Facts about Breast Cancer you should know!
Author: Danielle Summers
This article deals with a few facts you should know about breast cancer. It helps you understand that you are not alone in your endeavour against this disease. Armed with knowledge you can make informed decisions and asking your doctor is the next best thing you can do for yourself or for your loved one suffering from cancer.
A few Facts about Breast Cancer
What is it? It is a cancer that develops in the cells of the breast.
It affects both the sexes. It is 100 times more frequent in women than in men, but the survival rates are the same for both.
In 2004, breast cancer caused 519,000 deaths worldwide, which is seven percent of cancer deaths and one percent of all causes of death.
One in eight women, or 12.6 percent of all women, will be diagnosed with breast cancer once in her lifetime.
Every 13 minutes, a woman dies of breast cancer.
The risk of getting
breast cancer increases with age.
Every woman is at a risk of getting diagnosed with breast cancer.
Around 70 percent of the women diagnosed with breast cancer are over the age of 50.
More than 1.7 million women who were diagnosed with breast cancer are still alive in the United States.
Breast cancer is the first cause of death in women aged between 15 and 54 and is the second cause of death in women aged 55 to 74.
Increased breast cancer risk depends upon family history, delayed pregnancy until the age of 30, never becoming pregnant, atypical hyperplasia, early menstruation, i.e. before the age of 12 years, late menopause (after 55), modern use of oral contraceptive pills and the daily consumption of alcohol.
The first signs of breast cancer show up in the mammogram before any other symptoms surface or can be felt.
71 percent of black women diagnosed with breast cancer show a five year survival rate, while 86 percent of white women show a survival rate of five years.
96 percent of women who find, detect and treat breast cancer early will be cancer-free after five years.
Self examination for
breast cancer every month and a yearly mammogram after the age of 40 years offer the best chances of survival.
Over 80 percent of the breast lumps that are detected are not cancerous and are benign, such as fibrocystic breast diseases.
It is said that oral contraceptive may increase the risk of getting breast cancer. Though, ten years after discontinuation of the pill, the risks are same as of a woman who has never taken the pill.
The risk of breast cancer is said to increase with the estrogen replacement therapy that goes on for over five years. Though, the risk disappears five to ten years after discontinuing the use of estrogen replacement therapy.
Remember, you are never too young to get breast cancer, so self examination must be started at the age of 20.
Being diagnosed with breast cancer can be a very difficult experience to go through. This is a time when the patient requires all the support and love they can get. A helpful resource is cancer books. You can avail one by author Elizabeth Gould called Secrets of Cancer Survivors. For more information, please click here:
http://www.secretsofcancersurvivors.comAbout the Author:
Danielle Summers works as a counsellor specialising in helping the patients of life threatening diseases such as cancer. She also likes to talk about her work through her articles over the internet. Please visit
www.secretsofcancersurvivors.com
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