Breast Cancer :(

as we all know, or should know, it is breast cancer awareness month. so I thought I would do a blog post on breast cancer. I hope you enjoy and I apologize for the late post.

Breast cancer is when cells in the breast divide and grow out of control.

About 85% of breast cancer begins in the mammary ducts.

About 15% arise in the lobules.

Tumors in the breast usually grow slowly. It can take up to 10 years before you even feel a lump in your breast! However, some are aggressive and grow much more rapidly. There are two types of breast cancers:

·         Invasive breast cancer

·         Ductal carcinoma in situ, aka, pre- invasive breast cancer.

Who gets breast cancer?

 About 207,090 new cases of invasive breast cancer in women will occur in the United States and estimated 39,840 of those women will die from it in this year alone! Also, an estimated 1,970 men will be diagnosed and 390 of those men will die in this year! In addition to invasive breast cancer, it is estimated that 54,010 new cases of in situ breast cancer will occur among women in 2010.

Understanding risk:

Absolute risk:

Absolute risk is a person’s chance of developing a specific disease over a certain period of time. One absolute risk we often see is the lifetime risk of breast cancer.

Risk factors:

Anything that affects a person’s absolute risk of developing a disease is called a risk factor. Risk factors can be related to lifestyle, genetics, or environment. Inactive women have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than active women.

Relative risk:

Though it may not sound familiar, it is often seen or heard about in stories about health. Relative risk is a way to present the increase or decrease in risk that’s due to a certain risk factor.

References:

http://ww5.komen.org/