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Essay / Breast Cancer - 1792
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women; it accounts for one in three diagnoses in the United States. Breast cancers are malignant, life-threatening tumors that develop in one or both breasts. A female breast is made up of fatty and fibrous connective tissues. The inside of the breast is divided into around 20 different sections called lobes. Each of the lobes is divided into lobules, which are structures containing small milk-producing glands. These glands carry milk in tiny ducts. These ducts carry milk through the breast and store it in a chamber under the nipple. Breast cancer can be either invasive (spread) or non-invasive (non-spread). An invasive cancer penetrates the wall of a duct. This type of cancer is the most common, accounting for approximately seventy percent of all cases. Infiltrative lobular cancer that spreads through the wall of a lobule accounts for about eight percent of all breast cancers. This type is likely to appear in both breasts, often in seven different places. The cause of breast cancer is unknown, but researchers suggest that estrogen, a hormone produced by the ovaries, may be involved. Studies suggest that the longer a woman is exposed to the hormone (i.e., if she begins menstruating before the age of twelve or if she goes into menopause after the age of fifty-five and/or had children after the age of thirty), a higher risk. Recently, two breast cancer susceptibility genes have been identified. The first is BRCA1 (a defect in this gene is common to those who have breast cancer) and the second is BRCA2 (a defect in this gene is associated with breast cancer only). People with a mutated BRCA1 gene have an eighty-six percent risk of developing breast cancer before the age of seventy. Women are a hundred times more likely to get breast cancer than men. More than eighty percent of breast cancers occur in women over the age of fifty. At forty, its chances are one in two hundred and seventeen (217), and in women under thirty, they represent only one and a half percent of all cases of breast cancer. About five percent of all breast cancers are hereditary. People with a family history of breast cancer in a first-degree relative (i.e., mother, sister, and daughter) are at two to three times the risk of the general population. Women who take hormones...... middle of paper .... ...if the nipple has been removed, it can be reconstructed from other body tissues and the color is applied using techniques tattoo. Recurrence is always a serious event. Recurrences generally occur in two to three out of ten cases. Breast cancer can come back in three ways. The most common recurrence is in the retained breast, in the region of the original cancer. If this type of cancer has not spread, it can be treated with a mastectomy. The other type of recurrence involves the lymph nodes. If it is not considered to have metastasized (spread to other areas), it may be treated with surgery or additional radiation therapy. A recurrence of the scar or chest wall after a mastectomy is more serious. Since all of your breast tissue has been removed, it is impossible for the cancer to be residual and so it must come from the lymphatic system or bloodstream. In conclusion, it is very important for women to perform daily/monthly breast exams and if according to your (40 years or older) or if the woman has risk factors..