Breast cancer treatment has progressed at a quick pace in recent years, and more advances are coming out all the time. This is great news for improving the health and survival odds for women with breast cancer. But it also means a confusing array of treatment options and often many months—and even years—of treatment.
After surgery, you might have months of chemotherapy, radiation treatment, or both. These may be followed by years...
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Types of Complementary Techniques for Breast cancer
There are literally hundreds of complementary treatments. While some treatments have been studied in breast cancer patients, others have not. We have noted which treatments have and have not been studied in breast cancer patients. ALWAYS check with your doctor before beginning any complementary treatment.
Although not every complementary technique is listed here, we've included information about the most widely used complementary...
Chemotherapy for Breast cancer
Chemotherapy is a systemic therapy; this means it affects the whole body by going through the bloodstream. The purpose of chemotherapy and other systemic treatments is to get rid of any cancer cells that may have spread from where the cancer started to another part of the body.
Chemotherapy is effective against cancer cells because the drugs love to interfere with rapidly dividing cells. The side effects of chemotherapy come...
Hormonal Therapy for breast cancer
Hormonal therapy is a very effective treatment against breast cancer that is hormone-receptor-positive. Find out if you should be tested to see if you need other therapies, as well. Sometimes called "anti-estrogen therapy," hormonal therapy blocks the ability of the hormone estrogen to turn on and stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.
For years, tamoxifen was the hormonal medicine of choice for all women with hormone-receptor-positive...
Targeted Breast cancer Therapies
Targeted cancer therapies are cancer treatments that target specific characteristics of cancer cells, such as a protein, an enzyme, or the formation of new blood vessels. Targeted therapies don't harm normal, healthy cells. Most targeted therapies are antibodies that work like the antibodies made by the immune system. So targeted therapies are also called immune targeted therapies. In this way, targeted therapies are very different...
The role of surgery in breast cancer treatment
For well over a century, surgery has been the first line of attack against breast cancer. But things have changed a lot in recent years. Today, the goal is precise, targeted surgery that aims to preserve as much of the healthy breast and surrounding areas as possible. Even mastectomy (breast removal) is a more refined, less drastic option than it was a generation ago.
The most important of these deciding factors are: the stage...
Treatment of breast cancer
In recent years, there's been an explosion of life-saving treatment advances against breast cancer, bringing new hope and excitement. Instead of only one or two options, today there's an overwhelming menu of treatment choices that fight the complex mix of cells in each individual cancer. The decisions—surgery, then perhaps radiation, hormonal (anti-estrogen) therapy, and/or chemotherapy—can feel overwhelming.
breastcancer.org...
Stages of Breast Cancer
The purpose of the staging system is to help organize the different factors and some of the personality features of the cancer into categories, in order to:
* best understand your prognosis (the most likely outcome of the disease)
* guide treatment decisions, since clinical studies of breast cancer treatments that you and your doctor will...
How Breast Cancer Happens
Breast profile:
A Ducts
B Lobules
C Dilated section of duct to hold milk
D Nipple
E Fat
F Pectoralis major muscle
G Chest wall/rib cage
Enlargement
A Normal duct cells
B Basement membrane
C Lumen (center of duct)
The breast is a gland designed to make milk. The lobules in the breast make the milk, which then drains through the ducts...
Signs, Symptoms & Diagnosis of Breast cancer
SymptomsEarly breast cancer usually does not cause pain. In fact, when breast cancer first develops, there may be no symptoms at all. But as the cancer grows, it can cause changes that women should watch for: * A lump or thickening in or near the breast or in the underarm area. * A change in the size or shape of the breast. * A discharge...
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Home remedies and natural treatments for acne
Acne Remedies
Here are some home remedies and natural treatments for acne.
#
Tea Tree Oil
Tea tree oil is a popular home remedy for acne. It is an essential oil that is diluted and applied topically to acne lesions.
How is tea tree oil believed to work? Tea tree oil contains a constituent called terpinen-4-ol that's thought to be responsible for most of tea tree oil's anti-bacterial activity. Because tea tree oil can kill bacteria,...
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Acne-Treatment
TreatmentAcne treatments work by reducing oil production, speeding up skin cell turnover, fighting bacterial infection or doing all three. With most prescription acne treatments, you may not see results for four to eight weeks, and your skin may get worse before it gets better. Oral prescription medications for acne should not be used during pregnancy, especially during the first trimester.
Your doctor or dermatologist may recommend...
Acne-Risk factors
Hormonal changes in your body can provoke or aggravate acne. Such changes are common in:
Teenagers, both boys and girls
Women and girls, two to seven days before their periods
Pregnant women
People using certain medications, including cortisone
Other risk factors include:
Exposing your skin directly to greasy or oily substances, or to certain cosmetics.
Having a family history of acne. If your parents had acne, you may...
ACNE-Myth Breaker
Myth:Washing your face more often will help clear up acne
Reality:Facial blemishes are not caused by dirt. Contrary to what you may have seen in commercials, pores do not get blocked from the top down due to "impurities". Rather, the walls of a pore stick together within the skin, starting acne formation. Far from preventing acne, frequent washing may actually irritate pores and cause them to become clogged. A washcloth...
Non-inflammatory acne
Microcomedones become non-inflamed skin blemishes called comedones--either a whitehead or a blackhead:
WhiteheadWhen the trapped sebum and bacteria stay below the skin surface, a whitehead is formed. Whiteheads may show up as tiny white spots, or they may be so small that they are invisible to the naked eye.
BlackheadA blackhead occurs...
Acne-a normal follicle
A normal follicle looks like this:
For reasons no one completely understands, follicles, often called pores, sometimes get blocked. Sebum (oil) which normally drains to the surface gets blocked and bacteria begins to grow. Both whiteheads and blackheads start out as a microcomedone. The picture below is a microcomedone...
Primary Pulmonary Hypertension-Treatment
What therapy is available for patients with primary pulmonary hypertension?
Doctors can choose from a variety of drugs that help lower blood pressure in the lungs and improve heart performance in many patients.
Physicians now know that patients with PPH respond differently to the different medications that dilate or relax blood vessels and that no one drug is consistently effective in all patients.
Because individual reactions...
Primary Pulmonary Hypertension-causes & symptoms
What causes primary pulmonary hypertension?
We don't know the cause; there may be one or more causes.
The low incidence makes learning more about the disease extremely difficult.
Studies of PPH also have been difficult because a good animal model of the disease hasn't been available.
We think that in most people who develop primary pulmonary hypertension, the blood vessels are very sensitive to certain factors that trigger...
Primary or Unexplained Pulmonary Hypertension
AHA Recommendation
There is extremely wide variability in the severity of pulmonary hypertension among various patients.
Evaluating, accurately diagnosing and treating the condition is also very complex.
For these reasons, patients with symptoms that suggest pulmonary hypertension require thorough evaluation at a medical center with expertise and experience in pulmonary hypertension.
What is primary pulmonary hypertension...
Friday, August 31, 2007
Hair Removal Information & Techniques
For decades now, women have been removing unwanted body hair, using different techniques. Not only does it add to the woman's beauty but it is better for her personal hygiene as well. Today getting rid of unwanted hair has become easier than ever. There are a number of easy techniques that you can use at home or you can visit a beauty parlor for professional treatment. Given below in some...
Pleural Mesothelioma
Malignant pleural mesotheliomaPleural Mesothelioma as compared to a healthy lung. is the most common type of mesothelioma, making up over two-thirds of all cases. Pleural mesothelioma affects the lining of the lung and chest cavity known as the pleura.
The pleura is made up of the parietal and visceral pleura. The parietal pleura lines...
Peritoneal Mesothelioma Information
Peritoneal Mesothelioma -Cancer of the Stomach Lining
Peritoneum mesothelioma or Peritoneal mesothelioma is mesothelioma cancer in the lining that surrounds the abdomen (stomach).
Diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is mesothelioma cancer in the lining that surrounds the abdomen (stomach).
Diffuse means that is the cancer is spread out.
Peritoneal or Peritoneum is a smooth membrane, which lines the cavity of the abdomen...
Sunday, August 19, 2007
The Truth About LASIK Risks
While LASIK outcomes are overwhelmingly favorable, remember that there is still that fraction of less than 1% of people who do experience sometimes serious and ongoing vision problems following LASIK.
These are likely the people who operate anti-LASIK web sites filled with chilling warnings regarding dangers of the procedure, with nothing positive ever said.
You should rationally consider what unhappy LASIK patients have to...
LASIK Complication Rates Are Decreasing
Complications generally were more common in the early years of LASIK, when studies in the late 1990s indicated that up to 5% of people undergoing the procedure experienced some type of problem.
Experienced LASIK surgeons now report in trade journals that serious complication rates can be held well below 1%, but only if surgical candidates are selected very carefully.
You may be eliminated as a LASIK candidate, for example, if...
How Common Are LASIK Complications?
Public confidence in the LASIK procedure has grown in recent years because of a solid success rate involving millions of successful procedures in the United States.
With increasingly sophisticated technology used for the procedure, most LASIK outcomes these days are very favorable.
The U.S. military also has adopted widespread use of refractive surgery including LASIK to decrease reliance of troops on artificial lenses or eyewear...
Lasik risks
If you are considering LASIK and worried that something could go wrong, you might take comfort in knowing that it's extremely rare for complications from this procedure to cause permanent, significant vision loss.
Also, many complications can be resolved through re-treatment or enhancements of the eye.
Selecting the right eye surgeon probably is the single most important step you can take to decrease any risks associated with...
Friday, August 17, 2007
THE LASIK PROCEDURE
This is an outpatient procedure that usually takes 5-10 minutes per eye.
The actual laser treatment usually takes a few seconds.
First you will lie on the motorized bed. The eyes are anesthetized with eye drops only. The head is positioned under the laser. A soft clip keeps the eyelids gently and comfortably open during the treatment.
You will be asked to look at a soothing green blinking light during the entire procedure.
During...
Principles Of LASIK
Light falling on the cornea [the front surface of the eye] has a smooth curvature- referred to as a "wavefront".
As this smooth wavefront shape courses through the various optics of the eye, ocular aberrations [imperfections] are induced.
It results in an irregular wavefront curvature reaching the retinal surface, which degrades the retinal image quality.
An aberration-free eye would result in a smooth wavefront image...
REASONS TO UNDERGO LASIK
Some of the common reasons why people undergo LASIK or get rid of their spectacles and contact lenses are :
1.contact lens intolerance
2.cosmetic reasons
3. social (marriage)
4.tired of wearing glasses
5. lifestyle activities that are inhibited due to glasses or lens wear such as outdoor sports like golf, football, water sports or hiking.
In some careers such as Merchant Navy and Airways it is a requirement to have 20/20 or 6/6...
What is LASIK?
By learning more about Lasik eye surgery and Custom LASIK surgey, you are taking the first important step towards achieving improved, normal, natural vision.
Most people who wear glasses and contact lenses wish that they did not have to.
Now, thanks to advanced laser eye surgery, there is an alternative to reduce your dependence on glasses or contact lenses, or possibly eliminate them completely.
LASIK surgery and Custom LASIK...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Surgical treatment of hernia.
What is laparoscopic hernia repair?
A number of factors have led to the recent development of a new method of repair called laparoscopic hernia repair. This technique is really an extension of a traditional mesh repair method (preperitoneal repair) that was usually used in patients who had already experienced several hernia recurrences at the same site. Previously, this mesh repair approach had required a separate incision somewhat...
Monday, August 13, 2007
Investigations & Treatment
*Investigations-
If you have an obvious hernia, the doctor will not require any other tests (if you are healthy otherwise). If you have symptoms of a hernia (dull ache in groin or other body area with lifting or straining but without an obvious lump), the doctor may feel the area while increasing abdominal pressure (having you stand or cough). This action may make the hernia able to be felt. If you may have an indirect inguinal...
Hernia Causes & Symptoms
*Causes-
Although one type of abdominal hernia can be present at birth (umbilical hernia), the others happen later in life. Some involve pathways formed during fetal development, existing openings in the abdominal cavity, or areas of abdominal wall weakness.
Any condition that increases the pressure of the abdominal cavity may contribute to the formation or worsening of a hernia.
Obesity
Heavy lifting
Coughing
Straining...
Hernia Overview
A hernia occurs when the contents of a body cavity bulge out of the area where they are normally contained. These contents, usually portions of intestine or abdominal fatty tissue, are often enclosed in the thin membrane that naturally lines the inside of the cavity. Although the term hernia can be used for bulges in other areas, it most often is used to describe hernias of the lower torso (abdominal wall hernias).
Hernias by...
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Select a Mesothelioma Attorney
Questions to ask when selecting a mesothelioma attorney.
These pages provide consumer tips for how to deal with the financial aspects of selecting a mesothelioma attorney. They do not provide any information regarding the medical aspects of this serious disease.
Since so much is at stake, selecting the right mesothelioma lawyer is very important. According the Wall Street Journal, lawyers say a typical mesothelioma award in...
Mesothelioma latest research
Mesothelioma Research 1
According to Science Daily, an online resource for latest research news, mesothelioma patients who got treated by a combination of 2 drugs had an improved chance of surviving. Their survival rate increased by a minimum of 3 months. The two drugs used for the treatment were PEMETREXED and CISPLATIN. The clinical trials were done on 448 mesotheliomic patients.
About 80% of the mesotheliomic patients were...
Mesothelioma survival rate
Because mesothelioma is so hard to detect, and can easily seem to be just an upset stomach or other minor issue, it is often the case that by the time you realize you have mesothelioma, it is too late to do anything about it. The only reason you realize that you have a cancer in your chest cavity is that something truly awful has gone wrong, and you are on the final stages.
The average person who finally finds a doctor to determine...
Alternative methods for mesothelioma
Alternative methods for mesothelioma cure include the following.
-- Acupuncture
-- Herbs
-- Massage
-- Homoeopathy
-- Visual / Guided Imagery
-- Yoga
-- Meditation
-- Breathing techniques
-- Specialized diet
-- Spiritual Healing
Acupuncture Treatment for Mesothelioma
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese remedy used for curing many ailments. Sterile acupuncture needles are placed on specific energy points on the skin to release...
Asbestos and Mesothelioma
Asbestos and Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer caused by an exposure to asbestos. When asbestos fibers Danger%3A Asbestos are inhaled, they attack the wall lining the inside of the abdomen, heart or lungs, which leads to mesothelioma.
Symptoms can take decades to surface, so those affected often do not receive the proper mesothelioma diagnosis until the cancer is far advanced.
Mesothelioma lawyers have helped prove...
How to prevent Mesothelioma?
In terms of asbestos, mesothelioma prevention is extremely important to reduce the risks of this serious cancer . Mesothelioma is a fatal cancer that affects the lining of the heart, lung, or abdominal cavity. Mesothelioma has been almost exclusively linked to asbestos exposure, a group of hazardous fibers that were manufactured in hundreds of industries around the world. There are many ways that people to protect themselves against...
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Treatment:surgery
Which Surgery for Mesothelioma?
The possible operations for pleural mesothelioma are
* Extrapleural pneumonectomy
* Pleurectomy
Surgery is not suitable for everyone and won't cure your mesothelioma. The aim of the operation is to try and keep the disease under control and enable you to stay well for as long as possible. If you are having major surgery for mesothelioma, it should be as part of an overall treatment plan that...
Mesothelioma Symptoms and Diagnosis
The primary risk factor for developing mesothelioma is asbestos exposure. In the past, asbestos was used as a very effective type of insulation. The use of this material, however, has been declining since the link between asbestos and mesothelioma has become known. It is thought that when the fibers of asbestos are inhaled, some of them reach the ends of the small airways and penetrate into the pleural lining. There the fibers...
About Mesothelioma
Definition:
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer. In mesothelioma, malignant cells are found in the sac lining of the chest (the pleura) or the abdomen (the peritoneum). The majority of people with mesothelioma have a history of jobs that exposed them to asbestos,as insulation material.
Description:
In the chest and abdominal cavities, as well as in the cavity around the heart (pericardial sac), there is a layer of specialized...
