You Can Drastically Lower Your Breast Cancer Risk
In 1997, 41,200 women died of cancer, a woman every thirteen minutes. She could be a generous grandmother, a marvelous mom, a super sister or a gorgeous girlfriend. But the tragic thing is, some of these deaths could have been avoided, if only these women knew how to detect their cancer before it gets to the point of no return, when therapy and rescue are impossible. Ninety-seven percent of women whose breast cancer is detected early with no spreading beyond the breasts will survive. Women can lower their risk of dying of breast cancer by doing simple procedures to examine their breasts for early signs of cancer.
Breast cancer
Breast cancer happens when breast tissues grow at an abnormal and usually faster rate. The abnormal cell doesn't function normally and is called a cancer cell. The abnormal growth can be benign, which means that it doesn't spread outside its original site. Or it can be malignant, in which case the cancer cells can travel to other body parts and wherever they stop, they cause abnormal, cancerous growth.
Doctors can detect breast cancer by a procedure called mammography, a kind of X-ray examination of the breasts. With mammography, a breast tumor can be detected up to two years before they can be felt. Usually, when a tumor is already palpable (that is, felt as a lump in the breast) it means that it has grown quite big, so action must immediately be taken. Doctors can recommend various kind of therapy, like chemotherapy (using drugs to kill the cancer cells), radiation and surgery to/or the breast.
Risk Factors
A risk factors is anything that increases your chance of getting a disease. However, having one or even several risk factors does not mean you will get the disease, it simply means that you have a greater chance of getting it. Some risk factors you can control, others you can’t.
The following are these you can’t control:
Gender
Women have more breast cells and these are more exposed to the influence of female hormones, so just by being born a female gives you a greater risk of getting breast cancer. Although breast cancer affects the males too, it is 100 times more common in women than in men.
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