There are three different types of cancer that are most common in the United State, and they are breast, lung and prostate. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. Lung cancer is one of the deadliest cancers for men and women. In 2012 there were 28,170 deaths in the United States for prostate cancer. The three different types of cancer, symptom, signs and treatments for each will be discussed further. Breast Cancer Breast cancer has a number of symptoms, causes and risk factors and treatments.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States (Keller, Guilfoyle, and Sariego) (933). There are a lot of different symptoms but the most common one that you should look out for is change in size, form and or feeling of the breast or nipple. You might have some redness, dimpling or puckering that looks like the skin of an orange. If you have any redness or anything that looks out of the ordinary you should have it checked out. They say getting a regular breast exam is very important.
There are many more symptoms that you should look for as well as the one that was mentioned and they are bone pain, breast pain, skin ulcers, swelling of the one arm that is next to the breast that has the cancer, weight loss. Second, are the causes and the risk factors for breast cancer. There are also many different causes and risk factors that you should be aware of. A couple common ones are genes, radiation. There are some people out there that have genes that make them more likely to develop breast cancer the other people. If a parent passes you a defective gene you have a better chance of getting breast cancer.
Radiation is another common cause. With radiation they say that if you have therapy as a child or a young adult to treat cancer in the chest you have higher risk of getting breast cancer. The younger you start radiation and the higher the dose is the higher you risk is of getting breast cancer. The third one is treatment. One treatment would be to have surgery. With surgery there are two different types that you could get and it also depends on what stage you are at. One is lumpectomy and that removes the breast lump or mastectomy and that removes all or part of the breast and possible nearby structures.
The stages go from zero to five. Stage zero is lumpectomy plus radiation or mastectomy is the standard treatment, stage one and two are lumpectomy plus radiation or mastectomy with some sort of lymph node removal is the standard treatment. Stage three is surgery and possibly followed by chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and biologic therapy. Stage four is treatment that involves surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy or a combination of these treatments. Another treatment is Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is use to stop the cancer from spreading or to cure the cancer and it ease symptoms when the cancer can’t be cured.
Lung Cancer There are a number of different causes and risk factors, symptoms and treatment for lung cancer. Lung cancer is one of the deadliest cancers for men and women. Every year more people die of lung cancer than of breast, colon and or prostate cancer. Only 15% of patients with lung cancer in the United States are diagnosed with early stage (stage 1 or 2) disease, which is usually discovered incidentally on chest imaging studies done for other reasons (Jett and Midthun) (540). First, are the causes and risk factors for lung cancer. The most common way to get lung cancer is by smoking.
The earlier you start smoking the greater you are at risk for getting lung cancer. Secondhand smoke can also increase your risk. Another cause or risk factor is being exposure to some kind of chemicals. Some of the chemicals are uranium, beryllium, vinyl chloride; nickel chromates, coal products, mustard gas, chloromethyl ethers, gasoline and diesel exhaust (A. D. A. M). Second are symptoms to look for. The most common one that a lot of people have is shortness of breath. If you are having difficulty breathing or uncomfortable breathing or you feel like you are not getting enough air you should go in and have it checked out.
Wheezing is one form of breathing difficulty, which you might have a high pitched sound when you are breathing in and out. Another common one is chest pain. If you develop any kind of pain between your neck and upper abdomen you could have lung cancer and should get it checked out as soon as possible. Some people that have chest pain fear of a heart attack but that is not always the case. Some lung problems that can cause chest pain is blood clot in the lung, a collapse lung, inflammation of the lining around the lung and pneumonia is another one and with pneumonia it causes a sharp chest pain that often gets worse when you take a deep breath or when you cough.
The next thing is treatment for lung cancer. Treatment depends on what stage you are for lung cancer. There are five different stages. Stage zero is cancer that has not spread beyond the inner lining of the lung. Stage one is the cancer is small and hasn’t spread to the lymph nodes. Stage two is the cancer has spread to some lymph nodes near the original tumor. Stage three is the cancer has spread to nearby tissue or the far away lymph nodes.
Stage four is the cancer has spread to other organs of the body, such as the other lung, brain or the liver. Treatment of stage 1 lung cancer offers the best chance of cure (Jett and Midthun) (540). One treatment is to have the entire lung removed, this is called pneumonectomy, and it would only be done if the cancer has not spread beyond the lymph nodes. For this treatment you should be at a stage one to have this done. Another treatment is chemotherapy. This is use to kill cancer cell and help stop new cells from growing and chemotherapy is used when the cancer has spread outside the lung, which that would be stage four.
Chemotherapy is also given after surgery to kill the remaining cancer and that is called adjuvant therapy. Prostate Cancer In 2012 there were 28,170 deaths in the United State for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is one of the deadliest cancers for men with the exception of lung cancer. Prostate cancer is cancer that starts in the prostate gland. It is a small walnut sized structure that makes up part of a man’s reproductive system. It is most common cause of death in men over the age of 75, it is rarely found in men younger than 40. There are different types of causes and risk factors for prostate cancer.
Some people that are high risk are African-American men, me who are older than 60 years of age and men who have a father or brother with prostate cancer (A. D. A. M). Another risk factor is men that consume too much alcohol. Prostate cancer is less common in vegetarians. There are severally symptoms for prostate cancer. Some of the common ones are blood in the urine or semen and bone pain or tenderness. Sometimes you might get pain in the lower back and or the pelvic bones and that is usually when the cancer has spread.
There are some other symptoms that you can be aware of and those are dribbling or leakage of the urine, slow urinary stream, straining when urinating. The last is treatment for prostate cancer. There are different things you can do for treatment. If you are in the early stage of prostate cancer you can have surgery and radiation therapy and that might include brachytherapy and proton therapy. Brachytherapy is something that helps kill the prostate cancer. It only takes 30 minutes or more but it depends on what type of therapy you are having. You will also get medicine so you won’t feel the pain.
Surgery also includes radical prostatectomy and that is something removes the prostate gland and maybe even some of the tissue around it. There are four different types of radical prostatectomy surgery and it can take up to three to four hours. They are radical retropubic prostatectomy, laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy and radical perineal prostatectomy. Radical retropubic prostatectomy means the surgeon will make a cut just below your belly button and reaching to your pubic bone. This surgery will take up to ninety minutes to four hours.
Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy means, the surgeon will make several small cut instead of a big one, long thin tools are places inside the cuts. Then the surgeon will place a tube with a camera inside one of the cuts and this helps the surgeon see inside your belly during the procedure. Robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy means, the surgeon will move the robotic arm while they sit at a computer monitor near the operation table.
Radical perineal prostatectomy means, surgeon makes a cut into the skin between your anus and the base of the scrotum, the cut is smaller than the retropubic (A.D. A. M). It is harder for the surgeon to spare the nerves around the prostate or to remove the lymph nodes. Perineal surgery usually takes less time than the retropubic way.
With these procedures you will be asleep or you can get medication to numb the lower half of your body. Conclusion In conclusion there are multiple different treatments, symptoms and causes and risk factors for Breast, Lung and Prostate cancer that were discussed. Breast, Lung and prostate cancer are the top three deadliest cancers in the United States.
References Jett JR, Midthun DE, Annals of Internal Medicine [Ann Intern Med], ISSN: 1539-3704, 2011 Oct 18; Vol. 155 (8), pp. 540-2 KELLER, DEBORAH; GUILFOYLE, CARA; SARIEGO, JACK. American Surgeon, Jul2011, Vol. 77 Issue 7, p933-936, 4p Breast cancer, A. D. A. M Medical encyclopedia, Atlanta (GA) A. D. A. M Last reviewed: December 15, 2011 Lung Cancer, A. D. A. M Medical Encyclopedia, Atlanta (GA) A. D. A. M Last reviewed: August 24, 2011 Prostate Cancer, A. D. A. M Medical Encyclopedia, Atlanta (GA) A. D. A. M Last reviewed: September 19, 2011.