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Breast cancer diagnosis and treatment is influenced by different cultural backgrounds. Factors include differences in beliefs, attitudes, and treatment options that impact diverse populations throughout the world.
A study examining spirituality and breast cancer showed a positive correlation between spirituality and quality of life. [1] Religious practices, a belief in God or higher power, and a support system of family and friends were important among the African-American women studied. [1] In Chile, prayer and perceived dependence on God to intercede and guide them through this time in their life was important for women with breast cancer. They also had social support from their faith communities. [1] Muslim women studied commonly viewed their diagnoses as the will of God. They were also active in getting the medical treatment they needed. These women's quality of life was linked with their spiritual meaning. [1]
Religion or spirituality is often used to help frame the diagnosis in a new way that provides meaning and purpose. Health care providers can benefit by knowing the role spirituality plays in these patients' lives, leading to better awareness of the support networks needed to help cope with the diagnosis, leading to more empathetic care. [1]
Despite the fact that governments have passed policies and engage in outreach to provide equal access to healthcare and screenings, women who are intellectually disabled have lower rates of mammography than the general population. A study was done to discover reasons why women were still not taking advantage of the screenings that are now available to them. [2] [3]
A group of women in Ireland had recently received a mammography; they were interviewed to see what they knew about breast cancer, signs or symptoms, if they had read any material prior to their screening or how they could help prevent breast cancer from occurring. The sample of women had little knowledge in any of these areas. The women explained that their experience was positive but prior to screening they had feelings of fear, anxiety and stress because they did not know what to expect. A low level of awareness and the fear of the unknown are barriers preventing women from getting screenings. [2] Three suggestions have been given: [4]
The topic of breast cancer can be used to highlight the differences in treatment practices between Western countries and China. This is despite the fact that the incidence of breast cancer in China was approximately 215,600 patients in 2011, which compares closely to the incidence in the United States of America.[ citation needed ] Even with the high incidence, there has been a lack of emphasis on diagnosis and detection of breast cancer in its early stages.[ citation needed ]
In Western countries, there are many resources available for patient education and awareness of breast cancer detection as well as many therapeutic options. In China, the majority of breast cancer patients are diagnosed with Stage III/IV disease, which contrasts with Western countries, where patients are more likely to be diagnosed in the early stages. Proper diagnosis is not the only limiting factor. Patients with well-defined disease (HER2-positive) struggle with the ability to gain access to traditional chemotherapeutic options that are considered the standard of care for their Western counterparts. [5]
The other issue most often seen in emerging markets is lack of treatment options as patients relapse following first-line therapy. In China, only about 40% of metastatic breast cancer patients who receive first-line therapy will go on to receive a second line of therapy. The situation later becomes dire, where only one-quarter of patients will receive third-line therapy. Fourth- and fifth-line therapies are virtually non-existent in China. These reported frequencies of later lines of chemotherapy among Chinese patients are significantly lower than those in Japan and the United States, where 80% of patients continue to second-line and 65% of those patients continue to third-line. The main reasons for low use of later-line treatments are the lack of good therapeutic options and the financial burden of more expensive drugs. As the disease progresses, patients are more likely to turn to traditional Chinese medicine. [5]
Lymphedema, also known as lymphoedema and lymphatic edema, is a condition of localized swelling caused by a compromised lymphatic system. The lymphatic system functions as a critical portion of the body's immune system and returns interstitial fluid to the bloodstream.
Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later symptoms may include abnormal vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain or pain during sexual intercourse. While bleeding after sex may not be serious, it may also indicate the presence of cervical cancer.
Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a red or scaly patch of skin. In those with distant spread of the disease, there may be bone pain, swollen lymph nodes, shortness of breath, or yellow skin.
Mammography is the process of using low-energy X-rays to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, typically through detection of characteristic masses or microcalcifications.
Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include spread to the lungs or brain.
Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is one of the most aggressive types of breast cancer. It can occur in women of any age. It is referred to as "inflammatory" due to its frequent presentation with symptoms resembling a skin inflammation, such as erysipelas.
Invasive carcinoma of no special type, invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (IBC-NST), invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) or invasive ductal carcinoma, not otherwise specified (NOS) is a disease. For international audiences this article will use "invasive carcinoma NST" because it is the preferred term of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Screening, in medicine, is a strategy used to look for as-yet-unrecognised conditions or risk markers. This testing can be applied to individuals or to a whole population without symptoms or signs of the disease being screened.
Overdiagnosis is the diagnosis of disease that will never cause symptoms or death during a patient's ordinarily expected lifetime and thus presents no practical threat regardless of being pathologic. Overdiagnosis is a side effect of screening for early forms of disease. Although screening saves lives in some cases, in others it may turn people into patients unnecessarily and may lead to treatments that do no good and perhaps do harm. Given the tremendous variability that is normal in biology, it is inherent that the more one screens, the more incidental findings will generally be found. For a large percentage of them, the most appropriate medical response is to recognize them as something that does not require intervention; but determining which action a particular finding warrants can be very difficult, whether because the differential diagnosis is uncertain or because the risk ratio is uncertain.
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), also known as intraductal carcinoma, is a pre-cancerous or non-invasive cancerous lesion of the breast. DCIS is classified as Stage 0. It rarely produces symptoms or a breast lump one can feel, typically being detected through screening mammography. It has been diagnosed in a significant percentage of men.
Breast cancer management takes different approaches depending on physical and biological characteristics of the disease, as well as the age, over-all health and personal preferences of the patient. Treatment types can be classified into local therapy and systemic treatment. Local therapy is most efficacious in early stage breast cancer, while systemic therapy is generally justified in advanced and metastatic disease, or in diseases with specific phenotypes.
Breast cancer screening is the medical screening of asymptomatic, apparently healthy women for breast cancer in an attempt to achieve an earlier diagnosis. The assumption is that early detection will improve outcomes. A number of screening tests have been employed, including clinical and self breast exams, mammography, genetic screening, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Cancer screening aims to detect cancer before symptoms appear. This may involve blood tests, urine tests, DNA tests, other tests, or medical imaging. The benefits of screening in terms of cancer prevention, early detection and subsequent treatment must be weighed against any harms.
Breast cancer awareness is an effort to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of breast cancer through education about screening, symptoms, and treatment. Supporters hope that greater knowledge will lead to earlier detection of breast cancer, which is associated with higher long-term survival rates, and that money raised for breast cancer will produce a reliable, permanent cure.
Dynamic angiothermography (DATG) is a technique for the diagnosis of breast cancer. This technique, though springing from the thermography of old conception, is based on a completely different principle. DATG records the temperature variations linked to the vascular changes in the breast due to angiogenesis. The presence, change, and growth of tumors and lesions in breast tissue change the vascular network in the breast. Consequently, measuring the vascular structure over time, DATG effectively monitors the change in breast tissue due to tumors and lesions. It is currently used in combination with other techniques for diagnosis of breast cancer. This diagnostic method is a low cost one compared with other techniques.
In medicine, breast imaging is a sub-speciality of diagnostic radiology that involves imaging of the breasts for screening or diagnostic purposes. There are various methods of breast imaging using a variety of technologies as described in detail below. Traditional screening and diagnostic mammography uses x-ray technology and has been the mainstay of breast imaging for many decades. Breast tomosynthesis is a relatively new digital x-ray mammography technique that produces multiple image slices of the breast similar to, but distinct from, computed tomography (CT). Xeromammography and galactography are somewhat outdated technologies that also use x-ray technology and are now used infrequently in the detection of breast cancer. Breast ultrasound is another technology employed in diagnosis and screening that can help differentiate between fluid filled and solid lesions, an important factor to determine if a lesion may be cancerous. Breast MRI is a technology typically reserved for high-risk patients and patients recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Lastly, scintimammography is used in a subgroup of patients who have abnormal mammograms or whose screening is not reliable on the basis of using traditional mammography or ultrasound.
Gynecologic cancer disparities in the United States refer to differences in incidence, prevalence, and mortality from gynecologic cancers between population groups. The five main types of gynecologic cancer include cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, vaginal cancer, and vulvar cancer. For patients with these and other gynecologic malignancies within the United States, disparities across the care continuum by socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic background have been previously identified and studied. The causes behind these disparities are multifaceted and a complex interplay of systemic differences in health as well as individual patient factors such as cultural, educational, and economic barriers.
The passing of the Cancer Act 1939 marked the political significance of cancer treatment. It envisaged a system of co-ordination of diagnosis and treatment under the control of County Councils and County Borough Councils which preceded the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS). The outbreak of war prevented most of its provisions from coming into effect.
Elisa Rush Port FACS is Associate Professor of Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, as well as cofounder and director of the Dubin Breast Center at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai Health System, since 2010. She has received four research grants, has served as an investigator or co-investigator on 15 clinical trials, published 44 peer-reviewed articles, and published a total of 12 book chapters and books. She has specialized in sentinel-node biopsy, a diagnostic method that determines cancer stages based on spread to regional lymph nodes, nipple sparing mastectomy, and the use of MRI for breast cancer.
Dense breast tissue, also known as dense breasts, is a condition of the breasts where a higher proportion of the breasts are made up of glandular tissue and fibrous tissue than fatty tissue. Around 40–50% of women have dense breast tissue and one of the main medical components of the condition is that mammograms are unable to differentiate tumorous tissue from the surrounding dense tissue. This increases the risk of late diagnosis of breast cancer in women with dense breast tissue. Additionally, women with such tissue have a higher likelihood of developing breast cancer in general, though the reasons for this are poorly understood.