Archive for April, 2008

Do you want to be free from breast cancer?

Some breast cancer medications can be used to treat the breast cancer.

SERMs (selective estrogen-receptor modulators) are the one of the best used breast cancer medications.

This drug is having resemblance with the estrogen hormone.

Most of the cancers are the estrogen-dependent that means they are dependent on estrogen to survive and to reproduce.

As the SERMs mimic estrogen, they can bind the estrogen receptors in the breast cancer cells. They block the estrogen from breast cancer cells by binding to these receptors, making the cancer cells to starve.

Tamoxifen (brand name, Nolvadex) is the most commonly prescribed SERM. Tamoxifen is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat both early and advanced stages of breast cancer.

It is also approved by FDA for post-menopausal women who are at high risk of breast cancer. It can reduce the risk of breast cancer by 49%.

The drug Fareston (generic name, toremifene) is used to treat the breast cancer. Evista (generic name, raloxifene) is used to treat osteoporosis, a degenerative bone disease. Arzoxifene for the treatment of breast cancer is made by the same company as raloxifene (Eli Lilly and Company.)

Yes, there are some surgical options by which the disease can be cured.

The pancreatic cancer treatment depends on your health, age, personal facts and the location and stage of cancer.

The first option of the treatment is complete removal of cancer cells. Preventing the growth of tumors is the second option.

Surgical options for pancreatic cancer treatment:

Operation is the only way to remove the tumor. Surgery cannot be done in some people. But, it becomes compulsory when the cancer spreads to other parts of your body like blood vessels or lymph nodes.

Some of the procedures are:

Whipple procedure (pancratoduodenectomy) is common procedure for pancreatic cancer treatment. The wide end of your pancreas is removed in this method. For this purpose the gall bladder, the common end of bile duct and the duodenum are also removed.

The remaining parts of pancreas and the other end of bile duct are connected to the small intestine as the stomach is also removed sometimes. This helps the pancreatic and bile enzymes reach the small intestine. It has some risks like bleeding and infection.

Are you having lung cancer? You can use chemotherapeutic drugs to cure the cancer.

Some of them are platinol, Taxol, Oncovin, Gemzar and Paraplatin.

For lung cancer chemotherapy the combination of two or more drugs is used. This can improve the treatment. They include:

• Carboplatin plus VP-16
• Cisplatin plus vinorelbine tartrate
• Paclitaxel plus carboplatin and
• Cisplatin plus VP-16

Other lung cancer chemotherapeutic agents used are CeeNu (lomustine), Neosar, Hycamtin and Methotrexate. These drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The frequent side effects of the lung cancer chemotherapy are Anemia. It can also cause other symptoms like shortness of breath, extreme tiredness or sometimes dizziness.

For the treatment of chemotherapy-related anemia, Epoetin alfa, a synthetic hormone that stimulates the production of RBCs is a prescribed drug.

Gemcitabine hydrochloride (Gemzar) has a unique ability against the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which is a chemotherapeutic drug.

If you are with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, combination therapy that includes the drugs vinorelbine tartrate (Navelbine) and gemcitabine, cisplatin (Platinol) are safe to use.

You may or may not be a breast cancer survivor to read this short passage.

If you are a breast cancer patient, then good news falls your way.

Many breast cancer support groups do exist which offers you a helping hand for your treatments and better living.

Information on how to overcome the disease by involving in various activities to become a breast cancer survivor is also described in short.

All breast cancer survivors! You can help other women who are currently fighting against breast cancer by sharing your tips and advice to help them live better.

If you are free from breast cancer, then there is a piece of advice for you too which says “Be Humans” and help the needful to survive the dreadful disease. This is to let you know that breast cancer support groups take charity from all you willing and blessed people and puts the resources in a rightful way to help the needy. “Survivors need friends to mend their wings!”

Biopsy is safe to treat Hodgkin’s lymphoma and there are other methods to cure this cancer.

Know in detail about hodgkin’s lymphoma and biopsy here.

Hodgkin’s lymphoma occurs in the lymphatic system. Less than 1% than other cancers is accounted for Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The scientists are trying to learn the more effective treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma.

Some of the risk factors by which you are affected mostly are:

• Sex or age: Hodgkin lymphoma occurs mostly in men than women. This is caused if you are between 15 to 34 or over 55 years.
• Viruses: Epstein-Barr virus (infectious agent) is responsible for this disease.
• Family history: Your sisters and brothers are mostly affected with this disease with family history.

Some symptoms of Hodgkin lymphoma are

• Sweat during night
• Itchy skin
• Unexplained weight loss
• Swelling in the under arm, groin and lymph nodes in the neck are painless
• Unexplained recurrent fever

These symptoms are not sure signs of this disease.

Flu is the main cause for this disease. In such condition, you need to consult the doctor for diagnosis. You should not wait for the pain as the early stages of Hodgkin’s disease is not painful.

Did you know that ovarian cysts and their complications can be present from the neonatal period to postmenopause? Yes, this is true and proved.

Most ovarian cysts responsible for ovarian cancer are benign in nature occurring in the childbearing years.

However, ovarian cysts can undergo a malignant process or possibly lead to a more dangerous condition, such as ectopic pregnancy, ovarian torsion, or appendicitis.

Research shows that by tweaking the schedule of tests that help diagnose the disease, it might be possible to diagnose ovarian cancer early.

Also all women should take of reporting the symptoms to the doctor immediately to avoid any further complications, onset of even a small symptom also should be rectified to avoid any risk. You have to start thinking when your period signals a problem.

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS) in U.S., women ovarian cancer is the No. 4 cause of cancer death. Since 1991, the ovarian cancer rates have been dropping, but the disease remains the seventh most common cancer among American women.

Ovarian cancer often doesn’t reveal itself right away hence it is often called a “silent cancer”. However, many women with this cancer do report symptoms months earlier even with early-stage cancer.

The thyroid cancer has very high survival rates.

Survival rates are high, with 95% of all thyroid cancer patients achieving what would be considered a cure, or long-term survival without re-occurrence.

However, Thyroid cancer is still a cancer that requires treatment and lifelong monitoring and can have debilitating effects on patients.

In the United States, there are about 20,000 new cases of thyroid cancer each year. Females are more likely to have thyroid cancer when compared to males. Although it is most common after age 30 and its aggressiveness increases significantly in older patients, thyroid cancer can occur in any age group.

The majority of patients present with a nodule on their thyroid does not cause symptoms. Remember, over 99% of thyroid nodules are not cancer!

Follicular thyroid cancer is considered more malignant (aggressive) than the other types. It occurs in a slightly older age group than papillary and is also less common in children. In contrast to papillary cancer, it occurs only rarely after radiation therapy.

Death Rate!! Mortality is related to the degree of vascular invasion. In terms of prognosis, age is a very important factor. Patients over 40 have a more aggressive disease and typically the tumor does not concentrate iodine as well as in younger patients.

The nutrition plan is the best to tip the scales that will help to increase the potential for long survival. So, you have to take proper anti breast cancer diet.

The breast cancer diet is to be followed for better results.

Breast cancer diet:

Beans should be taken once or twice a day. If you are vexed to eat the beans, you can take them in salad or soup or pizza in order to boost up the fiber.

Whole grain foods are to taken 3 to 6 times a day.

The whole grain is rich in magnesium, vitamin E, vitamin B, fiber and iron. Anti-oxidants are present in them.

Instead of white rice, it is better for you to take the whole grains like the wheat berries, brown rice, wild rice, pop corn, whole wheat, whole oats, oat meal, barley and whole rye.

If you take whole grains, the heart disease is reduced by the decreased levels of blood pressure, cholesterol and blood coagulation. They also reduce the risk of other cancers. The blood glucose level is regulated in diabetic patients.