Breast Cancer :- prevention and Treatment (part Two)

Hello, Hola and Namaste dear steemians,
Welcome back to my medical blog.
Today we are going to learn about prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

Image source

This is the second part of the post - https://steemit.com/steemstem/@medicolife/breast-cancer-a-brief-history-causes-symptoms-and-diagnosis-part-one so, it would be helpful for you if you go through the first part before this post. In my last post we have learned about History of breast cancer, its causes , symptoms and diagnosis. Now let us talk about Its treatment and prevention in detail.

The treatment of the breast cancer includes :-

1. Surgery
2. Radiation Therapy
3. Hormone Therapy
4. Chemotherapy

Surgeries for breast cancer ...

Surgeries are done to remove the tumor along with some of the surrounding tissue. Now we will be learning the surgeries that are done to treat the breast cancer.

1. Lumpectomy :- It involves the removal of tumor and a small cancer free surrounding healthy tissues around the tumor. A lupmectomy may be recommended for removing of small tumors. It may also be called partial mastectomy , breast conversing surgery or segmental mastectomy.

2. Mastectomy :- It involves the removal of the entire breast. Most mastectomy procedures involves the removal of entire breast tissues - the lobules, ducts, fatty tissue and skin including nipple and areola.

Image source :-Mastectomy

1. Lymph node dissection :- It involves the sentinel node biopsy and axillary lymph node dissection. Sentinel lymph node biopsy is taken to examine whether the cancer has spread to lymph node or not. If the cancer is found in the biopsy than axillary lymph node dissection is done to stop the further spread of cancer.

Image source; fig :- Sentinel node biopsy

Radiation therapy

You may all have seen x- rays , it is same as x- rays where high powered x-rays and protons are used to kill cancer cells. This therapy is done using large machines that emits radiation and given outside the body. Most commonly it is given after lumpectomy and sometimes after chemotherapy. This therapy can cause side effects including fatigue, swelling of breasts, redness or discoloration of the skin, sometimes blistering and peeling of skin.

Image source ; fig:- Radiation therapy

Drug therapy or chemotherapy

In this therapy drugs are used to destroy the fast growing cells i.e. cancer cells. Chemotherapy is given after breast surgery in order to stop growth of cancer. Sometimes it is also given before surgery to shrink the larger tumors of the breast. Common drugs used in chemotherapy are :-

• Capecitabine
• Methotrexate
• Cyclophosphamide
• Carboplatin
• Docetaxel
• Fluorouracil

There are many sides effects of chemotherapy according to the drugs used for treatment. Common side effects are hair loss, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and increased risk of getting infections, damage to heart and kidneys and sometimes nerve and blood cell cancer.

Hormone therapy

Hormone therapy can be used before or after surgery to minimize the chance of reoccurrence of cancer. The treatments that are used in Hormone therapy includes:-

• Selective estrogen receptor modulators ( medications that block hormones from attaching to cancer cells.)
• Aromatase inhibitors ( Medications that stop the body from making estrogens after the menopause)
• Surgeries and medications to stop hormone production in ovaries

Side effects of the hormone therapy may include hot flushes, night sweats and vaginal dryness. Blood clots and Bone thinning are serious side effects.

We have learned about treatment of the breast cancer with its side effects. Now , we will be learning about the preventions of the Breast cancer.

What can we do to reduce risk of breast cancer?

To decrease the risk of breast cancer one should change in lifestyle and eating habits, avoid things known to cause cancer and take medicine to treat precancerous condition. We can do following of the things.

• Limit alcohol
• Stop smoking
• Control of weight
• Maintain hygiene and be physically active
• Breast Feed
• Limit dose and duration of Hormone therapy
• Avoid exposure to radiation and environmental pollution.

Today we have learned about prevention and treatment of the breast cancer. This much for today, I will be back with more health related topics in my upcoming blogs until that keep tuning on steemit.

Sources :-

1. https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/patient/breast-prevention-pdq
2. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/womens-health/in-depth/breast-cancer-prevention/art-20044676
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer
4. https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/breast-cancer/treatment-options
5. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/breast-cancer/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20352475

My previous post in steemit :-

• https://steemit.com/steemstem/@medicolife/breast-cancer-a-brief-history-causes-symptoms-and-diagnosis-part-one

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