cancer information

A Collection of Related Diseases

Cancer is the name given to a collection of related diseases. In all types of cancer, some of the body’s cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues.

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 cells take their place.

When cancer develops, however, this orderly process breaks down. As cells become more and more abnormal, old or damaged cells survive when they should die, and new cells form when they are not needed. These extra cells can divide without stopping and may form growths called tumors.

Many cancers form solid tumors, which are masses of tissue. Cancers of the blood, such as leukemias, generally do not form solid tumors.

Cancerous tumors are malignant, which means they can spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. In addition, as these tumors grow, some cancer cells can break off and travel to distant places in the body through the blood or the lymph system and form new tumors far from the original tumor.

Unlike malignant tumors, benign tumors do not spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. Benign tumors can sometimes be quite large, however. When removed, they usually don’t grow back, whereas malignant tumors sometimes do. Unlike most benign tumors elsewhere in the body, benign brain tumors can be life threatening.

Read More

Symptoms of skin cancer and its prevention

Symptoms of skin cancer and its prevention

Skin cancer occurs when skin cells are damaged, for example, by overexposure to ultraviolet (UV)radiation from the sun

Every year, in Australia:

skin cancers account for around 80% of all newly diagnosed cancers

between 95 and 99% of skin cancers are caused by exposure to the sun

GPs have over 1 million patient consultations per year for skin cancer

the incidence of skin cancer is one of the highest in the world, two to three times the rates in Canada, the US and the

Incidence and mortality

Two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70.

Over the past decades, the incidence of skin cancer has risen in Australia. From 1982 to 2010 melanoma diagnoses increased by around 60%. From 1998 to 2007, GP consultations to treat non-melanoma skin cancer increased by 14%, to reach 950,000 visits each year.

Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common type of skin cancer. This type of skin cancer is more common in men, with almost double the incidence compared to women. Over 434,000 people are treated for one or more non-melanoma skin cancers in Australia each year.

Excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, melanoma is the third most common cancer in both Australian women and men, and the most common cancer in Australians aged 15-44 years. In 2011, 11,570 people in Australia were diagnosed with melanoma.

In 2012, 2,036 people died from skin cancer in Australia. The majority of these deaths were due to melanoma, with 1,515 deaths from melanoma that year, compared with 521 deaths from non-melanoma skin cancers. The five-year relative survival rate for melanoma is 90% for Australian men and 94% for Australian 

Symptoms and diagnosis

The sooner a skin cancer is identified and treated, the better your chance of avoiding surgery or, in the case of a serious melanoma or other skin cancer, potential disfigurement or even death.

It is also a good idea to talk to your doctor about your level of risk and for advice on early detection.

Become familiar with the look of your skin, so you pick up any changes that might suggest a skin cancer. Look for:

any crusty, non-healing sores

small lumps that are red, pale or pearly in colour

new spots, freckles or any moles changing in colour, thickness or shape over a period of weeks to months (especially those dark brown to black, red or blue-black in colour).

If you notice any changes consult your doctor.Your doctor may perform a biopsy (remove a small sample of tissue for examination under a microscope) or refer you to a specialist if he/she suspects a skin cancer.ome

Cause

Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. Anyone can be at risk of developing skin cancer, though the risk increases as you get older.

The majority of skin cancers in Australia are caused by exposure to UV radiation in sunlight.  

Sunburn

Sunburn causes 95% of melanomas, the most deadly form of skin cancer.

In Australia, almost 14% of adults, 24% of teenagers and 8% of children are sunburnt on an average summer weekend. Many people get sunburnt when they are taking part in water sports and activities at the beach or a pool, as well gardening or having a barbeque.

Sunburn is also common on cooler or overcast days as many people mistakenly believe UV radiation is not as strong. This is untrue – you can still be sunburnt when the temperature is cool.

Sun exposure that doesn't result in burning can still cause damage to skin cells and increase your risk of developing skin cancer. Evidence suggests that regular exposure to UV radiation year after year can also lead to skin cancer. 

Tanning

A tan is not a sign of good health or wellbeing, despite many Australians referring to a ‘healthy tan’. Almost half of Australian adults still hold the misguided belief that a tan looks healthy.

Tanning is a sign that you have been exposed to enough UV radiation (from the sun or solarium) to damage your skin. This will eventually cause loss of elasticity (wrinkles), sagging, yellowish discolouration and even brown patches to appear on your skin. Worst of all, it increases your risk of skin cancer.

A tan will offer limited protection from sunburn, but usually no more than SPF4, depending on your skin type. It does not protect from DNA damage, which can lead to skin cancer.

Some people who use fake tans mistakenly believe that a tan will provide them with protection against UV radiation. As a result, they may not take sun protection measures, putting them at greater risk of skin cancer. More information about fake tans is available in Cancer Council's position statement on fake tans.

Solariums

Solariums emit UVA and UVB radiation, both known causes of cancer. Cancer Council Australia does not recommend solarium use for cosmetic tanning under any circumstances.

More information about solariums is available in Cancer Council's position statement on solariums

Prevention

Protect your skin

For best protection, we recommend a combination of sun protection measures:

Slip on some sun-protective clothing – that covers as much skin as possible

Slop on broad spectrum, water resistant SPF30+ sunscreen. Put it on 20 minutes before you go outdoors and every two hours afterwards. Sunscreen should never be used to extend the time you spend in the sun.

Slap on a hat – that protects your face, head, neck and ears

Seek shade

Slide on some sunglasses – make sure they meet Australian Standards

Be extra cautious in the middle of the day when UV levels are most intense.

For further information please read our position statements on eye protection.

SunSmart UV alert

The SunSmart UV Alert is reported in the weather section of daily newspapers and on the Bureau of Meteorology website.

Issued by the Bureau when they forecast a UV Index for the day of three or above, the SunSmart UV Alert identifies the times during the day when sun protection will be needed.

Applying sunscreen

Apply sunscreen liberally – at least a teaspoon for each limb, front and back of the body and half a teaspoon for the face, neck and ears. Most people don’t apply enough sunscreen resulting in only 50-80% of the protection stated on the product.

Sun protection and babies

Evidence suggests that childhood sun exposure contributes significantly to your lifetime risk of skin cancer. Cancer Council Australia recommends keeping babies out of the sun as much as possible for the first 12 months.

Where this is not possible, parents and carers should minimise exposure by:

Planning the day’s activities outside the middle of the day when UV levels are most intense.

Cover as much skin as possible with loose fitting clothes and wraps made from closely woven fabrics.

Choosing a hat that protects the baby’s face, neck and ears.

Make use of available shade or create shade for the pram, stroller or play area. The material should cast a dark shadow. The baby will still need to be protected from scattered and reflected UV radiation.

Keep an eye on the baby’s clothing, hat and shade to ensure they continue to be well-protected.

Apply a broad spectrum, water resistant sunscreen to small areas of the skin that cannot be protected by clothing, such as the face, ears, neck and hands, remembering to reapply the sunscreen every two hours or more often it is wiped or washed off.

There is no evidence that using sunscreen on babies is harmful, although some babies may develop minor skin irritation. Try sunscreen milks or creams for sensitive skin which are less likely to irritate the skin. As with all products, use of any sunscreen should cease if any unusual reaction occurs.

For further information please read or position statement on sun protection and infants (0-12 months) andtinted windows.

Top

Treatment

Skin cancers are almost always removed. In more advanced skin cancers, some of the surrounding tissue may also be removed to make sure that all of the cancerous cells have been taken out.

Common skin cancers can be treated with ointments or radiation therapy. They can also be removed with surgery (usually under a local anaesthetic), cryotherapy (using liquid nitrogen to rapidly freeze the cancer off), curettage (scraping) or cautery (burning).

For more detailed information about skin cancer please phone the Cancer Council 13 11 20 or talk to your GP.

Top

for more click here

Read More

11 AdSense Tips And Tricks To Maximize Your Earning Potential

AdSense is a great tool for monetizing your website. Unfortunately, a large number of users fall prey to some common mistakes and never even realize that they’re functioning way below their maximum earning potential.

Here are a few AdSense tips that will help you optimize your website for both higher revenue and an enhanced user experience.

1. A/B test your ad units

ab testing

Experimenting allows you to pit one variation of ad settings against another variation and select the one that performs the best. You can compare the performance of text-only ad units to ad units that have both text and display enabled, or analyze the effect of changing the color of ad text on ad performance, or determine the impact on your revenue by serving ads in the sensitive and/or general categories.

Although you need a little tech-savvy to navigate your way through the entire process of preparing your experiment, creating your experiment, monitoring your experiment, and finally choosing your winner—it’s all well worth the effort.

(Note: If you’re looking for a smarter, automated solution for this, you could try out our advanced A/B testing software, which automatically creates ad multiple variations for you and then selects the combination that performs the best.)

2. Use multiple ad units to maximize conversion

multiple ads

A simple way to bump up your AdSense click rate and revenue is to place ad units of more than one type (AdSense for content, link, and search) and in different sizes on your pages. This way, your users are served more ads from Google’s large ad inventory, increasing the probability that they will end up clicking on one of them.

Make sure that the best-located ad on your web page shows up first in your HTML code. This will ensure that your most visible ad real-estate is taken by ads that place the highest in the auction—increasing your revenue.

And remember to adhere to the AdSense maximum ad policy, which is up to three AdSense for content units, up to three link units, and up to two search units on each page, to avoid having your account banned.

3. Limit the number of ads above the fold

limits above the fold ads

In web design terminology, “above the fold” refers to the portions of a web page that are visible without scrolling. When too many ad units are placed above the fold, users get turned off because finding the content that they came in for, gets difficult, and the tendency to exit the page increases. As a result of this, Google now penalizes such pages. 

Here’s an excerpt from the Google Webmaster Central blog:

“As we’ve mentioned previously, we’ve heard complaints from users that if they click on a result and it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away. So sites that don’t have much content “above-the-fold” can be affected by this change. If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn’t have a lot of visible content above-the-fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience. Such sites may not rank as highly going forward.

We understand that placing ads above-the-fold is quite common for many websites; these ads often perform well and help publishers monetize online content. This algorithmic change does not affect sites that place ads above-the-fold to a normal degree, but affects sites that go much further to load the top of the page with ads to an excessive degree or that make it hard to find the actual original content on the page. This new algorithmic improvement tends to impact sites where there is only a small amount of visible content above-the-fold or relevant content is persistently pushed down by large blocks of ads.“

4. Optimize the color impact of text ad units

create ad style

Experimenting with the color of text ad units is essential to increasing their visibility. An ad style that work on a light website theme may look too bright and distracting on a darker one, turning users away not only from the ad but from the web page.

For the most unobtrusive user experience, match the background and border color of the ad unit to the background of the page where the ad will be placed.

For a more distinct ad, match background and border colors to your website, but don’t match them exactly to where the ads are placed. Try out different styles and measure ad performance over time to settle on the best performing format.

5. Create and implement responsive ads

respnsive ads

This ties into a larger point of implementing a responsive design on your website (which is something you really need to do if you’re running a website in 2015). Wikipedia explains 

responsive design as follows:

“Responsive web design (RWD) is an approach to web design aimed at crafting sites to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, mobile phones).”

Last year, Comscore reported that mobile platforms — smartphones and tablets — combined account for 60% of total digital media time spent, up from 50% a year ago. If your website is not optimized for these devices, you’re missing out on a big opportunity to capture this audience.

So what does this have to do with AdSense, you ask? Well, AdSense plays well with responsive design, and allows you to generate codes for responsive ad units, which automatically resize themselves to offer the best viewing experience to the mobile audience. Do this now because that 60% is a number that’s only going to go north.

6. Link your AdSense and Analytics accounts

links adsense and analytics

Linking your AdSense and Google Analytics accounts gives you access to AdSense metrics such as revenue, clicks, and impressions which you can add to your favorite analytics reports to get a better understanding of how well your pages or content is monetizing.

This data can assist in optimizing your site such as the optimal ad load or what type of content to focus on.

Once you’ve linked your properties, you can use insights from Analytics to refine and optimize your AdSense ad units, improving the overall performance of your website.

7. Keep your design and content user-focused

In the mad race to increase ad revenues, it’s easy to lose sight of the real goal of why your website or business exists in the first place—to provide value to users.

Use a judicial mix of ads and content so that users are not overwhelmed by the former. Sometimes ads are placed haphazardly on the web page and in between content without any thought to usability or aesthetics.

Even Google says that to get the most of your account, you should first consider the user and then think about anything else. Doing it the other way around is like putting the horse before the cart, it’s never going to work.

8. Publish high-quality content on a regular basis

This really is the big one, the other points are all just tweaks in one way or another—but when it comes to AdSense earnings, content really is the king.

Simply put: No traffic, no money; more traffic, more money.

But this is always easier said than done. It helps to publish content about a topic that you’re both interested in and have some level of expertise in, as people will then be more likely to view you as an influencer on your topic.

Google’s algorithm rewards websites that publish content on a regular basis with a higher ranking, and consequently, higher traffic—so make sure your publishing is more predictable than erratic.

Finally, going the extra mile to optimize your content for search engines can yield great results in terms of organic traffic, especially, in the long run.

9. Build an audience before setting up AdSense

Though it may be tempting to set up AdSense on your website right after you’ve published the first piece of content—the temptation is best avoided.

Cluttering your website with ads before anybody really knows about it will likely put visitors off, and consequently, they’ll be less likely to share or link to it. This limits your ability to emerge as an authority in your niche.

Focus instead, on winning a sizable audience in terms of email subscribers, RSS readers, and monthly visitors before you start displaying ads.

10. Go easy with the blocking and filtering

Each ad that you block by URL will be one more ad that won’t be bidding for space on your website in the auction—effectively reducing the earning potential of that ad space.

Furthermore, advertisers whose ads you block may decide that they don’t want to advertize with you in the future. The same thing happens when you filter out entire categories, but on a larger scale. Don’t block ads unless it’s absolutely necessary.

11. Keep yourself updated

Subscribe to the official Google Inside AdSense blog, so that you’re always up-to-date with the latest news about the platform from the creators themselves.

Apart from this, the Google help center has this brilliant AdSense optimization overview that you could look at and take ideas from to get more mileage out of your AdSense account.

There’s also a free online course that Google runs, which aims help publishers earn more money from their website.

If you just follow the links mentioned here and treat them as your guide to AdSense, you’d do better than 90% of the people using the system.

11 AdSense Tips And Tricks To Maximize Your Earning Potential

Read More

AdSense Added Invalid Activity Payment Deduction Feature 2016

AdSense Added Invalid Activity Payment Deduction Feature 2016

A good news for AdSense publishers regarding their payment calculation. For long, we asked to have report on how much money we losing due to invalid activities, and now AdSense team have added this feature. With this, AdSense publishers like you and me, will be able to see revenue loss due to invalid activities.

When you will log into your AdSense dashboard, you will be noticing an estimated earning. But, when you are paid, payment amount is lower than estimated amount, most of the time. This is due to invalid activities.

 

Invalid activities are clicks & impression which seems invalid. Such as Accidental clicks, traffic from un-allowed sources, Automated clicking tools, or anything which seems unnatural. For such activities, AdSense doesn’t charge advertisers, and we don’t get paid for such clicks.

From May 2015, AdSense have added this feature in the payment history section. Now, you can see a section which says “Invalid traffic” with the amount you didn’t get paid for. This report is available now to all the AdSense publishers. 

Here is a screenshot from my account:

This adds another layer of transparency for the publishers, and this is one of the many reasonsAdSense is considered as best ad program for bloggers. Go ahead, and check your AdSense payment history for invalid traffic report.

AdSense Added Invalid Activity Payment Deduction Feature

Read More

Bladder cancer

Incidence and mortality

In 2011, 2404 new cases of bladder cancer were diagnosed in Australia. It is significantly more common in men - the risk of bladder cancer by age 85 is 1 in 43 for men, compared to 1 in 166 for women.

In 2012, there were 1038 deaths caused by bladder cancer in Australia.

Screening

No screening test is routinely used for bladder cancer.

Symptoms and diagnosis

The most common symptom of bladder cancer is blood in the urine (haematuria), which usually occurs suddenly and is generally not painful

:Other less common symptoms include

problems emptying the bladder

a burning feeling when passing urine

need to pass urine often.

:Tests used to diagnose bladder cancer include

urine test

blood test

intravenous pyelogram

liver and abdominal ultrasound scan

cytoscopy and biopsy.

Staging

A CT scan, bone (radioisotope) scan and chest x-ray are done to determine the extent of the cancer (its stage).

The most common staging system used for bladder cancer is the TNM system, which describes the stage of the cancer from stage I to stage IV.

Causes

The exact causes of bladder cancer are not known, however factors that put some people at higher risk are:

smoking cigarettes

workplace exposure to certain chemicals used in dyeing in the textile, petrochemical and rubber industries

use of the chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide (which can increase the long-term risk of bladder cancer).

Chronic inflammation of the bladder has been linked to squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder.

Prevention

Not smoking or quitting smoking, and avoiding exposure to chemicals listed above

Treatment

Superficial bladder cancers are treated with surgery (transurethral resection) and/or immunotherapy, or sometimes chemotherapy instilled into the bladder

Invasive bladder cancers are most commonly treated with surgery, although radiotherapy is an alternative treatment. In some cases chemotherapy may be added

If surgery is not an option, the cancer may be treated with radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy, or chemotherapy alone (platinum and gemcitabine)

Prognosis

An individual's prognosis depends on the type and stage of cancer, as well as their age and general health at the time of diagnosis

Bladder cancer can be effectively treated if it is found early, before it spreads outside the bladder. The five year survival rate for Australians with bladder cancer is 58%

For more information, contact Cancer Council 13 11 20 (cost of a local call)

for more click here

Read More

How I Made $2500 By Just Signing Up For Credit Cards 2016

How I Made $2500 By Just Signing Up For Credit Cards 2016

Since I was alien for US banks, I had to build their trust in my financial repay capacity, known as ‘credit history’. Banks collect credit report from three companies – Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. These credit bureau companies keep an eye on all your credit cards and loans.

The first step for building credit history was to get a loan from the bank. But I knew that banks are not going to approve me any loan until I had credit history.

To break this paradox, easiest way was to get a secure credit card that work like pre-paid card but banks report it as credit card. Let’s say if I pay $500 (as deposit) for getting card then bank will grant me credit limit for shopping upto $500. I have to pay monthly bills of the card to maintain good health of my credit history.

I realized credit card companies offer sign up bonus

Banks in US are very generous. They offer a good amount of money on card approval in the form of cash back, reward points or miles. Cash back can be used to repay credit card bills which is equivalent to cash. Reward points and miles can be used for shopping vouchers, travel tickets, and hotel bookings.

I could have got a bonus from $100 to $500 depending upon my credit score and length of credit history. But it was too early to apply for such credit cards.

Each credit card request put a dent in credit history. I holded up my craving for cards until I had excellent credit score.

Free Credit score

Improving Credit Score

 

Credit history starts with first card approval, and credit score is a number between 500-800 which depends on how responsibly we use credit cards.

Credit history management is a new concept in India, but now every bank verify credit report before taking a decision on the loan application. I landed up in a situation where my credit history got messed up by CIBIL authorities in India. You better be careful.

We should never miss a payment, always pay the minimum due amount before due date. Bank will charge interest on carryover balance, pay the full amount to avoid interest charges.

Never over utilize credit card limit. Maintain credit balance in a range of 10-20% of overall limits. If we have two cards with limits of $500 and $1000, then our total limit is $1500. For best credit score, we should maintain utilization in between $150 to $300.

Use a credit card so that due payments reflect on credit history. If we are not using cards, then banks will think we no longer need credit. Banks report due payment and previous month payment status to Credit bureau companies. It’s good sign if we are owed money last month and paid in full this month.

This way I managed to improve my credit score to 700+ which is considered very good.

I prepared one year plan of my expected expenses.

The credit card bonus can only be credited in account if we meet certain conditions. Most of the times banks give 90 days to spend $500 to get $100 as a bonus.

My plan was to align my credit card approval with my future expenses

Monthly Expense (Grocery, Dine, Online Shopping, Gas, Utility Bills) Additional Expense (One time)

$400 – $600

$400 – $600

$400 – $600 $1000 (Household Shopping)

$400 – $600

$400 – $600 $1500 (Trip to SFO)

$400 – $600

$400 – $600 $3000 (Hotel Booking for friend)

$400 – $600

$400 – $600 $1000 (Shopping)

$400 – $600

$400 – $600 $2500 (Trip to Hawaii)

$400 – $600

I observed that every alternate month I am going to have some big expense. We were planning to buy LCD, X-box and some furniture that I postponed till approval of my credit cards.

Our holiday was planned to San Francisco in few months. One of our friends was moving to US in next six months. He asked me if I can book a hotel for him which he will pay me in cash. It was an opportunity for me to apply for credit card with hotel benefits.

Finally our dream holiday to Hawaii, which going to cost us at least $2500. We needed credit cards with travel & shopping benefits.

Execution Quarter by Quarter

Execution of plan starts when I first applied for JC-Penny store credit card that was offering $50 and 15% cash back on the bill. I did shopping of $200 and got $30+$50 = $80 as cash back.

It was time to apply for another store card and wait till 2-3 statements to appear in credit history. I applied for 3-4 cards at once and waited for at least three months for my next hit. This improves chances of credit card approval.

Quarter #1

JC-Penny – $50 + $30

Walmart   – $25 + $25

Capital One – $100

Quarter #2

Chase Freedom – $100

Discover – $100

Bank of America – $100

Chase Amazon – $100

Quarter #3

Chase Marriott – $500

Bank of America Travel – $100

Chase Amazon – $100

Citibank Thankyou Card – $200

Quarter #4

Chase Sapphire Preferred – $500

American Express Blue Cash – $150

American Express Hilton HHonors- $100

My Wallet with free money

Total direct bonus = $2200

1% cash back on total expenses = $120

5% on various categories = $100

10% on shopping = $200

+ Bonus nights at Marriott Hotels

[Note: I have got all above cards approved, but the list is not necessarily in the order of approval. Additional cash back is estimated amount]

Bonus Tips

Credit card limit enhancement increases chance of approval of premium cards

Get free credit card reports at creditkarma.com and annualcreditreport.com

Free credit score with Walmart card

You can call credit card company for expedited courier delivery just after credit card approval

Join account holder on credit card will inherit credit history (good and bad)

Do let me know if you are using Credit card bonus like this or in any other way? Share your tips in the comment section.

This is a guest post by Pardeep Goyal from CashOverflow. If you would like to guest post at ShoutMeLoud, check our submission guidelines.

How I Made $2500 By Just Signing Up For Credit Cards 2016

Read More

Breast cancer

Breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in Australia1 and the second most common cancer to cause death in women, after lung cancer. It is uncommon in males.

Incidence and mortality

In 2011, 14,465 women and 103 men were diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia. The risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer by age 85 is 1 in 8 for women and 1 in 917 for men.

In 2012, 2795 women and 24 men died of breast cancer in Australia.

Screening

Mammographic screening every two years is recommended for women aged 50-74 years, though it is available to women from 40 years of age. Younger women in high risk groups may be screened by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

Symptoms and diagnosis

Symptoms include:

new lumps or thickening in the breast or under the arm

nipple sores

nipple discharge or turning in

skin of the breast dimpling

rash or red swollen breasts.

Pain is rare.

Diagnosis is usually by imaging eg. mammogram, then biopsy by needling or removing the lump.

Staging

Staging involves assessing the size of the breast cancer and whether it has spread to the draining lymph nodes under the arm. A CT scan of the chest and liver and bone scan are done to check the sites to which breast cancers most commonly spread.

Causes

The causes of breast cancer are unknown, but risk factors include:

increasing age

family history

inheritance of mutations in the genes BRCA2, BRCA1 and CHEK2

exposure to female hormones (natural and administered)

obesity (poor diet and inadequate exercise) and

excess alcohol consumption.

There is also an association with some benign breast disease and past exposure to radiation.

Prevention

There is no proven method of prevention, however women who are at high risk because of a very strong family history may benefit from hormones such as tamoxifen, usually administered over five years. Bilateral prophylactic mastectomy can be considered in women at high risk of breast cancer due to gene mutations.

Treatment 

Treatment depends on the extent of the cancer.

For localised breast cancer, the most extensive surgical option is to remove the breast and lymph nodes under the arm. However, removing the lump and just a section of the breast, followed by radiotherapy, results in the same rate of survival. If the first draining lymph node can be identified using dye or a nuclear medicine scan, it can be sampled and if it is negative, further surgery avoided.

For tumours at greater risk of recurrence ie. bigger, more aggressive cancers, or cancers that have spread to the lymph nodes, additional treatment (adjuvant therapy) can be given after surgery. This can include hormone therapy of aromatase inhibitors or tamoxifen for women whose tumours have hormone receptors on their surfaces, and chemotherapy and targeted therapies such as trastuzumab for those 25% of tumours that are HER2 positive (ie. have the target for trastuzumab on their surfaces).

Patients presenting with locally extensive cancer will have chemotherapy and radiotherapy initially to see if it will shrink the cancer to make it operable.

If breast cancer returns after initial treatment, local disease may be treated with surgery, while more widespread disease will be treated with combinations of similar drugs to those used in adjuvant treatment. Common chemotherapy drugs include anthracyclines and taxanes.

Patients with bone disease can receive bisphosphonates such as zoledronate to slow the erosion of bones, and receive local radiotherapy for pain.

Prognosis

An individual's prognosis depends on the type and stage of cancer as well as their age and general health at the time of diagnosis. If the cancer is limited to the breast, 96% of patients will be alive five years after diagnosis; this figure excludes those who die from other diseases. If the cancer has spread to the regional lymph nodes, five year relative survival drops to 80%. In Australia, the overall five year survival rate for breast cancer is 89%.

For more information, contact Cancer Council 13 11 20 (cost of a local call).

1)

Excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, which is the most commonly diagnosed cancer according to general practice and hospitals data, however there is no reporting of cases to cancer registries.

for more click here

Read More