New Hope in Breast Cancer Treatment

While surfing around on the www.cancer.org site, I came across an article that talked about a new drug in the fight against breast cancer. Here is some of what the article was saying along with some great resources for those battling cancer and those in need of support.

On March 13 the FDA approved the new drug, Tykerb (lapatinib). Tykerb is a pill being used to treat women with HER2-positive tumors that have continued to grow despite treatment.

The new pill is to be used in conjunction with Xeloda (capecitabine), a chemotherapy pill. While it is not known if the new pill will help women live longer, in a trial study of nearly 400 women, the combination of drugs lengthened the time it took for the cancer to start growing again in comparison to using Xeloda alone. The study results show a difference of 27 weeks vs. (more…)

Millions of women are affected with breast cancer all around the world. Breast cancer is growing like an epidemic and is predicted that 45,000 patients will die from breast cancer, this year. If you feel a solid lump in your breast, you must visit a specialist for consultation.

Breast cancer symptom:
Breast cancer in its early stages does not cause any pain. Unfortunately, in early stages when breast cancer develops, it does not show any breast cancer symptom. But as it grows, it can cause remarkable changes, which a woman should note.

Breast cancer symptoms include thickening or lump near or in the breast, change in the shape or size of the affected breast, tenderness of nipple or nipple discharge, inversion of nipple into the breast, pitting or ridges of the breast, skin of the breast appears warm, red, swollen and scaly. A woman should visit her doctor (more…)

Although surgery is the most effective (and hence, the most widely used) breast cancer treatment method, there are several other ways of dealing with the disease, some are more powerful than the others. These include radiation therapy, chemotherapy or hormonal therapy, each of them with their own assets and downsides.

Most of them however are used in combination with surgery for best effects, either prior to it, in order to reduce the size of the tumor or after the operation, in order to remove any remaining cancerous cells. For a better understanding of these alternative treatment methods for breast cancer, we’ll take a closer look at each, explaining how they work and in what cases they might prove useful.

Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy uses powerful gamma rays (x-rays) which target the specific area that needs to be treated with high precision. Usually, radiation therapy is performed (more…)

Four types of standard treatment are used:

Surgery

Most patients with breast cancer have surgery to remove the cancer from the breast. Some of the lymph nodes under the arm are usually taken out and looked at under a microscope to see if they contain cancer cells.

Breast-conserving surgery, an operation to remove the cancer but not the breast itself, includes the following:

* Lumpectomy: A surgical procedure to remove a tumor (lump) and a small amount of normal tissue around it.

* Partial mastectomy: A surgical procedure to remove the part of the breast that contains cancer and some normal tissue around it. This procedure is also called a segmental mastectomy.

Enlarge

Breast-sparing surgery; shows removal of tumor and axillary lymph nodes

Breast-conserving surgery. Dotted lines show area containing the tumor that is removed and some of the lymph nodes that may be removed.

Patients who are treated with breast-conserving surgery may also have some (more…)

In February of 2005 I found a slightly dense spot on my right breast. I was not sure it was a “something” as my breasts were a little bit fibrous and lumpy. My mammogram the previous July had been clear. I forgot about it. In March I brushed against that little spot again in the shower – the “dense spot” had turned into a well-defined lump the size of a quarter.

I did what any normal, well-educated woman would do in these circumstances: I went into denial.

A couple of weeks later I palpated the lump (now the size of a golf ball)and snapped out of denial and into terror. My doctor arranged for me to have a mammogram and ultrasound the same day.

As she ran the ultrasound wand over my lumpy boob, the technician’s face settled into stone and I could feel a grim (more…)

My father has just passed away 2 weeks ago after a very bad battle with cancer. He was in a bad way and his body became over run with this horrible disease. I didn’t get many chances to actually sit down and talk to him about his condition because i found it very hard to come to terms with the fact he was so ill and terminal beyond any doubt. Breast cancer IS sadly running riot through women today and there seem to be more victims than ever before,with little revolutionary new finds to prevent let alone cure. I can be justified in saying my father kept his dignity and pride right up to the last moment and refused to let his illness take control. He should have been beaten long before he was and taught us all who new and loved him a few very (more…)

Breast cancer is one of the cancers where women are suffering with it a lot. This cancer has become one of the most common cancers in the women now-a-days. But as there has been explosion of saving life in the treatment due to the advance is science a cure has been found to stop the death of the women with this reason.

Breast cancer is one of the chronic diseases that are prevailing in women. This breast cancer is increasing daily and it so high that any women are at risk of getting attacked with it. But the science has made an explosion is such a way that it can save the women who is suffering with the breast cancer with the medicine in a modern way or alternative way or natural way. This curing of her disease has made her to have a new hope and excitement in (more…)

Every year, more than 1.2 million people are told they have breast cancer. Very rarely, even men will develop this disease. Breast cancer is second only to heart disease as the leading killer of adult aged women in America. Thanks to recent advancements in medical science, being diagnosed with breast cancer doesn’t have to be the death sentence it once was. It is now possible to detect and get breast cancer treatment done at an early stage.

Breast Cancer Treatment Stages

Breast cancer treatment depends on how advanced the cancer is. TNM Staging is commonly used worldwide to judge what treatment is necessary. Judging the tumor, or tumors, the nodes and if it has transferred to a different part of the body, also known as metastases. Once these items have been evaluated, the doctor will decide on a course of treatment.

The two main types of cancer are high grade and (more…)

If you are undergoing treatment for cancer and enroll on a clinical trial, you might find some help from your insurance provider depending on what state you live in. Currently there are 19 states that have enacted laws regarding insurance coverage of clinical trials. You can find more information for each particular state on the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute websites. Consider yourself lucky if you are a resident of New Jersey or California because they have some of the most comprehensive laws. Also be aware that the state laws can vary depending on your insurer and/or what group policy you hold. To make matters worse, some large HMOs don’t play by the rules at all and can pretty much do as they please regardless of the state law.

Now, you are probably thinking: clinical trials are supposed to be free to the participant, right? This is almost (more…)

Now day’s availability of high quality medical treatment facilities and most experienced cancer surgeons makes it possible to get breast cancer treatment done without any risk and at very low cost. Indian cancer surgery hospitals provide breast cancer treatment at very low cost as compared to the cost of the breast cancer surgery in abroad cancer surgery hospitals. The cancer surgery hospitals in India are at Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai and Chennai. The medical infrastructure of Indian cancer surgery hospitals is world-class and the clinical care taken by them is best that’s why many abroad patients are getting attracted to India for getting their breast cancer treatment done from Indian cancer surgery hospitals at low cost. Because of the low cost of treatment and high success rate of breast cancer treatment in India, many abroad patients are getting attracted to India for their breast cancer treatment.

Breast cancer is a cancer (more…)