In most of time, these lumps will disappear on their own, but please always check them to a doctor. Small nodules sometimes appear on some girls breasts, this condition used to be called fibrocystic disease but this term no longer used because actually from the current awareness that this is not a disease, but only a normal variation. And when you find a lump and before taking any action, doctors will usually wait up to three menstrual cycles, as they most likely disappear.

The X-rays of the breasts called mammograms, are not generally helpful for teenagers. That’s why teenagers are encouraged to learn and practice the self breast examination techniques by the time they reach their 50 when chances of having breast cancer will increase, so it will become a good health habit.

Another note is that breast cancer during adolescence will not increase just because of using birth control pills, as in fact it has been shown will lower the development risk of developing noncancerous breast tumors

Passive smoking has been known to increase the risks for heart disease and lung cancer in both men and women, and active cigarette smoking has been long established as a major risk factor for cervical cancer. Although scientists have suspected a link between secondhand smoke and cervical cancer, they needed more data to prove it.

It’s really important people get the message that smoking does much more than we ever thought that it did and that it affects our health in ways we don’t even fully know about yet.
Although easily treated if detected but cervical cancer remains as top public health threat because of HPV, human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted infection that causes the disease. Scientists around the globe are racing to develop a vaccine to block HPV infection.
It is possible that cigarette smoke acts in concert with HPV to promote progression to cancer

Smoking of any kind, direct or passive, can impair the immune system making it vulnerable to infection, including HPV, Carcinogens found in tobacco smoke “cause DNA damage or gene mutation” and block cells’ abilities to repair themselves

Women, should not think being around cigarette smoke will directly result in HPV infection. While smoking is unrelated to the acquisition of HPV infection, it is “related to immunity, which is important in the progression” of cervical tumors

The rising number of public smoking bans may make it easier for women in the United States to protect themselves, but such safeguards against public exposure to secondhand smoke are few and far between elsewhere in the world.

Written by Katrina Woznicki at Women News

Many cancers that only recently had poor prognoses are now considered curable. Potentially curable cancers now include acute lymphocytic leukemia in children, Burkitt’s lymphoma, Ewing’s sarcoma (a form of bone cancer), Wilm’s tumor (a kidney cancer in children), Hodgkin’s disease, rhabdomyosarcoma (a cancer of certain muscle tissues), testicular cancer, choriocarcinoma (placental cancer), osteogenic sarcoma, and breast cancer.

Current developments also show the promise of improved treatment for many other forms of cancer. For example, the recently discovered importance of oncogenes–the genes in a tumor cell that are associated with the transformation of normal cells into cancerous ones–promises to help predict which tumors are likely to return after surgery. This knowledge can also help identify family members who are at risk.

It has also been found that cancer cells fused genetically with normal cells produce special antibodies that seek out cancer cells. These monoclonal antibodies are being studied for their potential use in diagnosis and treatment.

There are many other advances, including:

Adjuvant treatment in which drugs are administered postoperatively in early breast and colon cancers to eradicate remaining cancer cells and thus increase cure rates
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in which drugs are given to shrink the cancer before surgery
Synthetic retinoids (cousins of vitamin A) to prevent cancer in high-risk groups or the recurrence of cancer after surgery
Removal and replacement of sections of bone in bone cancer instead of amputation of entire limbs
New high-tech diagnostic imaging techniques (magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] and computerized tomography [CT] scans) instead of exploratory surgery in some cases
Immunotherapy to enhance the body’s disease-fighting capabilities (naturally occurring bodily substances, such as interferon, interleukin-2, and biologic response modifiers, are all in trials for this purpose)
Bone marrow transplants for the treatment of leukemia

Source : Health Square

Chemotherapy
It’s often called “chemo,” by using drugs, this therapy will kill new tumor cells or shrink lymph nodes that contain cancer cells. You may have surgery to remove the rest of the cancer once the tumor is smaller. Some forms of cancer can be completely cured with drugs alone.
Many different chemotherapy medicines are available like pill as a shot, or in an IV. Some frequent blood tests might be needed to determine how the body is doing and how much hemotherapy needed. The drugs can produce many side effects, and may leave you susceptible to infection for a while.

Hormone Therapy
Estrogen as one of human natural hormones, sometimes promote the growth of cancer cells. And to block the estrogen and slow the cancerous growth, we need special drugs to take by mouth.
It may also be necessary to surgically remove sources of estrogen such as adrenal glands or the ovaries in some cases.

Radiation
By using x-rays or gamma rays, it can kill cancer and help to prevent it from spreading. Those rays can also be effective to shrinking cancerous tumors, controlling bleeding and reduce pain. This kind of therapy also used by doctors on cancerous lymph nodes.
Radiation and chemotherapy are often used together and to kill any cancer cells that may have been missed after surgery.

Bone Marrow Transplant
On this kind of therapy, damaged or diseased bone marrow is replaced with healthy marrow usually from a donor. The transplant is given in the hospital through an IV.
Although the treatment can cure cancer, it may lead to other very serious health problems, including severe infections and after the procedure, you may have to stay in the hospital for a month.

Surgery
Depends on the breast cancer stage, you may need surgery to remove the lump, the entire breast or a part of the breast. To help prevent the cancer from spreading to other parts of your body, it might also need to have some lymph nodes taken out from the body.

Contributed to Women Health Network

I went through two separate mastectomies, for my breast cancer, despite the fact that I wanted them both done at the same time. Two different surgeons told me that wasn’t necessary. They found out, later, that it was, as I had the same breast cancer in both breasts. Through these surgeries, I learned a few things about what to expect, and how to get up and running again, after a mastectomy for breast cancer.

The first thing to realize is that, apart from the emotional aspect of such an operation, this is a simple surgery. The breast is composed, mostly, of fatty tissue and, of course, milk ducts and lobes. The removal of this breast tissue is way easier than operating on an organ, but carries much more emotional impact for most of us. Most surgeons will get as much of the breast tissue out as they can to help alleviate the chance of a recurrence of your breast cancer. You will typically wind up with a horizontal scar about four inches long. The scar may be red for quite a while but, ultimately, should fade to where you can hardly see it anymore.

You want to be sure to take loose-fitting, button-down shirts (raiding your hubby’s closet is helpful) with you, to the hospital, as you won’t be able to raise your arms over your head for a while. You will also need a sports bra and I would highly recommend one that fastens in the front. They will put that on you after your surgery. Typically, you should be able to stay in the hospital for one night. If you’re going to have lymph nodes removed, a small pillow, to slip under that arm, will help make you more comfortable. Check with your local American Cancer Society as they may have small pillows for you. An extra pillow to hold to your chest, if you need to cough, sneeze, or laugh, can help keep your incision from hurting.

When you wake up, you will have a couple of drain tubes for each side you have done. These tubes are important as they allow the excess fluid, which your body will produce, to drain out. If you didn’t have them, the fluid would have to be aspirated with a needle. The drains, even though they’re no fun, are better than that. These drains will have to be emptied a couple of times a day and you will have to write down how much fluid you drain so the doctor will know when you’ve slowed down enough to remove them. You may not know where to put these drains under your clothing. I pinned mine up to the sports bra and that way, they didn’t pull when I moved.

When you get home, plan on having someone there to help you for the first few days. You won’t be allowed to reach into your cabinets and definitely won’t be able to clean house or pick up your children, if you have little ones. You’ll be sent home with pain meds and definitely take them if you need them. Studies show that you will heal faster if you keep yourself out of pain, so don’t be afraid to take them as prescribed.

If you have a recliner, you might consider moving it into the bedroom as you won’t be able to lie flat for a while. You’ll need to sleep in a partial sitting position. If you don’t have one, or don’t have space for it in your bedroom, lots of pillows will work, too. That’s what I used. Just be sure you have enough pillows to keep yourself comfortable propped up.

If you would like someone who’s been there before you to visit with, be sure to call your local American Cancer Society and ask for a Reach 2 Recovery volunteer. This is an American Cancer Society program where they try to match you with one of their volunteers who have as similar experience as you’re facing. This woman will come visit you and will bring you all sorts of brochures and information on conventional treatment. She will also bring you a list of exercises you can start to do to regain your mobility and range of motion.

This is VERY important. It hurts to stretch your arm up, after surgery, but if you haven’t had reconstruction, and you don’t start soon, you will lose that range of motion. I would recommend starting to gently, slowly reach your arm up … let your body be your guide … the day after your surgery. This is ONLY if you have not had reconstruction. If you have, let your plastic surgeon tell you when to start stretching. Push to where it hurts just a little, but do not push too far past that. Little by little, you’ll find yourself able to stretch a little farther every couple of days.

Most of all, allow yourself to heal emotionally, as well as physically. Some of us just can’t look at that incision right away. That’s OK. Take as much time as you need. I know I felt like some kind of freak with no breasts and, even six years later, I still do sometimes. But remind yourself that these scars are your battle scars. They do not make you less of a woman. They make you a warrior.

By Melissa Buhmeyer, a breast cancer survivor and has been so for seven years. She is also the founder of http://www.breastcancer-treatment.us, a site focusing on breast cancer treatment options, news, articles, and survivor experiences.

Even as early as the 1980’s, research was proving that aerobic exercise improved fatigue levels and nausea in post cancer patients. Fast forward to present and the benefits have multiplied over the years. Subsequent studies indicate that weight training, aerobic exercise, and fitness emphasizing mind and body (i.e., yoga) all have a substantial impact of up to 25-50% improvement on pain, fatigue, overall optimism, the general fitness level of the individual and how much a person can improve their quality of daily life, complete with energy-draining tasks.

It is clear that exercise plays a tremendous role in helping breast cancer survivors feel better for their health life. So what are the details of program design? First and foremost, you want to stay clear of stress on the surgical or stitched area. Next, and just as important, begin with the usual 10-15 minute warm-up, no matter if you are doing weight training sets, a cardio routine or a number of yoga poses. It is after this warm-up that variety begins.
For resistance/weight training exercises, you will want to start the initial phase of your program with a lowered weight volume but with up to double the repetitions. Elastic tubing and bands are also a good start for the first phase. Though you may not be directly working the muscle tissue in your surgical area, many muscles work together in stabilizing another muscle’s contraction. The lesser weight will insure that your wound is not overexerted to soon. The standard 2-3 sets are appropriate with 15-20 repetitions.

Another area of exercise is that of cardiovascular training. Cardio machines such as the treadmill or elliptical machines are acceptable and can be used for 3-4 days per week. In your initial phase of a recovery fitness routine, you may want to follow an interval program where you begin the session with a higher-intensity minute followed by a low-intensity minute totaling up to thirty minutes. As your condition improves, you can reduce your low intensity minute to 30 seconds and eventually eliminate it all together.

Finally, mind and body exercises such as yoga go a step further in fitness. Not only are you strengthening your body, you are also tapping into inner peace with each slow and controlled breath. Ideal for achieving relaxation, this type of training can be utilized for as little as 5-15 minute a day and still present positive results.

Adapted from Sherri L Dodd articles, the creator and author of Mom Looks Great - The Fitness Program for Moms. She is an ACE-certified Personal Trainer, Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant and Kickboxing Instructor with over fifteen years of exercise experience. She has lectured to groups on her fitness plan and is a freelance writer on the topics of fitness and general nutrition as well as the humorous side of motherhood.

Actually cancer is not one disease, but rather many related diseases. Cancer is typed according to the part of the body where it is located and the kind of cells that comprise it. Here are some common types of cancer cells and their locations :

Sarcomas, it grow in bones and connective tissues between organs and skin, but sometimes spread into the lymphatic system or blood.

Leukemias form in the blood or circulatory system, which is the site of blood cell production where the bone marrow particularly.

Carcinomas originate in skin tissue or tissues that line the body cavities and such internal organs as the lungs, colon, breast, and intestines

Myelomas are tumors of bone marrow cells and frequently form simultaneously in many sites including the ribs, pelvic and vertebrae bones.

Lymphomas are lymphatic system kind of cancers and it usually occurring in the lymph nodes.

Dr. Beth A. Jones of Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Conn., found that a breast tumor characteristic called “p53″ (gene mutation that belongs to the tumor itself, not part of the woman’s genetic inheritance) is four times more common in African American than white women and P53 tumors are harder to treat.

“Women with p53 alterations don’t have the same response to standard chemotherapy treatment,” explained Jones. “One study suggested using higher-dose chemotherapy.”
“I feel that both women and physicians need to realize that breast cancer can occur more aggressively and at earlier ages in African American women,” Jones told Women’s eNews. “It’s critical for all women to be diagnosed early, but for African American women to follow the most stringent guidelines: start screening at age 40 with annual mammograms and clinical breast exams.”

From a study in the military showed that women with breast cancer have the same treatment, African Americans did just as well as the white women. There’s some suggestion that equal treatment means equal outcome,” said Saslow. Women in the U.S. military receive the same healthcare coverage regardless of race or ethnicity. Fear and fatalism about cancer are more common in African American than white communities including fears that having breast cancer makes a husband or boyfriend more likely to leave or that surgery causes cancer to spread.

Breast cancer treatment - discrepancies may result from doctors not knowing that African American women lifestyle need annual breast exams and mammograms starting at age 40 instead of age 50, as recommended for white women, and thus failing to catch breast cancer early; from women themselves not seeking the recommended checkups and being diagnosed at a later stage of breast cancer; and from other factors that are unclear.

Adapted from American Cancer Society

Women whose sister have breast cancer are being asked to join the Sister Study, a national study focusing on identifying factors that influence the development of this type of cancer.
By studying sisters, who share the same genes and often similar experiences and environments, researchers are hoping to have a better chances of learning what cause the disease.

“Most of what we know about breast cancer risk comes from studies of mostly white women,” says Lourdes Suarez, recruitment coordinator for the study. Yet this is the most common type of cancer among Hispanic women, according to the ACS. The study includes women of all races, but in order to reach out to Hispanics, it is now conducted in Spanish.
“We want to find out what is going on in the women health environment and what Hispanic women might be eating. What is it about their lifestyle, if anything,” Suarez says.

Study participant Yolanda Gomez-Robles and her five sisters joined in hopes of helping researchers understand possible environmental cause of cancer after watching their sister Olivia Hernandez battle the disease for two years before overcoming it.
As part of a Mexican-American migrant family, Gomez-Robles remembers picking grapes, onions and other crops as a child while crop dusters flew overheat and Olivia crawled around the edges of the fields. Fifty years later, she wonders what effect, if any, the chemicals they were exposed to as children might have had on the family.

“I’m concerned that there were environmental factors to Olivia’s problem and I’m concerned about how it could affect the rest of us,” she says. “I want to be a part of contributing to the study that can lead to cure of prevention.”
She encourages other Latinas to participate. Of the more than 23,000 women now enrolled in the study, only hundreds are Hispanic.
“I grew up in a generation where women were discouraged from speaking up,” Gomez-Robles says. “May fear is that Hispanic cultures that might still be there and women may not be able or willing to speak up and find answers.”

Latinas between the ages of 35 and 74 are eligible for the study if their sister had breast cancer but they have never had it themselves. Participants do not have to travel or take any medications for the study. They are asked to answer questions about their lifestyle, such as places where they’ve lived or worked.
Volunteers must also provide a sample of their blood, urine and household dust, which researchers collect. After that the participants are contacted yearly for updates on their health or environment.
“We are not going to find out tomorrow what causes this, but as we study and follow [this] for 10 years, we hope to have some answers at the end of that period,” Suarez says.

Source : Hispanic Magazine

Smoking is a leading cause of lung cancer, but not all lung cancer patients are or have ever been smokers.

Just like what happened to Dana Reeve lung cancer, Jay Broks, chief of hematology and oncology at the Ochsner Clinic in Baton Rouge, said, “We don’t completely understand why they develop lung cancer,” when Reeve announced her diagnosis last summer. Brooks also chief of staff at the Ochsner Medical Center in Baton Rouge.

After Reeve’s diagnosis, the American Cancer Society issued a news release with these facts:

Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 80% of women’s lung cancers and 90% of men’s lung cancers.
Environmental risk factors may include secondhand smoke, radon (a radioactive gas), asbestos, and certain chemicals and metals.
Fewer than 3% of lung cancers occur in people younger than 45.
Genes could also play a role.

The California Society of Dermatology Surgery backs the bill. They blame tanning booths for many of the one million new cases of skin cancer diagnosed every year and 7,400 deaths from melanoma (a deadly form cancer of skin cancer). The State already requires parental permission for teens ages 15-18 to use artificial tanning beds. While the lawmakers have our children’s best interest at heart, we don’t think that Big Brother belongs in the tanning booth. California lawmakers should stick to more serious and immediate concerns, such as the state’s failing economy and deteriorating school system.

The Mountain States Tumor Institute at St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho has been using Yoga to help patient cope with the stress of the disease. Meditation is used during yoga that allows patients to focus their minds on how their bodies feel. Stress weakens the immune system, which makes it tougher to treat the cancer. Yoga does not directly treat the disease, but it does have positive effect that can complement medication.

Yoga is an excellent exercise for building strength and flexibility and reducing stress– all vital to helping cancer patients recover.

Researchers from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine found that risk of cervical cancer in Holland is higher during sunny months. Women were twice as likely to be infected with HPV during sunny August than in the darker months of winter. Researchers looked for seasonal differences in HPV infections appearing in nearly one million Pap smears collected from 1983 to 1998.

HPV infections were 100 percent higher in August than in the winter months – the sunnier the month, the higher the HPV rate. The infections were not linked to sexual activity. Ultraviolet exposure from the sun may have depressed the immune system and lowered defenses a of women reproduction health against infection. Also, viruses exposed to UV rays become more powerful. This study is interesting but provides little useful information for preventing cervical cancer. The take-home message – if there is one – is to be very careful with whom you have sex.

Previous studies have shown that aerobic exercise improves quality of life for breast cancer survivors, but whether weight training would offer a similar benefit in women who have recently undergone breast cancer therapy was unclear, the investigators wrote.

To see whether weight training could have positive effects on quality of life scores and depressive symptoms in breast cancer survivors, the authors recruited a convenience sample of survivors and randomly assigned them to treatment or control groups.
The primary study outcomes were changes in quality of life as determined by the cancer rehabilitation evaluation system (CARES) short form and in depressive symptoms as determined by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale.

The women assigned to weight training performed variable resistance and free-weight exercises to strengthen muscles of the chest, back, shoulders, arms, buttocks, hips, and thighs. Participants were also taught stretching exercises to perform before and after each weight-training session.
Participants were supervised by fitness trainers, and were asked not to make major changes in their diets or in other aspects of their regular exercise programs during the study.

A total of 79 women were available for follow-up at six months. The authors found that the physical global quality-of-life score improved in the treatment group compared with the control group (standardized difference = 0.62, P =0.006), as did psychosocial global scores (standardized difference = 0.52, P =0.02).
There were no changes, however, in depressive symptom scores or in frequency of depression in either weight-trainers or controls.

The investigators also used Pearson correlation coefficients to evaluate associations between changes in body composition and strength and changes in the cancer rehabilitations scores.
They found that increases in upper body strength were correlated with both improvements in physical global score (r = 0.32; P Adapted from Today MedPage

Mayo Clinic researchers found that the percentage of women under 40 with the more common type, basal cell, tripled between 1976 and 2003, while the rate of squamous cell cancers increased four-fold. Basal and squamous cell carcinomas, the most common and treatable types of skin cancers, had long been considered a problem only for people over 50, according to the report.

Two types of ultraviolet (UV) light are implicated in skin cancers.
UVA, which penetrates deeper into the skin and impairs its immune defenses, is more responsible for melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer.
UVB exposure causes sunburn, as well as squamous and basal cell skin cancers.

Tanning beds chiefly release UVA, although some also use UVB. According to the Mayo Clinic report, “occasional yet intense UVA exposure poses a greater risk of melanoma skin cancer than does spending long hours in the sun.”

The report offers the following skin treatment tips for effective sun protection:

-Apply sunscreen 30 minutes before you are going to be outside, even if the weather is cloudy or hazy.

-Spend as little time as possible in the direct sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

-Use about an ounce of sunscreen — roughly a shot glass full — and reapply it every two hours.

-Always wear sunglasses and a broad-brimmed hat, and wear clothing made from tightly woven fabric to protect your skin.

Source : SOURCE: Mayo Clinic Health Letter, April 2006.