Breast cancer is a type of cancer where cells in the breast tissue divide and grow without the normal control. Cancerous tumors in the breast usually grow very slowly so that by the time one is large enough to be felt as a lump, it may have been growing for as long as ten years.

Basic Breast Cancer Facts
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States. According to the Cancer statistics, it's estimated that 211,240 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the US in 2005, and 40,410 women will die from the disease. If you're worried about developing breast cancer, or if you know someone who has been diagnosed with the disease, one way to deal with your concerns is to get as much information as possible.

About 80 percent of breast cancers originate in the mammary ducts, while about 20 percent arise in the lobules. (Lobules - Spherical-shaped sacs in the breast that produce milk.) Look at the reliable links section below to start your education.

NEW!

•  Info on Inflammatory Breast Cancer
  Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare, but deadly disease. Doctors say it is often difficult to diagnose because the symptoms are quite different from typical breast cancer. Please watch this informational video. It is a silent Killer! Click here to see the video. (There is a short commercial first)
•  
• PARP Inhibitors
  This recent news affects those with heriditary cancer.PARP inhibitors may be especially helpful for patients with hereditary breast cancer. People who have BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations are at very high risk for developing breast cancer. Healthy BRCA genes can suppress tumor formation, but mutated BRCA genes are powerless against cancer cells. PARP inhibitors may exploit the weakness inherent in cancer cells with mutated BRCA. One possible use for PARP inhibitors may be prevention of hereditary breast cancer. Perhaps PARP inhibitors will become a preventative treatment for high-risk women and would make prophylactic mastectomies obsolete. If a PARP inhibitor is added to chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer, researchers hope cancer cells that have resisted anticancer drugs will be become vulnerable to fatal DNA damage. In some cases, a PARP inhibitor may be used alone, rather than in conjunction with chemo and radiation. Even better news is that PARP inhibitors do not appear to affect normal, non-cancerous cells. That means fewer side effects for patients and faster recovery from treatments.

Newly Diagnosed? Start your education here.

Vital to helping you understand your condition and manage your care is keeping track of important phone numbers, treatment history, side effects, and laboratory results, such as your complete blood count (CBC). Use these tools to help organize this information so you can be an active participant in your cancer care. Keep them handy for use at home and bring them along to your doctor visits and other medical appointments.
1. Important Contacts
2. Health and treatment history
3. Copies of reports - Blood tests, Pathology reports, etc
4. Calendar
5. Progress
6. Questions
7. Insurance

Understanding Cancer - An Introduction

The word cancer refers to changes in the body's cells that cause them to grow out of control. These cells can grow very fast and spread, eventually crowding out normal cells and damaging entire systems of the body.

Reliable Links and Resources