Male Breast Cancer

Some people might think what is breast cancer in men? Or how is it diagnosed? Reading this article will help give you all the information you need. Breast cancer is a malignant tumor, group of cells that grow into surrounding tissues or spread to other parts of the body, which starts cells of the breast. Women usually get breast cancer but men also have breast tissue that are nonfunctional (doesn't produce milk) so they might as well get it.

Treatment by Tamoxifen

    Tamoxifen is a antagonist, a type of receptor ligand or drug that doesn't provoke a response when binding to a receptor, of the estrogen receptor in the breast cancer. The generic name for Tamoxifen is Nolvadex. It helps treat women that are diagnosed with hormone – receptor – positive, early staged breast cancer after surgery.

Aromatase Inhibitor

    Aromatase Inhibitor is usually given to post menopause women who had hormone dependent breast cancer so they need this estrogen but, medical doctors use Aromatase inhibitor to turn off the enzyme Aromatase so it can't turn androgen to estrogen. Aromatase Inhibitor can't stop the ovaries to produce estrogen, so they give it to menopause when there ovaries stop making estrogen and other hormones.

External Radiation Therapy

External Radiation Therapy, also known as external beam therapy, carries high beam of radiation by x- rays and sends them directly to breast cancer cells. The high beam is send by a large machine called a linear accelerator and targeted at the tumor site, this treatment option for breast cancer is delivered in two treatment fields: one starts in the middle of the chest and faces the side, while the other starts from the side breast and faces the middle of the chest, where the breastbone is located.

Internal Radiation Therapy

Radiation Therapy is also known as partial - breast therapy or brachy therapy because it usually therapy after lumpectomy surgery and/or regular treatment. It uses radioactive substance that is closed by wires or needles and are placed near the breast cancer cell (for first time treatment) or therapy were the cancer was (for therapy after lumpectomy) There are two different methods of giving Internal Radiation: Multi-Catheter and Balloon-Catheter Internal Radiation.

Mastectomy Surgery

     Mastectomy is another major surgery done for women with breast cancer. It removes partially, completely, one or both breast, including the nipple. There are five different types of mastectomy: Simple Mastectomy, Modified Radical Mastectomy, Subcutaneous Mastectomy, Skin-sparing Mastectomy and Radical Mastectomy.

Breast Cancer Surgery

The first treatment option for breast cancer in the line that medical doctors refer to first is surgery. After viewing your characteristics such as: size, stage, biological characteristics and your personal profile medical doctors would recommend surgery as step one.

Radiation Therapy

     Radiation therapy is the best treatment options for breast cancer since it can treat all stages of breast cancer, from stage 0 to stage 3. It can be treated after Lumpectomy or Mastectomy surgeries, it has the ability to destroy and cancerous cells that might be in the breast after the tumor has been removed. Pregnant women should NOT have radiation therapy.

Biological Therapy

     Biological Therapy is known by many terms such as: Immunotherapy, immunologic therapy and bio-therapy. This treatment option uses the bodies immune system or drugs to act on cancerous cells without harming the normal cells of breast. One form of treatment they use are antibodies, which is a type of protein that can attach to other specific proteins called antigens, to attack cancerous cell or stop their activities. Some antibodies that are used in this treatment option for breast cancer are Herceptin and trastuzumab.

Chemotherapy Treatment

Chemotherapy treatment uses medicine, a combination of one or more kind of medicine, to target all cancer cells in the body and at the original cancer site by going through the bloodstream. Then it weakens them, kills them and most likely prevent them from re-occurrence. There are two main treatment options in chemotherapy: Stem cell and bone narrow, Activant and Navigant.

Hormonal Therapy

This treatment links hormones and breast cancer. Hormonal therapy can be given before, during or after any treatment options for breast cancer. Its usually used for early stage hormone, receptor, positive breast cancer so it can stop the risk of any cancer that might show up after surgery, for advanced stage breast cancer and for hormone, receptor, positive, who hasn’t yet been diagnosed with breast cancer but are at but are at high risk to get breast cancer.

Lymph Nodes

Lymph nodes are very important in this topic. They are very small, bean shaped organ that spread out through the body. There function is to act like a filter along the lymph liquid channels that collects dead bacteria and tissues and viruses. In this case, lymph fluids leave the breast and into the bloodstreams; if a person has breast cancer the lymph nodes try to catch these cells and trap them before they go into the rest of the body.

Lumpectomy Surgery

One of the most common types of breast cancer surgery is known as Lumpectomy (type of mastectomy). This is a type of surgery done for breast cancer and removes the tumor/lump and some of the normal cells around it that might be affected by cancer.

Breast Cancer | Stage Levels

Breast cancer is staged in four different levels from 0 to 4. Level zero usually is non – invasive and cancer cells are in the same locations that haven’t yet spread. Level one are invasive cancerous cell that are starting to invade other cells around them. Usually they measure up to 2 centimeter and in this level no lymph nodes are involved yet. Level two is divided into two subcategories: level 2A and level 2B.

Breast Cancer Brief

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women. Generally, cancer is defined as cells in the body that change, grow and/or multiple out of control. Breast cancer is a tumor in the female breast area. There are several types of tumor that can exist in different parts of the breast. After it has been found, diagnosed and staged medical doctors will recommend treatment. They base their treatment on size, type, stage, biological characteristics, grade and general health.

After determining where your breast cancer is staged, what size it is and looking at your biological profile medical doctors tend to give you the best treatment option for your breast cancer you need. There are five different types of treatment options for breast cancer: Surgery, Radiation Therapy, Chemotherapy, Biological Therapy and Hormonal Therapy. Each treatment has different characteristics than the other. I hope reading on each treatment will help your understand better.