Breast Cancer Symptoms

What Could Happen?

There are several types of breast cancer defined by the stage they are in and the overall composition of them.  If you are suffering from breast cancer, you should ask your doctor to tell you what type of cancer you have as well as what stage the cancer is in.

There are treatment options available for most situations, depending on what stage of cancer you are in.  Understanding these facts will help you get the most help for your health and improve your lifespan.

What Doctors Are Looking For

In a breast cancer diagnosis, doctors need to take into consideration various factors about the actual cancer cells they find.  The course of action they take to improve your health is based on these factors.  Here are some things that they will look at.

• What is the size of the cancer?  Small lumps and tumors are often easier to treat and easier to overcome than others.  Yet, if the tumor is larger, they will need to take more aggressive measures to treat it.  A large tumor doesn’t have to mean death, though.
• What is the growth rate:  Doctors will do breast cancer tests to help determine what the level of intensity of growth is.  A fast growing, aggressive style of cancer needs more aggressive means of help.  Some tumors are very low key and are easily treated, though.
• What type of behavior does it have?  In some situations, the behavior of a tumor can be predictable.  In other words, doctors understand the way it is growing and the speed.  Other situations are much more unpredictable, which can lead to other means of treatment.

Doctor will characterize the tumors of breast cancer by their size, the tumor grade, the hormone receptor status of the tumor, the margins of resection and the HER2/Neu oncogene overexpression.  These elements may seem like a foreign language, but to doctors they can better tailor their treatment when they have as much information as possible.

There are other concerns with breast cancer as well.  For example, male breast cancer is a type of cancer that forms in men.  Men do have a limited amount of breast tissue, which can actually grow in size depending on the overall health and weight of an individual, their exposure to various outside elements as well as other factors.  This type of cancer is rare, occurring in only 2000 or so cases per year.

In addition to this, doctors are also concerned about the metastatic breast cancer rates.  Metastatic breast cancer is a type that spreads through the body by the blood stream.  The cancer cells are able to break through the tissue and they can then spread to various areas of the body.  When this happens, those cancer cells can latch onto various other organs n the body and in turn develop tumors in that region.  This is a highly worrisome situation because the rate of additional complications is high.

Once doctors have a good understanding of the types of breast cancer they have to work with, they can choose the best treatment for breast cancer.  Treatments are decided upon by the actual case, so what works for you may not be right for someone else.  Doctors tailor your health to the cancer you have.

If you are suffering from breast cancer, ask your doctor more about what type of cancer you have.  Learn as much as you can and consider alternative treatments that work in complimentary form to your current one.  Doctors can help you overcome breast cancer with the help of these treatment options, most often being successful.

The Seriousness of Stage 4

Stage 4 breast cancer is one of the worst stages that you can have.  In this stage, the cancer is very aggressive and has moved to be at its most dangerous form.  Doctors will still provide you with excellent treatment options and many patients do survive breast cancer at this stage.  In this advanced form, though, there may be limits.  Unfortunately, according to the American Cancer Society, there is only a 20 percent chance of survival beyond five years for people who have this stage of cancer.

What Are Stages

Doctors have developed a system of stages to help them know which level the breast cancer is in.  In the earliest stages, the cancer is very small and often times go undetected.  As the tumor grows in size, it will move up in terms of stage level.  Stages range from stage 1 (or stage I) to stage 4 (or stage IV.)  There are also subdivisions in each stage.  Doctors will rate the disease by size, but also by other factors including the amount and type of growth of the stage as well as the overall aggressiveness of the stage.  Doctors are also concerned about the overall way that the tumor is growing.  Most will grow in a “normal” pattern, which allows them to tailor treatment to that specific stage easier.  Others are unpredictable and this often can be one of the most troublesome types of cancer.

Defining Stage

In order for doctors to know which breast cancer stage you are in, they will need to do a wide variety of tests.  They will do this in the effort to fully understand the condition, so they can give you the best treatment options available.  Generally, doctors will do tests that include x rays that are highly intense, as well as blood work and much more.  Once they are confident that they know all there is to know about the tumor or the breast cancer cells in your body, they will define which stage they believe the condition to be.  In most situations, doctors are able to define the stages after a few tests, but may reinforce their information with more.  Over time, they will continue to monitor the situation to insure they have a full understanding of the progression of breast cancer.

Defining Treatment

Once doctors know which stage of breast cancer you are in, they can tailor your breast cancer treatments around it. This often includes several options.  Whenever possible and available, they may use breast cancer surgery as their first line of defense.  This will allow them to remove any and all types of tumors they find.  In earlier stages, they may not have to remove the entire breast, either, for this to be helpful.

Doctors will nearly always combat the growth of tumors and breast cancer in general with medications.  The right breast cancer drug for you will be the one that is the best at helping improving your overall health, based on the stage of your breast cancer.  A wide range of treatment options are available including chemotherapy and radiation, all of which have been very helpful at improving the success rate of treatment for breast cancer.

Being educated about the level of breast cancer you have is important.  Doctors will provide you with all of the tools you’ll need to make it through your cancer that are available, but sometimes it is not enough.  The best way to avoid the worries of stage four breast cancer is to keep from getting it.  Early detection is the best tool available to you.  You can be a part of the successful thousands that have beaten cancer.

Cancer That Spreads

Metastatic breast cancer is a situation in which the cancer has moved from the breast tissue into the rest of the body.  Because breast cancer can do this, it is highly likely that your doctor will work hard to help you avoid this happening,

by giving you full body treatments for the cancer.  There is usually no warning that the cancer will move.  There is generally no method that shows the cancer is able to move easily or if it will not.  Therefore, doctors will treat your cancer individually.

Those who are suffering from breast cancer can see metastatic situations at any time.  It does not matter if you are in the early stages of breast cancer or in stage IV breast cancer.  In this condition, doctors will still have treatments for breast cancer that can help you overcome the condition.  Yet, they will change their scope.  Many times, the goal of treating this cancer is to give you the best chance of putting the cancer into remission (non active or growing stage) while still keeping the quality of life.

Some of the treatment options for metastatic breast cancer are in the best situation if:

• The breast cancer has not spread to major organs of the body, this includes your lungs, your brain or your stomach, for example.
• The breast cancer that has spread to organs in your body has not spread to more than three organs or other parts of the body.
• The cancer will respond best if there are hormones called estrogen and progesterone hormone receptors found in the cancer cells.
• The tumor is still responding to the treatments using hormones or chemotherapy.
• And, that you have not had various types of cancer treatment or many rounds of it.

If you do not have any of these situations happening in your body, and you are concerned that treatments will not work for you, don’t give up.  The fact is that this type of breast cancer diagnosis is still possible to overcome.  Doctors know of various ways to help treat breast cancer that has metastatic qualities to it and can often help put the cancer into remission for years to come.

The type of treatment that you’ll get is dependent on various factors.  For example, in some situations, breast cancer surgery can still be performed to remove any type of breast tissue that is infected, or could be infected, which would remove the cancer cells, in effect, and keep the disease from spreading.  Other treatments that work well when the cancer has already spread include hormone treatments that are aggressive as well as chemotherapy treatments, especially if they were helpful in fighting the breast cancer.

The breast cancer statistics show that there are many ways that doctors can fight this condition.  It does take some time to work through the process, and people do sometimes not make it through, yet, your chances of surviving and overcoming this disease are significantly higher than they were just a few years ago.  Additionally, new research is readily available to help you as well.

As you consider the various options you have, consider the benefits of working with trusted doctors.  If you have metastatic breast cancer, you have a new challenge, but not a life sentence.  The fact is that many people are able to benefit from treatment and overcoming this disease is possible.  Talk to your doctor about your individual case and learn what options in treatment are available to you.  In most cases, there will be a wide range of options for doctors to select from.