Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the US, making hundreds of thousands of women across the US shudder just at the briefest mention of it. Hundreds of thousands of women will develop breast cancer this year alone. In addition, breast cancer will claim the lives of many women by the end of year 2017. To control this devastating epidemic, many campaigns are aimed at raising public awareness of breast cancer.
In certain cases, women are not actually aware that they have breast cancer. Indicators and signs of breast cancer can be delayed and sometimes go unnoticed by physicians. For example, take a woman who visits the doctor regularly for checkups. She is in perfect health and all of her tests reveal no signs of anything going wrong insider her body. However, three days after her checkup, she begins to develop a lump in her left breast. Raising a small concern in her mind, she visits the physician to explain her condition. After the woman undergoes a mammogram, it is discovered that she is in stage 3 of breast cancer. She did not experience any symptoms, which makes breast cancer very hard to detect in its early stages.
However, there are a number of factors that can indicate or determine the risk of breast cancer. The risk of someone developing breast cancer increases as they get older. In addition, there are higher risks if someone has a history of breast cancer in the family, has had breast cancer themselves before, carry the gene for breast cancer, or if they have had other non-cancerous breast diseases.
Other than the aforementioned definite breast cancer risks, there are also ongoing research on possible risks including uneven breasts, injury to the breast, and use of antibiotics. Unhealthy diets such as a diet high in carbohydrate and saturated fats might also increase the risk of breast cancer.
On the other hand, people that lead a generally healthy lifestyle with sufficient physical activities and a balanced diet are less likely to develop breast cancer. Women who breastfeed, especially at a younger age, have a lower risk of developing breast cancer.
In order to effectively tackle breast cancer, a health care team must be implemented. The health care team must consist of surgeons, clinical nurses, radiologists, pathologists, and oncologists. Each team member must play a specific role and duty to ensure speedy recovery of the patient. By combining the duties and responsibilities of each team member, the patient will successfully survive breast cancer.
In conclusion, breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in women in the US with an estimated death rate of 40,610 projected for the new year of 2017 according to the American Cancer Society. There are a number of definite and possible risks of breast cancer. Once diagnosed, breast cancer teams consisting of surgeons, nurses, radiologists, and pathologists attend to patients to guide and support them throughout the treatment program and beyond into the recovery stage. Research has shown that the best health care delivery for breast cancer patients are to comprise a range of multidisciplinary professionals with specialties that are specially targeted to attend to the different needs of patients with the cancer. A team-based approach under an effective leader has advantages such as innovative, higher quality patient care. Breast cancer patients can access many resources provided by non-profit organizations to help them with financing and managing their condition.
