I read recently what one doctor said recently that prostate cancer in men over 80 years old should not be a serious issue like in men under 40 years old. This makes sense and given what we know about prostate cancer being a slow-growing malignancy. If you have read about prostate cancer at all, you must be aware that there are certain stages, or levels of seriousness, that are apparent as the disease develops.

People who panic about prostate cancer might be inclined toward aggressive treatment for a man over 80. Aggressive treatment has side effects that may dramatically alter the quality of life of that special senior citizen. Unlike a man under 40, who is much more able to tolerate an aggressive treatment regimen if deemed appropriate.

Some make the mistake and assumed that someone over 80 that has prostate cancer only needs to have the disease managed as the patient probably doesn’t have that many more years, anyway. Although I’m certain some medical doctors think this way, many are more interested in providing a higher quality of life to the elderly.

In the case of a cancerous tumor, the treatment will be based on the desires of the patient, treatment options in the stage at which the cancer has progressed. These are important considerations when determining the appropriate level of treatment, no matter if the man is under 40 are well over 80.

Many men who contract prostate cancer early in life typically have a hereditary factors involved. This means that there may have been men in his close family like his father, brothers or uncles who have had prostate carcinoma. This may suggest to many medical professionals, that the patient needs continued monitoring and potentially aggressive treatment as he has apparently predisposed to this type of malignancy.

A men who has reached the age of 80, has survived what life has thrown his way both medically and physically. A level of frailty becomes a consideration in determining the appropriate level of treatment that should be considered.

Several stages of prostate cancer, offer a treatment option known as” watchful waiting.” As we know, this type of carcinoma is slow-growing, an appropriate level of care may be simply keeping an eye on the cancerous growth to minimize the risk of it metastasizing were spreading to other parts of the body.

So the option of carefully watching may provide the best option for senior men. It allows them to maintain their current quality of life while also protecting their future existence from malignant cancer running through their body. No matter what your age, it’s important to talk to your doctor about treatment options if diagnosed with prostate cancer

Abigail Franks writes on a variety of subjects about family, health, and home. Go look on her site for information on prostate-cancer-treatment-expert.com”
>Prostate Cancer Treatments and general info on prostate-cancer-treatment-expert.com Prostate Cancer

Tags: cancer treatment, prostate cancer

Related posts

• Worried About Getting Prostate Cancer -Think Living Foods (0)
• What You Must Know To Make An Informed Decision About Prostate Cancer Treatments (0)
• What You Must Know If You Suspect Prostate Cancer - From A Nurse (0)
• What Is Prostatitis And Is It One Of The Most Common Conditions That Affects The Prostate Gland? (0)
• Ways to Detect Prostate Cancer and How It Can Be Treated (0)

Tags: cancer treatment, prostate cancer

Obviously, the topmost layers of the skin are the first to be affected; the three major types of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma (rodent ulcer), squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma, all develop in the upper layer of the skin known as the epidermis. Basal cell carcinoma, the most frequent of the three, causes local erosions of tissue if neglected, while squamous cell carcinoma may spread if untreated. Fortunately, both these types can be successfully treated in nearly all cases. Squamous cell carcinoma sometimes occurs on the vulva in women after menopause and may be more difficult to deal with.

Melanoma, the least common of the three, occurs more frequently in sunny countries. Although a certain amount of sun on the skin is beneficial because it forms vitamin D, too much is dangerous. The danger has increased now that high levels of ultraviolet A radiation are reaching the earth’s surface from the sun due to depletion of the ozone layer by flurocarbon chemicals from widespread use of spray cans. Melanomas are the most serious of the three skin cancers, once it starts to grow, it can spread rapidly. If detected and treated early enough, melanomas may be cured in about 75 per cent of cases.

The lighter your skin and eye colour, the more easily you will sunburn and the more likely you are to develop skin cancer. This likelihood increases with exposure to sunlight over both short periods - sunbathing on the beach to a point of, say, blistering - and long periods - pursuing an occupation, such as farming, in which many activities take place outdoors. Even moderate sunbathing after summer increases the odds that you will get skin cancer. The damage to the cells accumulates over time, so that people in their middle or later years are more likely to develop the disease.

The simplest way to avoid skin cancer is to reduce the exposure of you skin to the sun’s cancer causing rays. Protect you skin by limiting your time in the sun and wear full clothing, those parts of the skin that are still exposed apply a good quality sunscreen to. The chemical composition of sunscreens block most of the sun’s harmful rays.

Basal and squamous cell cancers have similar symptoms, while melanomas have their own special set of warning signs. What all skin cancers have in common, however, is change. That is what you should be on the lookout for. Basal and squamous cell cancers may start out small, rough patches of skin that are redder or paler that the surrounding skin. They can also start as tiny lumps or as small sores that bleed easily and seem to heal very slowly or not at all. If left untreated these tiny spots will soon grow and spread to surrounding tissue. Melanoma usually indicates its presence by altering the colour or appearance of a mole. Since melanoma involves cells that produce brown or black pigments, you should be aware of changes in dark spots or patches or moles and be on the lookout for new moles, moles that bleed, or any dark spot, new or old that changes colour, shape or size. Melanomas can be cured if treated in its early stage; those that go untreated may spread to other parts of the body, where they may attack vital organs.

Since skin cancer grows on the surface of the body, the first step in diagnosing them involves visual examination by a dermatologist. An experienced dermatologist can often determine whether a growth on the skin is or is not cancerous just by looking at it. If he suspects skin cancer he will remove a small sample and send it to a laboratory for examination under a microscope. There a pathologist will determine if the cells are skin cancer forming cells. If the samples reveal skin cancer, the dermatologist will remove the growth in one of a number of ways. Certain pre-cancerous skin problems may be treated by the application of a skin lotion containing anticancer drugs. In the case of basal or squamous cell cancer at an early stage, doctors remove the growth either surgically with a knife or by freezing it with liquid nitrogen. Melanomas, which are potentially more dangerous, are nearly always removed surgically together with surrounding tissue. Remember if the melanoma spreads to other parts of the body, other kinds of treatment such as chemotherapy - may be required. Radiotherapy, unfortunately, does not seem to be effective in treating melanoma. The key to treat this type of skin cancer is early detection.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to skin-cancer-guides.com/ Skin Cancer

Tags: chemotherapy, melanoma, skin cancer

Related posts

• What is Skin Cancer and Who is Most at Risk? (0)
• What is Melanoma? (0)
• What Every Woman Should Know About Breast Cancer (0)
• Think Of Skin Cancer When Doing Household Jobs (0)
• The Skinny on Skin Cancer (0)

Tags: chemotherapy, melanoma, skin cancer

Epidemiology

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and the second most common (after lung cancer) cause of death in this group. However, to some extent, it concerns men as well.Different countries in the world have varying incidence of breast cancer. The West Europe countries and the USA have the highest incidence rates, adequately 35-60/100 000 and 65/100 000, whereas the Far East countries have the lowest rate (i.e. in Japan it is five times lower than in the USA).

Risk factors

Risk factors point to increased risk, that is at higher probability of falling ill among specimens of a given population. The most important risk factors include:

1. Woman’s age

Incidence of breast cancer increases with age.

2. Ethnic/geographical factors

These factors, although they have been taken into consideration for years, are extremely difficult to interpret. High breast cancer incidence occurs in the USA and in West Europe, low - in Asian, Far East and African countries. Breast cancer is usually developed in Caucasian women living in a quite cold climate in the highly developed countries. It is dependent upon the influence of the following factors: race, climate, nutrition style, types of the undergone diseases, lifestyle and culture style, family planning, age of the first pregnancy, number of children, breastfeeding’s popularity, etc. Black and yellow women become ill more rarely.

3. Family factors

The more affected relatives and the closer degree of kinship to them, the bigger probability of suffering from cancer. The risk increases, if these tumours occurred in one’s mother and sister under the age of 35 . Genetically determined breast cancer, which amounts to 10% of all the breast tumours, most often being the result of BRCA1, BRCA2, p53 and ATM genes mutation. Breast cancer can also occur in the course of some inheritably associated syndromes, among others in Li-Fraumeni syndrome, Lynch II syndrome, Cowden’s disease, Peutz-Jaeghers syndrome, ataxia-teleangiectasia, Klinefelter syndrome

4. Age of first menstruation and menopause

Appearance of first menses before the age of 12 significantly increases (by about 40%) the risk of breast cancer. Natural menopause appearing after age 55 increases risk of breast cancer twofold. Thus, the most important factor is the total number of years of ovulation activity.

5. Age of first pregnancy and delivery

Women who give birth to their first child in the age of between 20 and 30 have a lower risk of breast cancer. Nulliparous women are more exposed to breast cancer, by almost 50%.

6. Breastfeeding

Women with much lower risk of falling ill protected from breast cancer development by breastfeeding. Even relatively short time of breastfeeding gives some protection

7. Ionising radiation

High doses of X radiation (applied during routine “X-rays”) can cause breast cancer. It is worth to stress that the contemporary mammography apparati expose a woman to a minimal dose of radiation.

8. Alcohol and diet

Excessive alcohol consumption for a long period of time increases the risk of breast cancer development, because the liver damage impairs estrogen metabolism (high estrogen concentration increases the risk of falling ill). It is suspected that one of the factors, which increases the breast cancer risk, is food with high content of saturated fat

9. Obesity

Obesity increases the risk of breast cancer development, as it is more difficult to find breast changes in obese people . moreover, fat cells produce estrogens

10. Exogenous hormones (hormone contraceptives)

It is believed that oral contraceptives (which include mainly estrogens), even if they are connected with breast cancer, act as a factor facilitating and accelerating the development of the disease, which has already appeared, rather than a factor causing genetic mutations and evoking disease. It is also believed that pills that are made only of progesterone and so called „minipills” don’t increase the breast cancer risk. The pills may increase the risk in genetically loaded women or women using oral contraceptives for at least 8 years until first pregnancy. It is believed that preparations which include progesterone alone, don’t affect the risk for breast cancer appearance. However, preparations that include progesterone and estrogens may influence the tumour appearance. The risk is growing for women taking hormone medications longer than 8 years.

Treatment

Breast cancer is treated locally or generally, although some patients may undergo both types of treatment. Local treatment consists in surgical removal or destruction of the lesion. General treatment (chemotherapy, hormone therapy) aims at inhibiting the tumour process or decreasing the size of tumour before operation and it is also applied in significant disease progression instead of surgery. Surgical treatment is the most common way to treat breast cancer. Patients in I0 and II0 clinical progression are qualified for the surgical treatment . The most often performed surgery is the modified breast amputation by Patey’s way (excision of the breast gland together with the axillary lymph nodes, without removing the breast muscles). Some patients are qualified for breast conserving treatment.

Such possibility exists in the following cases:

- TisN0M0

- T1N0M0

- T1N1M0

- T2N0-1M0 (tumour not bigger than 3cm in a mammographic measurement)

- Possibility of removing the tumour with a margin of healthy tissue

- Satisying cosmetic effect foreseen

- Patient’s consent to breast conserving treatment

- The lack of contraindications

The absolute contraindications include:

1. Multicentric cancer

2. Cancer relapse after the previous breast conserving treatment

3. Previous undergoing of breast irradiation

4. No possibility of getting the margin of healthy tissue

The relative contraindications include:

1. Pregnancy

2. Foreseen unsatisfying cosmetic effect

3. Connective tissue disease (collagenosis)

Breast Conserving Treatment (BCT) includes replacing tumour within healthy tissues and regional axillary lymph nodes. The following ways of breast tumour removal are distinguished:

- tylectomy

- removing the tumour with a margin of at least 2cm. If the margin from the muscles’ side is smaller than cm, the tumour must be removed together with fascia,

- wide excision, lumpectomy

- removing the tumour together with the bulk unchanged tissues margin of 1 cm. This margin can be smaller from the muscles side, but then fascia has to be removed.

- excisional biopsy, tumourectomy

- removing the tumour without margin, but with the intention of removing all the bulk suspected tissues. After BCT surgery, all patients are exposed to supplementing radiotherapy. Breast gland is irradiated with a total dose of 50 Gy, 2 Gy per fraction (25 fractions during 5 weeks). Additionally, the site of tumour removal is afterloaded with 192 Ir with the 10 Gy dose.

Radiotherapy - uses high energy radiation to destroy the cancer cells and to prevent them from further growth and fissions. There are two kinds of radiotherapy: exterior (source of radiation is located outside the human body) and interior (special containers with the radiation material are placed in the tumour site). Another kind of radiotherapy is brachytherapy which involves placing thin tubes in breast. The radiation is directed through these tubes straight to the tumour cells. Nowadays brachytherapy is applied after breast conserving treatment. It happens that radiotherapy is applied before surgery to decrease the size of tumour and/or to facilitate the tumour removal.

Chemotherapy involves the application of medicines that are aimed at tumour destruction. In breast cancer chemotherapy is usually composed of a few types of medicines, which are administered either directly to vein or in the form of pills. Regardless of the way of administering, the medicines get inside blood and flow with it through the whole body, which also results in negative effects for this therapy (nausea, vomiting, hair falling out, neutropenia, menstruation disorder, earlier menopause).

Copyright 2006 Radoslaw Pilarski

Radoslaw Pilarski is a PhD candidate working on anticancer properties of Uncaria tomentosa - uncariatomentosa.com uncariatomentosa.com - at PAS, Poland. mLingua Worldwide Translations, Ltd. - mlingua.pl mlingua.pl - provides professional language translations.

Tags: breast cancer, cancer risk, chemotherapy, lung cancer

Related posts

• What You Should Know About Breast Cancer (0)
• What Every Woman Should Know About Breast Cancer (0)
• Preventing Breast Cancer Recurrence with Green Tea (0)
• Cancer - On the Front Line - Options in Prevention, Detection and Treatment of Cancer (0)
• Breast Cancer - Causes, Symptoms and Treatment (0)

Tags: breast cancer, cancer risk, chemotherapy, lung cancer

A Brief Overview

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that attacks the linings of the lungs and the intestinal tract, and also the sac covering the heart. It is also called epithelial mesothelioma, as it affects the membrane in the pleura, the pericardium and the peritoneum. It is not lung-cancer per se. The mesothelioma-lung cancer confusion has been there earlier. Mesothelioma is merely a form of cancer that affects the lining covering the lungs. It comes in three forms:

• Pleural mesothelioma
• Peritoneal mesothelioma
• Pericardial mesothelioma

Causes of Mesothelioma

The primary cause of mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos. This can be direct exposure at the work place, or secondary exposure (when the victim is exposed to asbestos through coming in contact with someone who has already been exposed to asbestos). Despite all the pain and the loss that the workers faced, there was some hope in the form of legal recourse. Workers started suing the plants they worked in, and soon the legal battle against mesothelioma reached epic proportions. Even today, there are around 3,000 cases of mesothelioma being diagnosed in the United States every year. While the treatment is painful and not always successful, these mesothelioma victims at least have the hope of monetary compensation to help them fight mesothelioma.

The first manifestations of mesothelioma were seen as early as the 1950s and the 1960s. At that time, the workers in plants and other work areas that used asbestos in some form or the other were unaware of the lethal side of asbestos. The management at these work areas – docks, industrial plants, equipment manufacturers, and many more, the list is endless – soon came to know of the adverse effects of asbestos. However, for some reason they kept quiet about it. Their focus was on reduced costs and profits, it seems, and they remained mum about the harmful effects that asbestos could have on their workers. Asbestos, after all, had huge advantages over other material, which was why it was used so much irrespective of the genre of industry. This over the years proved to be a very, very costly error on their part.

Mesothelioma Litigation – Did it Help?

The implications of asbestos use are staggering, primarily because of the range of products it is used in. From office buildings to toasters to car brakes to shipyards, asbestos was used almost across the breadth of the industrial sector. A publication in 1935 by the American Journal of Cancer - Pulmonary Asbestosis: Carcinoma of the Lung in Asbesto-Silicosis – first raised the suspicions of people from the research and medical fields of the connection between the presence of asbestos and the unusually high death rates and lung-related diseases in the industrial sector. This connection was confirmed in 1955, and soon the continued use of asbestos despite knowing about its deadlier side became a legal nightmare for the industrial sector. Mesothelioma litigation in the United States has enabled mesothelioma victims win hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits from their callous employers. It has been one of the successes in the battle against mesothelioma indirectly, and against the irresponsible attitudes of the management of workplaes that used asbestos, directly.

The Legal Aspect of Mesothelioma

Over the years, the legal benefits that mesothelioma victims have received have been enormous. The symptoms of mesothelioma manifest much after the initial inhalation of the asbestos fibers. Mesothelioma treatment is also painful and expensive. The compensations awarded to them have helped them at least cover their medical expenses. Nowadays there are mesothelioma law firms – law firms that specialize in mesothelioma. They have trained mesothelioma lawyers and mesothelioma attorneys. These lawyers specialize in mesothelioma compensation cases.

It can happen that a victim may shy away from legal recourse because they fel that they do not have adequate financial support to pay the lawyer. However, this is a scenario they need not worry about. All they have to do is contact a mesothelioma support group, or a mesothelioma help group. These are present all over the United States. The patient can also go online and put a search for mesothelioma legal assistance cells by typing mesothelioma and then typing the name of the state or area they are from in the search field of the search engine they are using. This is not a fixed rule – they can type it in any order. For example – mesothelioma California, mesothelioma Texas, mesothelioma lawyer texas, New York mesothelioma, California mesothelioma lawyer, etc.

How are Mesothelioma Lawyers so Successful?

One of the basic things in awarding compensation is for the judge or the jury to decide whether the harm done was intentional, or whether it was the result of a choice the victim made, in simple terms. In many cases, the circumstance of a victim is a result of a choice he or she made. For example, in a smoking-related cancer case, the choice to smoke was made by the victim. However, in the case of mesothelioma, the situation is different. The circumstance of mesothelioma in the victim could have been averted if only his employers had been more careful, had made him aware about the risks the job entailed, and then let him choose, besides providing him whatever protection required to prevent him from being exposed to asbestos. This is one area that mesothelioma lawyers and mesothelioma attorneys have been able to successfully work on.

After the initial slew of mesothelioma cases and lawsuits, now laws are firmly in place to safeguard the health interests of the worker. Besides, in the event of someone actually suffering from mesothelioma, there are some guidelines towards seeking legal redress for them as well. Mesothelioma law is strict and helps provide fair verdicts in mesothelioma-related compensation cases.

Guidelines for Mesothelioma Victims Seeking Legal Action

The primary rule of thumb while filing a mesothelioma lawsuit is that it has to be filed immediately on diagnosis of the disease. In fact, in many of the states across the United States, mesothelioma laws stipulating the timeframe within which a lawsuit can be filed are in place. On diagnosis, you can contact a mesothelioma lawyer through your local mesothelioma activists or mesothelioma group for more mesothelioma information relating to lawsuits. The work of a mesothelioma lawyer or mesothelioma attorney is not limited to just fighting your case. A mesothelioma attorney usually has an extensive network of contacts – other victims, mesothelioma case histories, good treatment facilities, nature of treatment options available, in fact, for most mesothelioma-related information. His specialization is a distinct advantage over a lawyer who doesn’t have too much of an idea about mesothelioma.

The government is also taking steps to ensure that workers are safe from exposure to asbestos. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has passed laws and regulations stipulating safety measures and also has set in motion plans to ban and phase out the use of asbestos as much as possible. You can find more information about this at the EPA website – www.epa.gov.

You can also browse the Internet for mesothelioma-related information, mesothelioma pictures, more information on asbestos, etc.

Resources
• www.mesothelioma.org
• www.mesolink.org
• www.asbestosnews.com

The writer does freelance writing work. Primary areas are keyword-rich articles (especially in healthcare, insurance, credit), creative writing, blogposts, etc.

For more information please visit: projectrade.com projectrade.com

Tags: lung cancer, mesothelioma, pleural mesothelioma

Related posts

• What is Asbestos and How Does it Cause Disease? (0)
• Types of Mesothelioma Cancer (0)
• Top Asbestos Attorneys (0)
• Symptoms of Mesothelioma — Know More; Suffer Less (0)
• Symptoms of Mesothelioma (0)

Tags: lung cancer, mesothelioma, pleural mesothelioma