One of the treatment options with breast cancer is a mastectomy, or removal of the breast. Depending on risk factors and genetic issues, some women have both breasts removed. Reconstruction is the rebuilding of one or both breasts. Reconstruction cannot completely replace a lost breast, but some women decide to have it done either at the time of the mastectomy, which is immediate reconstruction or at a later date, known as delayed reconstruction. It is a very personal decision that is usually based on how the patient feels about their body and breasts. Some women chose to have no reconstruction and use what is called a breast form.

One type of reconstruction makes use of synthetic implants. They can be either silicone filled or saline filled. Sometimes a temporary expander will be used if the implant is too large to insert under the skin and muscle of the chest wall. When an expander is used, it is injected every few weeks with a small amount of saline to gently stretch the skin and muscle to the size of the implant, at which time the actual implant will be inserted. This usually takes three to six months.

The other type of reconstruction makes use of the patient’s own tissue. The tissue is transfered from another part of the body and consists of skin, muscle and fat - a myo-cutaneous flap, or just a flap. This is a fairly extensive procedure and not without a degree of risk. It is painful, both where the tissue is taken from and at the breast area, but it also provides the most natural looking results. The three different types of flap are the TRAM flap, which uses the abdominal muscles, the LAT flap, which uses the muscle from the upper back, and a Free Flap, which can be from the abdominal area or buttocks.

The TRAM flap involves cutting into the abs. The muscle, fat and skin are removed and pulled up to the breast area. The blood vessels are kept intact during the procedure. The flap is shaped into the form of the breast. Usually a good match to the other breast can be made and no implant is required in addition to the flap. The patient receives a tummy tuck as part of the deal, but runs the risk of developing a hernia from where the flap was removed.

A LAT flap follows the same procedure, using the latissimus dorsi muscle instead. The flap is pulled through a temporary tunnel, which is created under the skin from the back to the breast area. Because of the smaller size of the flap, an implant is usually added to make the breast larger.

The Free flap is the most technical of the three and involved the disruption of the blood supply to the flap during surgery. For this reason, you must have a surgeon that is skilled in microsurgery.

Another part of the reconstruction process involves nipple and areola recreation. In this procedure, a piece of skin is removed from another part of the body, the abdomen, leg or breast itself and shaped into a nipple. After it has healed, an areola is tattooed around the reconstructed nipple.

The reconstruction decision is a very personal one and since it involves surgery times of up to 4-5 hours under anesthesia, it’s not one to be taken lightly.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to breast-cancer.treatment-and-guides.com/ Breast Cancer

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Tags: breast cancer, mastectomy

Kidney cancers are diagnosed in a million patients each year, though millions of people are affected by kidney cancer. Kidney cancer is twice as common in men and accounts for 40-60 % of new diagnoses.

The most common form of kidney cancer is renal cell carcinoma, also known as RCC. It accounts for 66-75% of all cases. In most cases the cancer is found in only one kidney; though in some rare forms it can be in both. Kidney cancer spreads to the lymph nodes, bone, lungs and pelvic region. If cancer has spread to the brain some neurological symptoms will be present. RCC is responsible for 25-30,000 new cases each year.

Symptoms of kidney cancers are sometimes ignored because they are generalized. Though kidney cancer is on the rise, many people are not diagnosed until the cancer is advanced due to low or no symptoms. Many of the symptoms are those of other less serious diseases and the cancer is not caught at an early stage. Current symptoms are: blood in urine (light to dark in appearance), persistent pain in side or back, noticeable lump in side, tired or fatigue feeling and weight loss.

Many tests can be performed to diagnose kidney cancer. Urine and blood tests are usually performed first, if symptoms or suspicion of kidney cancer are present. Once these tests are performed, physicians may request a CT scan or ultrasound to look further.

There are many rare forms of kidney cancer such as renal sarcoma chromophobe RCC, which is responsible for 5% of RCC cases. This is very rare and has no standard therapy as of yet. Renal oncocytoma which is a large benign tumor which causes damage to other organs and requires surgery with partial or complete kidney removal, though it is not truly cancerous it does cause significant damage and require immediate treatment.

Papillary RCC is in 15% of kidney cancer cases and though rare, it is increasing in African American patients and can affect both kidneys. Collecting duct carcinoma is in less the 1% of cases. However, it is very aggressive and has metastisized by the time it’s diagnosed; usually requiring chemotherapy. Medullar RCC is also found in less than 1% of cases and most common in African American patients. Some professionals believe that it is connected to the sickle cell trait.

If kidney cancer runs in your family, or you are experiencing the above symptoms, you should talk to your doctor. As with all forms of cancer early detection and education are the best tools to aid in your protection and overall health. For questions you can speak to your physician, or contact the American Cancer Society. The best protection is early detection.

Whether or not you get cancer can vary depending on several things. Your age, family history, environment, lifestyle, eating habits and activity level can all play a part in whether or not you get cancer. Talk to your doctor if you have a family history of kidney cancer or you are a smoker. Smoking increases the chance of getting kidney cancer. Though there are no good screenings for this form of cancer, talking to your doctor about symptoms as soon as they appear will improve your chances of survival. Most patients are diagnosed over the age of 50; however, if you have a family history, testing should be done early.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to kidney-cancer-guided.com Kidney Cancer

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Tags: chemotherapy

Cervical cancer, to some people, might not be a very common type of cancer, but unfortunately, it is no less dangerous. This type of cancer ranks second only after breast cancer in the number of deaths recorded globally, annually in women between the ages of 35 and 55. Though its prevalence varies from country to country, depending on, sexual activity; although this has not been medically proved, an estimated 300,000 women have different stages of cervical cancer globally.

The cause of cervical cancer is much less complicated when compared to breast cancer and by undergoing regular Pap smear screening, it is often easy to detect the cancer in its very early stages, when treatment will be more effective and less invasive. The most common cause of cervical cancer has been shown to be the human Papilloma virus (HPV) which is transmitted through sexual intercourse. This virus could induce lesions in the cells of the cervix that may progress into cancer. However, Pap smear screening can efficiently detect the earliest signs of pre-cancer changes in these cells.

Unfortunately, despite the simplicity of this cancer type, most women do not notice it until the later stages when the cancer has spread throughout the cervix and at times, to nearby organs. This could be due to the fact that the cancerous changes in the cervical cells span a long period of time and often without symptoms. While this is good on one hand, because it allows you to treat effectively the condition at the pre-cancerous stages, it is also bad, on the other hand, because it stays in the body over a very long period of time, without a form of sign/warning, wreaking havoc on the cells of the cervix and making treatment very difficult when it is finally discovered.

So, prevention and early detection very important with cervical cancer. Some medical reports say there is now a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. The vaccine is said to come in three shots and when taken in series, it is believed to be totally capable of preventing cervical cancer by raising the body’s immunity against the HPV. However, the vaccine must be taken before girls become sexually active for it to work optimally. You and I know that the best form of treatment is prevention, if you have daughters, sisters or friends that are still under sexual age, helping them get this vaccine would be the best help you can render to them. Ask your medical practitioners for more information about the vaccine.

In the early stages of development cervical cancer is usually treated with chemotherapy or radiation or sometimes, a combination of the two. Chemotherapy involves the use of drugs that enter the bloodstream. These contain chemical substances that can locate and destroy cancerous cells, without harming the normal cells of the body. Though these drugs come with some adverse effects, but the body can get over these after treatment has been completed. Radiation involves the use of powerful electromagnetic waves to shrink the tumor, killing the cancerous cells in the process. During the process, other organs of the body are protected from the radiation.

However, in advanced stages of cervical cancer, surgery is usually the only alternative. Depending on how far the cancer has spread, treatment may require partial removal of the cervix and uterus, known as partial hysterectomy. This spare the ovaries and other parts of the female genitalia.

If the spread of the cancer has reached several parts of the cervix and uterus, radical trachelectomy might be the treatment alternative. This involves removal of the cervix and the lower part of the uterus with several lymph nodes in the pelvis that might have been infected. This treatment option is intended to preserve fertility.

However, in the worst cases of cervical cancer where the cancer has spread outside the uterus, radical hysterectomy is the only option. This involves removing the cervix and uterus completely, the ovaries, part of the vagina and lymph nodes in the region. This is a very radical treatment and often the last alternative when the cancer has got out of hand. Because of the hormonal value of the ovaries, removal of the ovaries often has serious health implications for the woman. Paying attention to your body, especially the cervix, regular Pap smear testing and a healthy lifestyle is all you need to ensure that you never suffer such a consequence.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to cervical-cancer-guides.com/ Cervical Cancer

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Tags: breast cancer, cervical cancer, chemotherapy

Although we are beginning, largely as a result of education, to detect more cases of prostate cancer in their early stages, unfortunately all too many cases are still not being detected until they are quite advanced.

Advanced prostate cancer refers to a cancer which has spread outside of the prostate gland itself and is divided into stage 3 cancer, in which the disease has spread into the pelvic tissue surrounding the prostate gland, and stage 4 cancer, in which the disease has spread, or metastasized, into other areas of the body, typically being carried by the lymphatic system.

Although not easy, stage 3 prostate cancer can often be treated quite effectively and it is possible to cure prostate cancer in stage 3. Once the disease has reached stage 4 however it becomes very difficult to cure and, while a cure is sometimes possible, treatment (typically the removal of the testes, to starve the cancer of testosterone, and chemotherapy) is generally aimed at managing the condition by slowing the progression of the disease and providing the patient with the best possible quality of life.

To this end, recent clinical trials have been examining the use of a drug called Pertuzumab and initial results suggest that this drug may well be effective in extending the life of many men suffering from advanced prostate cancer.

Amongst a small study group of men with advanced prostate cancer the use of Pertuzumab was shown to stabilize the disease for varying periods of time and, overall, extended the 12 month survival rate of the group as a whole to nearly 75%, which compared favorably to the expected survival rate without treatment of less than 50%.

Pertuzumab is a form of monoclonal antibody which is produced in a laboratory and is designed to seek out and bind with specific cells. In the case of prostate cancer Pertuzumab is designed to seek out a protein known as epidermal growth factor, which plays a significant role in the growth of prostate cancer cells.

Monoclonal antibodies are not new and can be used alone or to carry drugs, toxins or radioactive material directly to the site of a tumor. Each antibody is designed to seek out specific cells and a number of monoclonal antibodies are already in use treating cancers, while others are in development or undergoing clinical trials.

The use of this form of targeted therapy is evolving rapidly in the management of cancer patients in general and it is hoped that with further development this will become a significant form of treatment for advanced prostate cancer patients.

Tags: cancer patient, chemotherapy, prostate cancer

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