Breast cancer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Breast cancer - Essay Example 23-39) has indicated that body often starts creating wrong cells that damage the body by building a mass of damaged tissues called a lump or a tumor. Breast cancer refers to the disease when a lump or tumor forms in the part of breast. Particularly, this paper will focus primarily on breast cancer that has become one of the most common types of cancer affecting thousands of women in Australia and worldwide. In this regard, the paper has been divided into four sections of stages and types, risk factors, diagnosis and treatment, and conclusion. (Susang Komen, 2013) STAGES & TYPES Knowing the stage and type is very imperative for successful diagnosis and treatment of the breast cancer. Some of the factors that determine stage and type of the breast cancer are size of the lump, number of damaged lymph nodes, axillary area, and the amount of damage to other parts of the body (Link, Forsthoff, & Waisman, 2003, pp. 41-48). There are four stages of breast cancer; however, if one goes into th e sub-stages, then there are seven stages of breast cancer according to abovementioned factors. First stage is also known as Stage 0 breast cancer that refers to the condition in which cancerous cells exist in lining of milk duct (Brown, Freeman, & Platt, 2006, pp. 21-24). This stage is also called ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS (Brown, Freeman, & Platt, 2006, pp. 21-24). In types, physicians refer it as earlier cancer. When the development of cancerous cells continues, it reaches the stage two in which cells extend themselves toward adjoining lymph nodes. Physicians further divide this stage into two sub-stages that are determined by size and spread of the lump. (MedicineNet.com, 2013) When the lump spreads outside the breast area affecting neighboring muscles, it is referred as Stage 3 breast cancer, which is considered as treatable among the doctors. This stage has also been divided further into three sub-stages that are determined by the same two factors of size and spread of the tumor (Brown, Freeman, & Platt, 2006, pp. 21-24). The last stage is also known as metastatic cancer (Mansel, Fodstad, & Jiang, 2009, pp. 27-35) in which cancerous cells reach other parts and/or organs of the body. In today’s science, this stage is considered incurable; however, doctors prescribe therapies along with personal motivation that may allow patients to extend their life period to few years (Brown, Freeman, & Platt, 2006, pp. 25-32). Besides abovementioned stages, research has indicated few other types of breast cancer, such as triple negative breast cancer that refers to the type in which neugene, estrogen, and progesterone, the three cancer-attracting receptors are absent in the cancer lump. Another common type is inflammatory breast cancer (Mansel, Fodstad, & Jiang, 2009, pp. 37-55) that refers to the type where the cells affect skin and lymph vessels of the breast. RISK FACTORS Although there have been ambiguity regarding specific risk factors related to brea st cancer, however, research has shown few factors that have been linked with breast cancer. Particularly, age is one of the most imperative risk factors as studies have indicated breast cancer occurring more in older women as compared to younger women worldwide (McPhee & Tierney, 2007, pp. 37-43). However, this augmentation begins to decrease after the age of menopause. Besides, it has been an observation that women in developed countries have been