Breast Cancer Prevention Treatment and Side Effects

Topic Breast Cancer Prevention Treatment and Side Effects
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Breast Cancer Prevention, Treatment and Side Effects
Introduction
Mortality rates resulting from breast cancer have escalated in the last few years. Breast cancer has become a medical challenge globally. It affects women of all races, though some studies have shown that prevalence is higher in some races than the others within the United States. As compared to other forms of cancer, breast cancer is the most common in women constituting 16% of all cancer cases reported among women and 22% of the invasive cancers among women(Siegel, Miller, & Jemal, 2015). Breast cancer is the leader in cancer-related deaths with a death toll percentage of 18.2(Siegel, Miller, & Jemal, 2015).
Cancer rates are higher in developed countries than in developing, a scenario explained by many reasons. One of the reasons is high life expectancy in women from developed countries. Statistics show that prevalence of the disease is high among the elderly women in developed nations. Another reason is the lifestyle and feeding habits among the women of developed nations. The aim of this paper is to describe the prevention services available to patients at risk of breast cancer, examine treatment options and implications of the treatment.
Prevention Services Available To Breast Cancer Patients
There are several prevention services available in the medical facilities that can be provided to patients at risk of breast cancer. One is USPSTF Assessment(Pruthi, Heisey, & Bevers, 2015). It tests for potentially harmful BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutant genes in relatives or women whose families have had the history of the disease. This enables early detection of the disease that provides for early interventions to reduce the impacts of the disease. Another service is chemoprevention. This is an approach that involves the use of drugs to reduce the risk of development of breast cancer. A drug called Tamoxifen is administered to the patient. Tamoxifen blocks the effects of oestrogen hormone, a hormone known to promote the growth of tumours in cancer patients(Pruthi, Heisey, & Bevers, 2015). Tamoxifen is used by women aged 35 years and above.
Also, biennial mammography is used for women aged 50-74 years and above. Biennial means that women are screen twice in a year. This method records very low errors thus paving the way for early interventions(Pruthi, Heisey, & Bevers, 2015).
Additionally, patients at risk of breast cancer can get genetic counselling. Health care providers provide counselling about BRCA mutations. Counselling provides a detailed risk analysis that involves the provision of education to the patients about the likely results of testing and the implications accompanying the results(Paskett, Rushing, D’Agostino Jr, Tatum, & Velez, 2014). It also identifies the family members who may be at risk and proposes testing for such members. Further, counselling highlights screening options for the patients and the possible risk-reducing medications available for the patient. Counsellors make follow ups on the patients to assist in the interpretation of results after testing(Wagle, et al., 2016)...