Breast Cancer

Running Head: BREAST CANCER PATIENT 1

BREAST CANCER PATIENT 3

Breast Cancer Patient

Name of Student

Name of Instructor

Name of Course

Name of Institution

Date

Breast Cancer Patient

Introduction

Breast cancer involves cancer, which occurs in the breast cells. Cancer begins when the cells start to get out of control through growth (Sarala, 2020). Breast cancer can either take place in the ducts or the lobules of the breast. Joining a nursing school helps people gain more information about cancer types that exist in people. Therefore, I joined the nursing institution to understand breast cancer information, which my mother has, and how I can care for her. Nursing courses give more details about the start of breast cancer and how nurses can control it in patients to improve their health. The paper explains breast cancer in patients and the change in signs and symptoms, and how it can be diagnosed and managed.

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Breast cancer diagnosis

Many benefits come with joining a nursing school. One of the main reasons I joined the nursing school is that I wanted to understand breast cancer diagnosis (Bonsu, 2019). Nurses have more information on a breast cancer diagnosis, which can help them detect the type of cancer a patient has to control it. There are different tests that nurses study in school on the diagnosis of breast cancer. One of the tests involves the imaging tests, which show the pictures of the inside body. The imaging tests help the nurses learn more about the suspicious parts in the screening (Wang, 2017). Ultrasound is one of the imaging tests which nurses study on how to diagnose breast cancer. Other imaging tests include the breast MRI which uses magnet and radio waves to take pictures inside the body, and diagnostic mammography, which takes pictures when the patient has more signs in the breast like nipple discharge.

Another type of diagnosis which nurses learn in a nursing school includes biopsy, where a small tissue gets removed from the breast organ for checking under a microscope. A pathologist analyzes the sample and determines if there is cancer. Surgical biopsy and core needle biopsy are examples of biopsy tests that nurses learn in nursing schools. Therefore, taking part in a nursing school is beneficial because it helps nurses detect breast cancer on time, thus controlling it. Understanding breast cancer diagnosis ensures that the nurse can determine if the cancer cells spread in other parts of the body or are just within the breast tissues.

Causes and risk factors of breast cancer

There is no definite cause of breast cancer in women. The people who find themselves with breast cancer cannot explain what caused it, thus making it difficult to explain the reasons for breast cancer. However, there is multiple threat factors related with breast cancer in women. Joining a nursing school helps a person to understand the threat factors linked with breast tumor. Exposing oneself to certain risk factors can make them develop breast cancer, and thus it is essential to understand the exposures to prevent people from the disease.

As a nurse, the lessons taught in school are essential in guiding people on reducing the threat aspects related with breast tumors. There are risk factors which a patient can change and others which a person cannot change. Understanding them will guide the nurse in advising people on the best ways of living to prevent themselves from breast cancer. Some of the risk factors that nurses learn about breast cancer and that can change include being physically active, taking hormones, and taking alcohol (Engmann, 2017). There are risk factors in breast cancer that cannot change and include getting old, reproductive history, history of radiotherapy treatment, etc. Nurses can use this information to educate society on the best ways of reducing the risk of breast cancer.

The risk factors expose women to different types of cancer. Nurses learn the two main categories of cancer, invasive and noninvasive, which have different types of breast cancer classified under them. The kind of risk factors a person is exposed to leads to breast cancer (Horn, 2017). Joining the nursing school will help a person understand various types of breast cancer like invasive ductal carcinoma and angiosarcoma and take against them.

Signs and symptoms of breast cancer

Learning nursing concepts would expand my knowledge of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. There are different symptoms and signs of breast cancer, which implies patients experience various clinical manifestations of breast cancer. One of the breast cancer symptoms involves developing a persistent lump under the armpit near the breast. The skin might thicken in any part of an individual's breast. However, other medical conditions may also cause breast lumps. The lump may cause thickening of a part of the breast, and in some instances, it becomes painful (Khaliq, 2019). The swelling develops due to lymph node changes and might feel tender upon touch; cancer cells that leave the breast area deposit themselves in the lymph nodes around the armpit.

Nipple discharge is another clinical manifestation of breast cancer. The nipple might begin to discharge substances other than milk, which might appear thick or thin. The areola discharge is an early sign of breast cancer that infects the milk ducts. Breast cancer causes changes in the skin cells, which result in severe breast pain in the form of a burning feeling. The nipple discharge may have different colors like bloody or clear (Winters, 2017). Another symptom of breast cancer is skin dimpling, which makes a patient's skin to appear reddish. The skin forms dimples when a cancer patient raises or moves their arms, making the breast skin to appear pitted. The dimpling resulting from cancer infection mostly occurs in one breast where cancerous cells affect the skin and lymph vessels in any part of the breast.

Another symptom of breast cancer is a pain in any part of the breast or nipple. Cancerous cells cause changes in the nipple area, which might result in severe pain and discomfort. The problem may be due to infections of breast cells and might cause sores around the nipple. Breast pain might not indicate that a person has breast cancer, especially if breast lumps do not accompany it. Most breast cancer patients do not experience aches, but a person should not ignore breast pain. Nipple inversion is another clinical manifestation of breast cancer. The inversion occurs when a nipple pulls inwards and sometimes below the areola. Breast cancer may also cause hardness around the nipple. A change in the skin texture is another sign of breast cancer. A patient may experience a flaky skin around the nipple area, which progresses to a tender skin around the breast region. The breast skin may also irritate frequently, making a person feel uncomfortable. The skin around the areola may appear scaly and extremely dry. Patients need to consult their doctors in the event of a texture change because the change may result from other skin conditions.

Breast cancer treatment and management

Nursing can enable me to explore the different treatment options available for breast cancer patients. Several breast cancer treatment measures exist depending on the severity of the infection. Breast cancer has a cure only if the cancerous cells have not spread to the nearby tissues' duct walls. Breast cancer treatment options vary from patient to patient, depending on the cancer infection (Shah, 2019). The most common treatment options involve surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

Healthcare professionals recommend breast cancer surgery when the cancer is in the invasive stage. Surgery is the best option because the cancer tumor is smaller and easily removable. The surgery involves the removal of cancerous cells in the breast. A medical professional may also advise a patient to remove the entire breast. The patient receives systemic medication after the surgery. Another treatment option for breast cancer is radiation treatment. The therapy entails exposure to high-power energy waves to destroy cancerous tissues. The period of radiation treatment takes several weeks for the successful elimination of cancerous tissues in the breast. Healthcare professionals administer radiation analysis depending on a patient's situation and location of the cancer tumor.

Chemotherapy is another treatment option for breast cancer patients. The treatment is mostly used on a breast cancer patient when the cancer tumors are too big for removal through surgery. The treatment involves the prescription of anticancer-drugs either via injection or oral. The treatment is essential before and after the removal of breast cancer tumors. Doctors administer adjuvant chemotherapy to patients after surgery to kill any micro cancer tissues to prevent new cancer tumors (Ikhuoria, 2018). A breast cancer patient may also receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy to reduce cancer tissues before undergoing a surgical operation. The treatment enables doctors to analyze the response of cancer tumors to the therapy. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is also a preventive measure because it prevents the recurrence of breast cancer. Chemotherapy is a general treatment for patients whose breast cancer has spread to other parts near the breast region.

Conclusion

Choosing a nursing school helps a person to gain information on how to handle different kinds of diseases. Breast cancer patients experience many challenges, and thus they need a person informed to take care of them. Signs and symptoms of breast cancer keep changing from one stage to the other, and having the information can make a caregiver understand how to take care of the patient. There are preventive measures and other breast cancer interventions that only people who attend a nursing school can get to know, thus making it essential to join a nursing school.

References

Bonsu, A. B., & Ncama, B. P. (2019). Integration of breast cancer prevention and early detection into cancer palliative care model. PloS one, 14(3), e0212806.

Engmann, N. J., Golmakani, M. K., Miglioretti, D. L., Sprague, B. L., & Kerlikowske, K. (2017). Population-attributable risk proportion of clinical risk factors for breast cancer. JAMA oncology, 3(9), 1228-1236.

Horn, J., & Vatten, L. J. (2017). Reproductive and hormonal risk factors of breast cancer: a historical perspective. International journal of women's health, 9, 265.

Ikhuoria, E. B., & Bach, C. (2018). Introduction to Breast Carcinogenesis–Symptoms, Risks factors, Treatment and Management. European Journal of Engineering Research and Science, 3(7), 58-66.

Khaliq, I. H., Mahmood, H. Z., Sarfraz, M. D., Gondal, K. M., & Zaman, S. (2019). Pathways to care for patients in Pakistan experiencing signs or symptoms of breast cancer. The Breast, 46, 40-47.

Sarala, M. N., & Firthouse, M. I. J. (2020). An Analysis of Endo Metrial (Uterine) Cancer using Rtd Matrix.

Shah, N. M., Scott, D. M., Kandagatla, P., Moravek, M. B., Cobain, E. F., Burness, M. L., & Jeruss, J. S. (2019). Young women with breast cancer: fertility preservation options and management of pregnancy-associated breast cancer. Annals of surgical oncology, 26(5), 1214-1224.

Wang, L. (2017). Early diagnosis of breast cancer. Sensors, 17(7), 1572.

Winters, S., Martin, C., Murphy, D., & Shokar, N. K. (2017). Breast cancer epidemiology, prevention, and screening. In Progress in molecular biology and translational science (Vol. 151, pp. 1-32). Academic Press.