Breast Cancer: Development and Causes (Essay Sample)

Development and Causes of Cancer
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Development and Causes of Cancer
Cancer is a vast medical condition that affects people all over the world. Currently, it is the core cause of mortality in the western part of the world (Tobias & Hochhauser, 2010). In light with this, Silverstein, Silverstein and Nunn (2006) assert that cancer is not a single disease, but a group of more than hundred diseases that have one basic thing in common. Silverstein, Silverstein and Nunn (2006) still describe cancer as a change that occurs in the body resulting to uncontrolled growth and multiplication of cells. In line with this, cancer cells divide faster than the normal cells, and the body cells only become cancerous when they are utterly  changed, and can no longer respond normally to chemical signals of adjacent cells (Silverstein, Silverstein & Nunn, 2006).
For years, various methods of cancer treatment and management have been established, and control of the primary tumor, indeed, has been of immense concern (Tobias & Hochhauser, 2010). However, with the introduction of more sophisticated machines and refined methods of managing and treating cancer, new incidence of some types of cancer is still increasing. According to Tobias and Hochhauser (2010), the increased cases of cancer can be attributed to the diet and human life style. In addition, potentially modified risk factors, which encompass; inhaled or ingested carcinogens, ionizing irradiation and viral causes, are core contributors to the increasing trends of cancer cases all over the world (Tobias & Hochhauser, 2010). Further, excess body weight and physical inactivity, ascribed to more hours of sitting in offices, over nutrition and lazy lifestyle, together with  occupational factors, have also caused a significant increase in cases of cancer (Tobias & Hochhauser, 2010).
Breast Cancer
Breast cancer, just like any other cancer, occurs as a result of generation of malignant tumors or undifferentiated cells, characterized by lose of distinguished characteristics of the original tissue (Brown & Boatman, 2009). Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women, closing in after lung cancer (Brown & Boatman, 2009). Conventionally, there are many risks factors that amount to breast cancer. In tandem to this, there is no one factor that can be pinpointed as the cause, but a complicated combination of many considerations can catapult the chances of a woman developing the disease (Brown & Boatman, 2009). Some of maturely established risk factors of breast cancer consist of; old age, low parity, family history of breast cancer, ionizing radiation exposure, and late first child birth or pregnancy (Michell, 2010). Also, race, early menarche, late menopause, breast feeding, overweight, sedentary lifestyle and use of oral contraceptive, are leading risk factors to the development of breast cancer in women (Michell, 2010).
Almost all the breasts cancers arise from the glandular epithelium lining the lactiferous ducts and ductules and are, therefore, typical adenocarcinoma (Tobias & Hochhauser, 2010). In relation to this, the cancer can be either invasive (infiltrating) cancer that break through tissue barriers and invade the surrounding tissues or noninvasive (in situ) cancer, which confines itself in the ducts or lobules, and do not spread to the surrounding tissues (Brown & Boatman, 2009). Besides, the types of breast cancer consist of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), also referred to as intraductal carcinoma, and lobular carcinoma-classified as noninvasive-and inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), and Paget’s disease, which are categorized as invasive (Brown & Boatman, 2009).
The symptoms displayed highly depend on the nature of breast cancer. In IBC, the common symptoms exhibited are the presence of ridges, welts, and pitting on the breast, a red or pinkish color, sudden swelling, persistent dark spots, and sharp, stabbing pains or persistent aches (Brown & Boatman, 2009). In Paget’s disease, the symptoms include, redness, oozing, crusting, itching or burning of the nipple (Brown & Boatman, 2009). Other symptoms comprise of swelling of the lymph nodes under the arm, around the collar bone and in the neck. In conjunction to this, when there is metastasis, bone pain, shortness of breath, lack of appetite, weight loss, and neurological symptoms are also exhibited (Brown & Boatman, 2009). The most common method of diagnosis is through an x-ray of the breast, also referred to as mammogram. Treatment of the diseases embraces various combinations of surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, an