effects.  Doctors can suggest ways to reduce or eliminate problems that may occur during and after treatment.

Surgery is a procedure to remove the cancer. The side effects of surgery depend on many factors, including the size and location of the tumor, the type of operation, and the patient’s general health. Patients have some pain after surgery, but this pain can be controlled with medicine. It is also common for patients to feel tired or weak for a while after surgery.

Patients may worry that having a biopsy or other type of surgery for cancer will spread the disease. This is a very rare occurrence because surgeons take special precautions to prevent cancer from spreading during surgery. Exposing cancer to air during surgery does not cause the disease to spread.

Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells in a targeted area. Radiation can be given externally by a machine that aims radiation at the tumor area. It can also be given internally; a small container containing a radioactive substance is implanted near the cancer. Radiation treatments are painless. The side effects are usually temporary, and most can be treated and controlled. Patients are likely to feel very tired, especially in the later weeks of treatment. Radiation therapy may also cause a decrease in the number of white blood cells, which help protect the body against infection. With external radiation, it is also common to have temporary hair loss in the treated area and for the skin to become red, dry, tender, and itchy.

There is no risk of radiation exposure from coming in contact with a patient undergoing external radiation therapy. External radiation does not cause the body to become radioactive. With internal radiation, a patient may need to stay in the hospital away from other people while the radiation is most active. The radioactive substance loses radiation quickly and becomes non-radioactive in a short time. Once the implant is removed, there is no radioactivity in the body.

Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the body. The doctor may use one drug or a combination of drugs. Because the drug travels throughout the body, healthy cells are also affected. The side effects of chemotherapy depend mainly on the drugs and the dose the patient receives. Hair loss is a common side effect of chemotherapy; however, not all anticancer drugs cause loss of hair. Anticancer drugs may also cause fatigue, infections, poor appetite, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, or mouth and lip sores. Drugs that prevent or reduce nausea and vomiting can help with some of these side effects. Normal cells usually recover when chemotherapy is over, so most side effects gradually go away after treatment ends.

Hormone therapy is used to treat certain cancers that depend on hormones for their growth. Hormone therapy keeps cancer cells from using the hormone they need to grow. This treatment may include the use of drugs that stop the production of certain hormones or that change the way hormones work. Another type of hormone therapy is surgery to remove organs that make hormones. For example, the ovaries may be removed to treat breast cancer. The testicles may be removed to treat cancer of the prostate.

Hormone therapy can cause a number of side effects. Patients may feel tired, or have fluid retention, weight gain, hot flashes, nausea and vomiting, changes in appetite, and, in some cases, blood clots. Hormone therapy may also cause problems with fertility. Depending on the type of hormone therapy used, these side effects may be temporary, long-lasting, or permanent.

Biological therapy stimulates the body’s immune system to fight disease and can lessen some of the side effects of cancer treatment. Monoclonal antibodies, interferon, interleukin-2, and colony-stimulating factors are some types of biological therapy.

The side effects caused by biological therapy vary with the specific treatment. In general, these treatments tend to cause flu-like symptoms, such as chills, fever, muscle aches, weakness, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Patients also may bleed or bruise easily, get a skin rash, or have swelling. These problems can be severe, but they go away after the treatment stops.

What you should know about HRT

Sep 20 (Reuters Health) - The use of estrogen-progestin hormonal therapy increases the risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women regardless of racial differences, according to results of a study of more than 55,000 American women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds reported in the International Journal of Cancer September 16th.

"The most important finding in this paper," Dr. Malcolm Pike of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles told Reuters Health, "is that the increased risk of breast cancer from menopausal estrogen/progestin replacement therapy is found in all ethnic groups we studied -- African Americans, Hawaiians, Japanese Americans and Latinas (mainly Mexican-Americans) as well as in whites."

"The result in whites confirms earlier reports," he noted

Millions of women have relied on hormone replacement therapy for many years, but recent research has suggested that the benefits of the treatment -- alleviating hot flashes, mood swings and other bothersome symptoms of the menopause and preventing osteoporosis -- may be outweighed by its risks, specifically, breast cancer, heart attack and strokes.

Most previous studies that have shown a link between menopausal hormone therapy and increased breast cancer risk have been conducted in white women and few have considered prognostic factors such as weight (body mass index). The current study provides some of the first results comparing breast cancer risk among different racial and ethnic groups in relation to hormone therapy use.

Among the 55,000+ women in the study, 1615 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed over an average of 7.3 years.

Current users of estrogen-progestin therapy had a 29 percent higher risk of developing breast cancer after 5 years of treatment, while users of estrogen-only therapy had only a 10 percent increased risk.

The increase in breast cancer risk with combined estrogen-progestin therapy was seen in all five ethnic groups and the increase with estrogen-only therapy was seen in four of the five groups.

The data also hint that the risk of breast cancer for estrogen-progestin users is somewhat higher for lean women -- those with a body mass index below 25 -- compared with heavier women. The authors emphasize, however, "data on this aspect of the relationship between hormone therapy use and risk are scarce and it is too early to draw a firm conclusion.

They also note there was "still a clear increase in risk in heavier women."

Summing up, Pike noted that "menopausal estrogen-alone therapy is much safer as regards breast cancer, but can only be used for a short time without increasing a woman's risk of endometrial cancer."

"A proposed solution to this dilemma," he offered, "is to still add some progestin to the estrogen replacement therapy but to add it much less frequently than monthly or to use an intrauterine device that contains a progestin, but that effectively provides progestin only to the uterus."

SOURCE: International Journal of Cancer September 16, 2005.

Breast Cancer