A lump in the breast can be one of the first symptoms of breast cancer that you may show. Mostly, the lumps turn out to be harmless and benign, which, to your relief, means that it can not be breast cancer. At times, the first symptom doesn’t have to be a lump, symptoms like abberant changes in the nipples, oozing bloodstained discharges from them, an abnormal change in the shape of the breasts and/or nipples, recurring rashes or even something as trivial as an armpit swelling can be symptoms for breast cancer. The fortunate thing is that though these symptoms indicate breast cancer, you can have some or all of them and still not have breast cancer. However, getting examined by a professional is necessary.

For a quicker and safer treatment with great results, diagnosis should be as early as possible. A pain in the chest does not mean you have breast cancer. These pains in the chest and breasts can be due to various reasons like nearing menstrual periods or menstruating, late effects of lifting very heavy weight or objects. Many women with lumps in their breasts have had those lumps for a lifetime, and are unaffected by them. These lumps are benign and do not instantly pass off as a sure test for the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Another helpful piece of information is that some types of cancers, like the Inflammatory breast cancer and Pagent’s disease show classic symptoms of their own type. Very red and hard breasts which keep getting sore show along with the regular breast cancer symptoms are a classic case of the Inflammatory breast cancer, whereas very itchy, red, scaly rashes, easily confused for eczema, on the breasts along with other breast cancer symptoms are Pagent’s disease. Always get the doctor to clarify your doubts.

Lumps themselves can be misleading, turning out to be harmless cysts, or bag filled with harmless fluids. These can be treated instantly and efficiently by inserting a needle in the cyst and removing the fluid. If no fluid appears, the same needle can be used to extract a small tissue from the breast for testing it for cancer. This is also called a biopsy.

Women often feel more comfortable and normal with the lumps removed, whether they are malignant or benign. This is not required for every removal, but the decision is to be made by you, for once. Do not ever hesitate in getting second opinions if you are being coerced into getting the benign lumps removed. If you decide against getting them removed, leave them be, they will never turn harmful or dangerous, and will go unnoticed.

All in all, cancer is not a laughing matter. Make sure you know about the causes and symptoms for breast cancer. If you start showing symptoms yourself, please do not delay contacting your doctor. Breast cancer for you implies your daughter’s risk of developing it goes up. Brushing that off with a shrug is not an option. Your doctor will tend to the rest.

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Radiation treatment for cancer involves substantial equipment that at first can feel staggering and detached. At a closer glance, the cancer radiation therapy department is more than the technology. It is a team of very involved people who are concerned in a patient’s welfare and determined to provide patients all the support they need.

The cancer radiation therapy team is made up of physicians, nurses, physicists, radiation therapists, administrative staff, and a social worker. Every member of the team is there to make certain that patients receive the best radiation treatment available and the most personal service that can be provided.

The ancillary staff in the section include the Medical Physicists, Radiation Therapists and Radiation Oncology Nurses which all maintain credentials through their individual certifying agencies.

Highlights include: * State-of-the-Art Technology and Services

* Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy

* Trilogy

* First integrated CT Scanner/3D Treatment Planning System in the state of Georgia was introduced at Emory.

* Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Hyperthermia for Brain Tumors

* Radioactive seed implants for Prostate Cancer.

* High Dose Rate Afterloading treatments for lung, gynecologic and other cancers.

Patients are a part of the team while undergoing cancer radiation therapy. When they have questions or concerns, the medical team wants to know about them. The Cancer Radiation Therapy team will be available to them throughout the entire radiation treatment, and welcome the active sharing by the patients in the process.

Visit the Emory Radiation Oncology website to learn more about the radiation treatment department. The team hopes that the presented information about the department is useful and presents radiation therapy in a very understandable way. If interested, feel comfortable in contacting the department for more information on anything that is puzzling or concerning.

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Patients diagnosed with Stage IV or metastatic breast cancers have disease that has spread from the affected breast to one or more distant sites in the body. Historically, metastatic breast cancer has been considered incurable; the goal of treatment has been to provide relief from symptoms and prolong the duration and quality of life. However, there have been some important advances resulting in the addition of many more treatment options for managing this disease. These include the now widespread use of taxane chemotherapy, the development of targeted therapies, and the development of more active hormonal therapy drugs.

Up to 5% of white women in the U.S., and up to 9% of black women have advanced breast cancer spread to distant tissue at the time of first diagnosis (SEER). This difference is usually attributed to poverty and lack of health insurance.

In one clinical trial published in 1997, women in complete remission after induction chemotherapy were treated with high-dose chemotherapy or no further treatment. At 5 years from diagnosis, 24% of the women treated with immediate high-dose chemotherapy survived without disease recurrence, compared to only 8% of the women who did not receive further treatment.

Since this is the most deadly category of breast cancer, it is important to work closely with all the health care providers. New treatments are being developed all the time, and second, or even third opinions may give the patient more information about newly discovered successful solutions.

High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplant treatment for previously untreated stage IV breast cancer appears safe; however, the benefit of this treatment approach is currently unknown. It is known that many factors may influence an individual patient’s potential outcome if treated with high-dose chemotherapy. Patients without prior treatment, those with small amounts of cancer, and those whose cancer responds to conventional chemotherapy all do better.

The main reason patients with breast cancer fail treatment is relapse. Relapse of breast cancer occurs because the high-dose chemotherapy is either unable to kill all the cancer cells in the patient and/or because cancer cells “contaminating” the stem cells are infused back into the patient. The majority of relapses occur because all the cancer cells were not destroyed by the high-dose chemotherapy treatment. However, some relapses may be due to infusion of breast cancer contaminated stem cells. Doctors are performing clinical trials designed to improve the treatment of breast cancer with high-dose chemotherapy that include the following approaches alone or in combination:

Since more treatment kills more cancer cells, increasing the intensity of treatment delivered to the cancer cells by utilizing high doses of anti-cancer therapies or by delivering multiple cycles of high-dose therapy is one strategy to improve cure rates. While increasing the intensity of treatment may kill more cancer cells, this approach may also damage normal cells and increase the toxicity or side effects of therapy.

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Inflammatory breast cancer has no lump or mass that can be felt. It is a very rare and dangerous type of breast cancer. It cannot be detected by self breast examination and mammogram. In inflammatory breast cancer there is infiltration of the skin and lymph vessels of the breast by cancer cells. The symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer are a swollen, red and warm breast which is brought on by the lymph vessels becoming blocked by the breast cancer cells. The breast has a typical appearance of an individual with cellulite. Other symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include, on the affected side, enlarged lymph nodes present under the arm or it may be above the collar bone.

Since it cannot be diagnosed by self breast examination, mammogram, core biopsy, ultrasound scan or even an MRI it is diagnosed by a biopsy, that is, a surgical biopsy or a skin biopsy. Since inflammatory breast cancer is a rapid growing cancer it requires equally aggressive treatment, which includes local treatment and systemic or total body treatment.

It is very easy to mix up the symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer with those of a breast infection. If you become aware of any of the signs of inflammatory breast cancer, see your doctor immediately.

This form of cancer is not caused by an inflammation or infection. Inflammatory breast cancer happens when cancer cells clog the lymphatic vessels in the skin overlying the breast.

Patients may not get the specific chemotherapy dose and also the patient may require two treatments of radiation therapy a day rather than only one treatment, as inflammatory breast cancer is a rapid growing cancer. This is where the importance of an experienced radiologist in inflammatory breast cancer is necessary.

There is no particular age at which an individual could get the disease. However, studies have shown that the average age ranges from about 45 and 55 years of age, but patients could be younger or older than this age range. The amount of new cases of inflammatory breast cancer diagnosed every year in the United States varies.

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