Breast Cancer Essay

Although breast cancer is a very common disease, getting the disease from genetics is very rare and uncommon. Out of all breast cancers, hereditary breast cancer is shown to only take up five to ten percent of all breast cancer cases. Even though breast cancer passed down from parent to child is very uncommon, there are other ways this genetic disorder can develop. Constantly, studies and research continue to reveal daily habits and factors of people’s lifestyle that may increase or decrease the risk of breast cancer. The specific studies are looking into the effects of diet, exercise and weight change (gain or loss) and the effects of these on breast cancer research is also going into the environment having a possible cause of breast cancer disease. The average type of breast cancer, or most common breast cancer, is only associated with genetic changes that occur in the breast cells throughout a lifetime. These changes are called somatic mutations.

Breast cancer develops from breast cells. The cancer most commonly begins in the inner lining of the lobules, that supply the breasts with milk, or the milk ducts. Unfortunately, a malignant tumor is able to spread to other parts of the body. A malignant tumor is a cancerous tumor. They are built up of cells that grow out of control. Malignant tumors can invade nearby tissues and spread to other areas of the body. A breast cancer that began in the lobules is called lobular carcinoma, and a breast cancer that begins in the milk ducts is called ductal carcinoma.

In non-hereditary breast cancer, there are a number of factors that may contribute to a person getting breast cancer. The first risk factor is age. Women over the age of sixty are more likely to get breast cancer. In fact,...

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... help eliminate the chance of the cancer returning. The third treatment option is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is treatment that includes drugs and medicines that help kill the cancer. The drugs are either injected into a vein or taken orally in pill form. The chemotherapy is given in cycles. The drugs try to shrink and destroy the cancer cells. The fifth treatment option is targeted therapy. Targeted therapy is the use of drugs that target the specific genetic changes in the cells that cause cancer. The last treatment option is hormone therapy. Hormone therapy is often used to reduce the threat of the cancer returning and coming back again. It can also be used to treat returning cancer that has come back after treatment. Breast cancer is a very deadly disease and deserves full effort into researching more and finding new, and improved ways of curing the disease.