Breast cancer is one of the most life-threatening types of cancer for women. Currently there are no cures for cancer and the National Cancer Institute has indicated that approximately 40,000 women will die in the year 2009 from this disease. In any given year there are as many as 192,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. It is a disease that strikes women of all races and ages around the world. There have been some reports from MichiganCancer.com that the most common risk factors associated with breast cancer are not having children before the age of 30, a history of cancer in the family, old age, high dose radiation treatments and high breast density. Through regular breast examinations and yearly mammograms it is hoped to combat this disease with early detection. Although it doesn’t eliminate the risks it is one way that has helped increase the chances of discovery the cancer in its early stages.

Breast cancer is what happens when there are mutations of genes that are in the breast so it alters their regular growth rate. With cancer cells they don’t die as would normally be the case, instead they continue to multiply and grow. This will eventually end with the creation of a tumor. This can take place either in the milk ducts or the lobules cells of the breast. And from that point they will continue to grow and expand as a tumor. At this point a process called metastasis takes place. This is where the cells begin to migrate to other parts of the body. It normally happens by them migrating to the lymph nodes since they are the nearest place to the breast or perhaps to the local other tissue. Once in the lymph nodes the cancer cells can be carried to literally anywhere in the body, such as the lungs, brain, stomach and pancreas. And at that point it will begin to create other tumors that can eventually bring about the end of life when that organ can on longer function. This is a process that can take a while to occur, cancer cells don’t move very fast. However, there are often times that when the cancer tumor is discovered in the breast the process of metastasis has already taken place. Still, this doesn’t mean that early diagnosis and treatment are of no value. There is still a greater chance of survival if it can be found prior to when it has reached the lymph nodes. And even when it has reached that point different bodies have immune systems that will deal with cancer cells in different ways. Thus for some the cancer cells will die without creating a new tumor in some other part of the body. Doctors are unable to predict how each woman’s body will react to the cancer cells. They can only go by what is the average experience in terms of statistics. Again that is not a guarantee that will be true in every case. So it is important to remember when the doctor speaks of survival rates that it isn’t what will absolutely happen by the statistics.

Since the process of breast cancer is well understood and moves in the same way they can generally assess the stage of breast cancer once it is diagnosed. And the treatments will be tied to that critical aspect. So it is the part that will be the beginning point for where treatment begins. It will be the strategy the doctor will use to try and get the best result for each patient. There are many variables in the process, but they do strive to affect as much benefit to each patient as possible.

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