Medical science places breast cancer among diseases of manifold origin.
Malignant tumor may be caused by a number of factors usually falling within
one of the following general classes:
Genetic risks
Russian and international studies of breast
cancer reveal existence of inborn inclina-tion to it. Breast cancer in
family history produces eight-time increase in risk of tumor development.
Scientists believe it to be a consequence of some genetic flaw. "Family"
breast cancer cases make approximately 25 per cent of total. Most cases,
however, are female patients with family history "clean" of breast
cancer.
Inherited breast cancer bears some specific features: malignancy often
evolves in younger patients, 20 — 25 years old; both breasts affected more
frequently; disease spans cross many generations (male carriers may pass
the defective gene through to their daughters); cancer often develops in
other organs (ovary, rectum, etc.).
High risk of breast cancer in women with bad family history record
imposes additional requirements of reasonable cautiousness. Such persons
must pass medical screening twice a year and subject themselves to monthly
self-examinations.
Environmental risks
Studies demonstrate that breast cancer
rate depends on type of living environment with higher occurrence in industrialized
urban communities and lower occurrence in rural areas. The most dangerous
neighborhood (not to say about workplace) are non-ecological chemical factories.
Other industrial environments associated with breast cancer risks are those
were use of heavy metals (plumbum, mercury) and their derivatives are part
of technology. Other proven environmental risks include psychological pressures
at work and at home.
Habitual risks
President of Russian Academy of Medicine
Dr. Pokrovsky believes that strong correlation exist between exposure to
cancer and nourishment habits. Foreign researchers found evidence that
breast cancer risk is sufficiently higher in populations taking food rich
in calories, fat, and cholesterol, such as lamb, pork, etc. Regular consumption
of these products ruins biochemical and hormonal balance and results in
higher risks of many diseases, including cancer, and extensive body wear-out.
Systematic overfeeding leads to excessive weight and fatty tissues
adsorbing and accumulating carcinogens. There is proof evidence that surplus
fatty tissue produces a shift in hormonal metabolism towards more female
hormones (estrogens) which, in turn, are known to catalyze breast cancer.
So, weight of 70 kg and above is proven additional risk factor.
American researchers obtained data revealing correlation between excess
fat loca-tion and breast cancer risk. If fat accumulates on the belly,
probability of breast cancer is much higher than when it accumulates primarily
at hips and waist. Now check yourself: if at waist you are 80% and more
as large as at hips, your exposure to breast cancer is six times higher
than if not.
Yet another breast cancer risk factor is lack of certain vitamins,
primarily A, E, and C, which are known to prevent malignant cells from
self-reproduction. Some evidence exist about positive correlation between
breath cancer and alcohol intake (take notice: this factor does not depend
on type of drink; wine and beer are as hazardous as strong liquors are).
Hormonal factors
Mammae are hormone-dependent part of female
body. Scientists discovered that breast cancer is strongly associated with
estrogens. Early or frequent births and ovaries amputated before menopause
largely improve chances that breast cancer will never develop.
Another proven fact is that breast cancer is triggered not by large
quantity of hormones, but rather by chronic irregularity of their production
and nuclear-level mal-functions distorting hormonal impact on mammary cells
and tissues.
Hormonal mal-functions, therefore, are believed to progressively increase
probability of malignancy, especially when other cancerous risks are present.
Scientists witness close correlation between mammary cancer triggering
and overall functioning of female reproductive system. Risk of breast cancer
is much higher when the following factors are present: satisfactory sexual
experience was delayed (to after 25) or absent for several years in a row
(before 45); first pregnancy came too late (after 30) or was avoided; no
or irregular breast feeding of babies.
Breast cancer probability is also function of age: the older woman
gets, the higher is the risk. Peak occurrence coincides with menopause.
While regular process of aging is not associated with carcinogenic risk,
presence of other diseases, especially those that affect woman’s immune
system, make her vulnerable to other carcinogenic impacts.
Background diseases
A number of studies has revealed much coincidence
between certain chronic diseases that produce adverse impact upon hormonal
processes and balance and breast cancer risk. First of all, gynecological
diseases and infections that lead to ova-ries’ malfunctions, mastopathies
of all types and benign mammary tumors. Dr. I. V. Tretyakov used to say,
"what is benign in breast may turn malignant overnight."
Other diseases creating cancer-friendly physical background include
those affecting thyroid gland, endocrine system and liver (the latter is
responsible for neutralizing surplus hormones).
CNS status
Mental and neurological disorders (neuroses, psychoses, angioneuroses)
resulting from severe distresses and psychoemotional overcharges must be
addressed separately. Frequent or prolonged exposure to burdensome, afflicting
situation either at work or at home, inadequate emotional responses to
them, lack of either psychologist’s advice or self-discipline, — all these
factors disable individual’s immune system. Moreover, central nervous system
works in close interaction with endocrine system, and mental and neurological
disorders automatically bring you to utter hormonal disbalance.
Exposure to Radiation and Direct Sunlight
Risk of breast cancer is much higher for
women regularly exposed to radiation or with radiotherapy in their medical
history. However, proof evidence exists that exposure to radiation ceases
to be a factor of risk for women after 35 years old. Recent American studies
confirmed that exposure to direct sunlight reduces risk of breast cancer.
Researchers explained this fact by positive influence of vitamin D
which is known to be generated by human bodies when exposed to the sun.
Unfortunately, prolonged exposure to direct sunlight is also associated
with serious risk of skin cancer.
Traumas
It is proven, that, however severe, traumas
never produce malignant cells. Nevertheless, physical influences may dramatically
accelerate negative processes, once malignant changes have begun.
Practice shows that if breast cancer is diagnosed soon after a patient
has experienced even a slightest punch on her breast, she will inevitably
associate the two. Oncologists, however, are firm about the fact that breast
cancer is produced exclusively by longterm exposure to some combination
of factors. Moreover, the said combination strongly varies from patient
to patient. What you have to remember is that med-ics are certain about
what risk factors may act as breast cancer "triggers". What you
eat and how you live contain most of push-buttons enabling your built-in
genetic program of transforming healthy cells of your body into atypical
ones — the process known as cancer.
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For the most of the 20th century medical
science lived with the concept of radical mastectomy as the only suitable
and effective treatment for breast cancer. Being sure that cancer starts
at some certain location and then eventually spreads in predetermined patterns,
surgeons conceived that "the more you remove, the better chances are
that nothing is left and the cancer is stopped." As years went by,
health statistics were firmly reluctant to prove this theory.
Finally, both physicians and their patients doubted if radical mastectomy
was what they needed. More and more evidence emerged of the fact that cancer
was not originally placed at a fixed location, but rather omnipresent in
individual’s body, though initially in microscopic doses (system theory).
In some countries, including Canada, United Kingdom and Scandinavia, doctors
started to practice less and less radical surgeries, leaving more and more
mammary tissue in place — no negative impact on health outcomes followed.
American surgeons eventually adopted similar practices, keeping in mind
national-level cost-containment objectives. In 1979 National Cancer Institute
issued guidelines where radical mastectomy was no longer favored as preferred
procedure for breast cancer management. Today it is indicated in most complicated
cases only which constitute about 5 per cent of breast cancer total. Most
patients receive complex treatment combining partial mastectomy, radio-,
chemical and hormonal therapies. Mastectomy restricted to cancer loci and
radiotherapy are local treatments, while chemotherapy and hormones address
needs of entire bodily system cleaning it of individual cancer cells.
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From "The new: our Bodies, ourselves".
The Boston Women's Health Book Collective.
