The Importance Of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide for women in 140 out of 184 countries. Breast cancer rates have continued to rise over the years with the current statistic stating one out of every eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. It is the second leading cause of cancer death among women.1 Since 1990, there has been a decline in the death rates from breast cancer due to improved screening, early detection, increased awareness, and continually improving treatment options. Today, there are over 2.8 million breast cancer survivors alive in the United States.2
With improvements in the treatment options to eradicate breast cancer including various forms of chemotherapy, the survival rate has increased. Along …show more content…
These agents target the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2/ErbB2) that is responsible for regulating breast growth repair and development. It is the mutation of this protein that leads to development of Her2-positive breast tumors. A significant amount of the research has focused on trastuzumab being the primary cytotoxic agent of concern. Trastuzumab is found to inhibit the Her2 expression ultimately inhibiting the malignant transformation of the cancer cells working at the DNA level preventing cancer cell growth and proliferation. At the same time, this is detrimental to the myocardium as ErbB2 signaling has a vital role of maintaining left ventricular function. This chemotherapy agent is believed to inhibit the ErbB2 for Her2-positive breast cancer tumors while also inhibiting the cardiac signaling ultimately leading to heart disease. This study found the incidence of left-ventricular dysfunction is 3% to 18% with a rate of heart failure at 2% to 4.1%. Doxorubicin is believed to promote hypotension, dilated cardio dilation, tachycardia, and decreased left ventricular ejection fraction. It was recommended in this single group design trastuzumab and doxorubicin study that further research is needed in this area along …show more content…
Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess the relationships between the treatments of breast cancer and the development of the heart condition diagnosed by a doctor after chemotherapy. Age was a time-to-event variable for validity while comparing those diagnosed with cancer to those without cancer provided statistical control. The study results concluded there is a 1.4 fold increase in cardiac disease and cardio toxicity from chemotherapy for breast cancer. In a number of the investigations, women treated with anthracycline chemotherapy had an even higher risk for cardiac