The Role Of Family History Of Breast Cancer

Great Essays
Human anatomy is a very complex to understand and study. Cells are highly ordered they grow and distribute to form new cells when they receive signals that the tissue in some part of the body needs them. Cells age, they can grow old or be damaged, which leads to deactivation or dying of a cell and those being replaced by new ones. However, sometimes this order is being disturbed, which makes the old and damaged cells not to die and new cell keep reproducing even though it is not necessary. The unpredictable division, which is called cancer, of the cell leads to formation of tumors. Tumors can be solid similar to tumors in breast tissue, or they can be not solid like cancers of the blood, leukemia. There are many types of cancer cells, some …show more content…
Based on a study that was done by several scientists, women with family history whose mother was diagnosed before 50 has a relative risk of 1.70 and those whose mother was diagnosed before age 50 has a relative risk of 1.37. Verves women without family history have a relative risk of 1.69 (Colditz et al., 2012). The difference is very small, which makes us to assume that maybe after age 50 family histories has a very insignificant affect on developing breast cancer. The same study concluded, “The relative risk of breast cancer increased with younger age at diagnosis but the association did not differ substantially whether mother was diagnosed with breast cancer” (Colditz et al., 2012). Another study concluded that currently the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer for women between 50-59 years old with family history and for women without family history is 1/43 (McGuire et al., 2015). It also stated that clinically women between 50-70 years have the highest mortality rate and this age range is the highest during which women can develop breast cancer; however, with screening programs starting earlier, which is before 50, demonstrated a reduction in mortality rate (McGuire et al., 2015). Based on the following findings we can conclude that if a woman with or without family …show more content…
For example, women with or without family history who are diagnosed with breast cancer at younger age, which is under 40, will receive chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, and hormone therapy verses older people above 70 probably will have surgery and hormone therapy and other treatments are being decided by the patient. This is because at older age there are many side effects caused my chemotherapy that can increases the mortality. Study done by a physician who interviewed patients with and without family history of breast cancer found out the following. A women was screening since age 50, experienced menopause at age 50, and at age 87 had an abnormal screening mammogram with microcalcification and over the period of time it kept growing, which lead her to do mastectomy and she refused other therapies (Walter et al., 2014). However, the important part of the story is that her daughter died of breast cancer at age 37. The abnormal results at age 87 could have been because of age; at this point we don’t have reasons for these unpredictable cell division at older age. The other study that was conducted concluded that the sensitivity of mammography testing is reduced in younger women, specifically related to age (McGuire et al., 2015). They recommend women to perform Magnetic Resonance Imagining (MRI) for women with breast cancer history between 35-55 years old and mammograms

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Mammogram Synthesis Essay

    • 1017 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Women can flick on the TV, look at the news stand, or be flipping through the local newspaper and once again see or hear another article on if having a mammogram at 40 is either good for you or whether you shouldn’t have a mammogram. The controversy of having a mammogram at 40 has raged for over 30 years. I have been in the mammography profession for over 11 years and I have seen that early detection of breast cancer saves lives; therefore it is beneficial for women to start their mammograms at 40. Women today are truly confused with all the different studies and recommendations that emerge either through the news on TV, US Preventative Task Force, or in a popular magazines. Constantly mammographers and physicians get the question asked, who should have a mammogram?…

    • 1017 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq Essay On Cancer

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Another trend that is also increasing is genetic diffference that may be related to breast cancer risk. In Document H it states “ All women have two main competing pathways that break down estrogen”. In Document H it also states “ The ‘bad’ metabolite has been associated with breast cancer”. All of this evidence shows that women that have or have higher chance of breast cancer most likely have a “bad” metabolite. This evidence also shows one reason why women may get breast cancer.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Breast cancer is a very common cancer and most people know someone who has been affected by this nasty disease. However, more and more women have been deciding to have a double mastectomy as part of their treatment even if they are at low risk to develop cancer in their other healthy breast. Some consider this a safe smart decision while others think that these women may be overreacting. In Double or Nothing the author Ginny Graves gives us the facts and opinions from doctors and survivors and their thoughts of a double mastectomy. When women are diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time many of them want to have a double mastectomy.…

    • 886 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    by nearly ⅓ since 1990.” “One in six breast cancers occur in women aged 40-49” “¾ of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history of the disease and are not considered high risk.” “Even for women 50+, skipping a mammogram every other year would miss up to 30% of cancers.” “For every 1,000 women who have a screening mammogram, 100 are recalled to get more mammography or ultrasound pictures, 20 are recommended to have a needle biopsy, and 5 are diagnosed with breast cancer.”…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As I sit here and think of what I would do if I was given $1500, there is one thing that comes to my mind. The one thing that came to my mind was donating the money to the Breast Cancer Association. These are my caring instincts that kick in before my selfish instincts. Keeping the money to myself didn’t cross my mind once. I will first tell you why I would donate my money to the Breast Cancer Association.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ecological Model Of Health

    • 1823 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Health and the environment, what an interesting class. Honestly, I wish many adults would take your class. The presentation of the ecological model of health was done well and I believe this is something that so many people in the United States would benefit from learning about. It is amazing how some people think just because we were all born in the United States that we all have access to the same opportunities when there is clear statistical data that proves otherwise. At the age of 35, I am well versed in my family health history.…

    • 1823 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cancer Cells Antisymmetry

    • 1898 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Cancer shows repetition in the metastasizing of the cell life cycle throughout the body. Comparing cancer cells to healthy cells shows antisymmetry. The prognosis of each patient is never identical to another cancer patient. Different treatments are used and this shows both repeating and antisymmetry. So, where does the cancer came from?…

    • 1898 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women walk into certain age brackets being forced to make certain decisions. These decisions no matter how uncertain they might be will shape their lives for the better or worst. One of these seemingly simple decisions involve whether or not to have a mammogram at 40 or wait until 50 years of age to attain one. There are some disagreements in the scientific community about whether to get a mammogram at age 40 or wait until 50. It is of utmost importance that women know their medical situation concerning breast cancer as early as possible following their 40th birthday.…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    This article focused on the lack of standardization of the pathology tissue as well as stage, grade, poverty index, and treatment factors and compensated for these. These factors could certainly explain racial differences in survival among the breast cancer subtypes. What is currently known is African-American women have a lower lifetime risk of breast cancer but their mortality rates are significantly higher when compared to white American women. It is also known that the age at which they are diagnosed differ, African-American women are more likely to be diagnosed under that age of forty-five in comparison with Caucasian women. Additionally African-American women’s tumors are much more likely to be negative for the estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor, and/or the HER2/neu marker (Amirikia 2011).…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I. Intraoperative Radiation therapy: Also known as IORT II. Problem: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer for women. It is when there is a lump in the breast that contains cancer cells. Some lumps do not contain cancer cells though. The doctor will have to diagnose someone with breast cancer.…

    • 1523 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    “Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells. Normally, human cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old or become damaged, they die, and new…

    • 1784 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many woman depending on their race have a higher chance of developing breast cancer. Asians have the lower rate, as to the rate for white women their chance is higher. Death rates were 42% higher for black than white woman. “in the united states, breast cancer is diagnosed more often in white woman than in African American/Black, Hispanic/ Latina, Asia/Pacific islander, or American Indian” ( Cancer…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Once your doctor has diagnosed you, they work to figure out the step you’re in. Once they've determined your stage, they run the diagnostic that corresponds with that stage of cancer, according to MayoClinic.org. According to the PHG Foundation, ‘ as genetic and environmental factors independently increase breast cancer risk, women with inherited genetic variants can still reduce breast cancer risk by modifying their lifestyles such as maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol and HRT.’ My reasoning behind choosing this type of disease is because my grandmother on my dad’s side had breast cancer.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethical Issues in Genetic Screening for Breast Cancer: Patenting of BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes Breast cancer affects over 508,000 women worldwide and almost 50-58% of cases result in death. It is the top cancer in women (WHO, 2017, p.2). Scientist Mary-Claire King discovered BRCA1, the gene mutation for causing breast cancer, in 1994. BRCA2 was discovered in 1995 (Park, 2014).…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Family Genogram

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The family genogram project was a great way to get to really know and understand my family. Before mapping out my genogram I was aware of members of my family but never thought much about the interactions between each member. This project allowed for met to gain insight about the intricacies within my family dynamics and has allowed for me to understand why certain relationships are the way they are. It has also allowed for me to understand my own relationships with my family and to see what family dynamics have played a role in shaping my own thoughts and feelings.…

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics