BREAST CANCER

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer

Introduction

Cancers are characterized by the rapid creation of abnormal cells which grow beyond their usual boundaries, invading adjoining parts of the body and spreading to other organs. Cancers can develop in any part of the body.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death among women worldwide, with more than 800,000 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed annually, representing 21% of all new cancers in women. Additionally, globally estimates suggest the highest age-adjusted breast cancer incidence rate reported for North America, and Europe, at 99.4 new cases per 100,000 women per year. Breast cancer accounts for nearly one in every three cancers diagnosed among women in the U.K. However, significant racial and ethnic variations in breast cancer incidence, mortality, and survival have been previously reported. Specifically, breast cancer is a major cause of illness and the leading cause of cancer-related death among women.

The main causes of breast cancer are as follows:

The main cause for breast cancer is the lack of awareness, specially in the regions, where there is lack of education and poverty. Womens,especially in the region of Africa and Asia are not priviliged with basic education, therefore they often lack in adapting preventive measures to avoid breast cancer. Secondly, due to lack of knowledge and awareness, these women are unable to identify the symptoms of breast cancer. Finally, even if they identify the early symptoms of breast disease, they did not have enough resources to get themselves operated.

Another cause is late menopause. It causes the system to have an adverse reaction, If a woman has menopause after 50. The hormones change too late.

Many types of breast cancers are genetic. If the family has a history of breast cancer, it is very likely to be passed on to later generations. So if you had a great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, sister, or cousin, who had breast cancer, you may get it to.

Women who take estrogen replacement therapy also can cause breast cancer. This is true if the therapy has been extended up to 10 years (Compas, 2002, pp. 111-114).

In the next section, we will examine the increasing number of diagnosed breast cancer cases as a global health issue and also the comparison of different regions of the world regarding the growing issue of Breast cancer.

Discussion & Analysis

The cause of most breast cancers is unknown. Genetic factors are involved in about 2% of cases in Africa and Europe, and women who are obese and/or eat a high fat diet, or drink a lot of alcohol are more at risk, but there is no clear cause in most cases. However, benign (harmless) lumps in the breast are very common, so you need to reassure women in your community that every change and every lump found in the breasts does not mean they have breast cancer. Only about one in every five women with a breast lump turns out to have cancer (Helgeson, Snyder & Seltman, 2004, ...