Breast Cancer is reported to be the second leading cause of cancer death for females and it is the most common reason for the death of women between 40 and 55 years of age. This disease has been a huge problem for women since of late and the US experiences over 170,000 new cases of breast cancer every year. According to the statistics of the American Cancer Society, the lifetime probability of developing breast cancer in women in the US is 1 in 8 (2002-2004), which shows how serious this disease is.
Due to the above factors, women are becoming more and more interested in finding ways to get rid of this deadly disease. The first question that comes into one’s mind is “Can breast cancer be cured?” There’s no exact answer for this question because it depends on the situation of the victim.
What medical doctors and specialists say is that breast cancer (or for that matter any cancer) could be cured (or prevented) if detected early, but the chances of curing breast cancer after it has spread and grown is quite a hard task, or rather believed to be impossible. Have you noticed in journals or magazines published by cancer societies’ the statement “Can breast cancer be prevented?” If there was a sure cure, they wouldn’t word it this way, which means there is no definite cure for cancer.
However, medicine and other methods of medication have been discovered by people, which are believed to help cure breast cancer. Numerous methods are used in combination to treat and cure breast cancer, such as hormone therapy, surgery, radiation therapy, biological therapy and chemotherapy. Hormone therapy is used if the tumor is sensitive to hormones such as estrogen and progestin. The main objective of breast cancer surgery is to remove the cancer from the breast. Radiation therapy is used to destroy remaining cancer cells in the breast. Similarly, other therapies are used to reduce or shrink the tumor so that removal by surgery is possible.
Tamoxifen is the world’s largest selling drug, which is prescribed for (pre- and post-menopausal) women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer. It could be used by women of all ages who are suffering from hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer, at all stages of the disease. Doctors suggest that it be taken once daily for up to 5 years.
In addition, there are other medications and therapies that doctors and medical researchers have suggested, such as Acupuncture, Meditation, Black Cohosh (a perennial plant native to North America) and Linseed, Therapeutic touch and special restrictive diets and food (such as apricot seeds).
Even though some of these medications and methods are not clinically proven, there have been breast cancer victims who have managed to cure themselves through these methods. Even with such medications, there also have been incidences where once cured-victims of breast cancer saw a recurrence of the cancer in later years.
It is difficult to arrive at a clear conclusion for the question of “Can breast cancer be cured?” The best answer that could be given is that breast cancer cure is a possibility if it is detected early, but becomes tougher as the cancer grows. |
