January 18, 2015

Alcohol Abuse Increase the Risk of Breast cancer

The risks of alcohol abuse are well known by even elementary school kids. However the link between breast cancer and alcohol abuse is something ma y people have never known. This is not so appropriate given that most recent research findings have shown the clear link between these two conditions. Studies have proved the links between alcohol use and breast cancer. Research findings points out that one in five (21.6%) of all alcohol-related deaths are due to cancer globally. Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in women coming second after lung cancer.

According to Drinkaware’s Chief Medical Advisor, Professor Paul Wallace, people should know that alcohol abuse can increase women’s risk of getting breast cancer.

“My impression is that my patients don’t know about the link between alcohol and breast cancer any more than they do about the association between alcohol and fertility. We can do more to increase awareness.” he says

The professor continued to give the following details on the link between alcohol abuse and breast cancer. True to his words there seems to be a lot of evidence that alcohol abuse increases the risk of breast cancer. However, he made it clear that drinking alcohol does not guarantee that you will get breast cancer but it increases your risk of getting the disease. How much you drink over your lifetime is what increases the risk.

He opines that although alcohol does increase the risk, taken with all the other factors, its contribution to overall causation of breast cancer is estimated to be about 4%. The advice is that if you do regularly drink it should be within the government’s lower risk guidelines.

However the evidences availed by Dr. Wallace aren’t the only ones available to back up this link between alcohol abuse and breast cancer. There are older evidences which show that alcohol increases the risk of developing breast cancer. Professor Wallace confirms that they have known for years that your risk of developing breast cancer increases when you overindulge in alcohol consumption. Overall, women have a 9.5% chance of getting breast cancer before they are 75.In one of these studies it was found that drinking every day even a small amount raises that risk to 10.6%. (4) Professor Wallace says, though, that the overall risk (anything that affects your chance of getting a disease) is based on how much you drink on average each day over a lifetime.

According to Professor Wallace, this link is real based on past research findings which have been reinforced by a recent research that was even done on a larger scope to establish the link between alcohol abuse and breast cancer. This study however is still going on. This study is done on 1.3 million women across the United Kingdom. This study has indicated that the overall risk of a woman to develop breast cancer increases by 7.1 percent for each 10 grams of alcohol drank

Despite the evidences that have been availed, the exact ways alcohol increases the risk of developing breast cancer are still not fully understood but researchers have made known some of the highly potential mechanisms through which alcohol consumption links to breast cancer. one of the mechanism that is suspected to be the major contributor here is the fact that ethanol is broken down into a toxic substance known as acetaldehyde, which can cause genetic mutations, a permanent change in the DNA sequence that makes up genes. This can trigger a response from the body leading to the development of cancerous cells.

Several studies have also reported that alcohol can potentially increase the production of the female hormone estrogen in pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women. One characteristic of a cancer cell is that it multiplies out of control and in certain types of breast cancer; high circulating levels of estrogen can make this more likely to happen. Alcohol also weakens the immune system leading to nutritional deficiencies, including folic acid, vitamins A, B6, D and E and zinc, all of which may make it more difficult for the body to fight cancerous cells making a person more vulnerable to breast cancer.

The risk of developing breast cancer as always known is much higher in women than in men; this can be attributed to the higher levels of hormone estrogen in women which has been known to increase risks of developing breast cancer. Professor Wallace therefore advices women to stop indulging in excessive drinking and to drink below statutory drinking regulation limits as that is the only way they can reduce this risk of breast cancer apart from dropping alcohol use entirely.

Breast Cancer “Drink within the government’s lower risk guidelines. When taken overall, looking at all the things alcohol does, the risk at these levels is minimal. Life isn’t about zero risk. Even if you lived in a bubble and didn’t ever go outside, you would still be likely to get osteoporosis because you didn’t exercise!” He adds.

Even men are at risk

The risk of breast cancer is not only to worry women but men as well. Though breast cancer is synonymous to women, men also are at a high risk of getting this disease especially later as they age since that is the time when their levels of hormone estrogen increases. It is therefore advisable for men to reduce the amounts of drinks they take and reduce this risk.

Finally, Alcohol abuse, addiction and cancer are problems that people cope with every day. These problems need to be treated effectively through integrative medicine. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an expert at this. Call her on (843) 213-1480 for help.

Alcohol Abuse and Breast cancer

Breast Thermography & Prediction of Cancer Risk

October 5, 2014

Breast Thermography and Cancer Risk Prediction

In this article, we shall look at breast thermorgraphy and cancer risk prediction. Our focus shall be on discussing what breast thermography is, how it works and its role in predicting the risk of breast cancer.

What is breast thermography?

Breast Thermography

Breast thermography is one of the methods that are used to examine the internal structure of breasts as a means of detecting the possibility of breast cancer developing. Detection of breast cancer is one of the important elements in the overall management of the disease. That is why there are many different procedures that have been developed to help doctors detect the presence of cancerous cells in the breast of a woman pretty fast.

One such method entails the use of mammograms. These are special images that are generated using x-rays to view the internal structure of the breast as a way of testing for breast cancer. Mammograms have proven to be effective in screening procedures for breast cancer so far. Another one is biopsy. This is the most complicated and effective method of detecting breast cancer. Tissues are removed from the breast and subjected to thorough examination in the laboratory for the presence of abnormal cancer cells. It is actually the last step in the detection process.

Lastly, breast thermography is based on the idea that diseased tissues do have a higher rate of biochemical activity and, therefore, emit a higher level of radiation than the other normal tissues. The method uses this logic to generate an internal view of the tissues of the breast.

What is the procedure for thermography?

Naturally, the human body emits a form of radiation known as infrared radiation. There is nothing new in this for nearly all objects emit this form of radiation, what matters is the type of radiation that is emitted in terms of its range. When properly functioning, the emission of radiation from the body is actually uniform. However, when cancer is developing at any part of the body, there is always abnormal activity taking place at the cellular level in the region.

The abnormal activity is seen in several ways. First, the cancer cells seek to get extra supply of blood through the process of angiogenesis. This increases the biochemical reactions taking place in the tissues in which cancer is developing. Second, the cells seek to induce development of their own supply systems within the body. Once again, this causes hyper cellular activity. Third, cancer cells tend to break away from the original lump and spread to other areas where they can invade healthy cells and grow afresh. Known as metastasis, this process increases the biochemical activity at the cellular level.

Using specialized equipment, doctors are able to get images of the breast tissues by stimulating specific reactions to the body. For example, using special procedures, doctors can stimulate the body to cool down suddenly and then observe what parts of the body (the breast tissue in this case) fail to cool down relative to the rest of the body. Such parts are marked for possible presence of cancer cells.

Highly advanced cameras are able to detect such anomalies in the biochemical activity of cells and translate them to highly complicated images that are interpreted by specialists. The results of breast thermography are not enough for a diagnosis of breast cancer to be made on a patient. What usually happens is that breast thermography is used as an initial procedure. The results determine whether or not other additional tests should be carried out. Besides, thermography has been successfully used to monitor the progress of treatment in patients of breast cancer. Therefore, its uses are diverse.

Role of breast thermography in cancer risk prediction

Breast Thermography and Cancer Risk Basically, this procedure has been hailed as an effective way of detecting the possible development of breast cancer in patients quite early. When properly used, breast thermography can play an important role in detecting the risk of breast cancer early thus allowing doctors to tackle the risk using the right measures.

There are several ways in which breast thermography is a useful tool in breast cancer risk prediction. For example, the procedure is usually used in conjunction with other clinical procedures to ensure that cases of breast cancer are detected early enough to allow for successful use of appropriate therapies. Usually, breast thermography is used in conjunction with mammograms and biopsy to detect and make accurate diagnosis in patients before a specific therapy is recommended.

Also, breast thermography plays a role in managing the risk of breast cancer by being used as a tool for ordinary breast checkups. Since the method is completely safe and quite fast, it is used as a means of conducting checks on the conditions of the breasts of patients on a regular basis. Studies have indicated that this approach produces positive results over the long term.

Further, when used for the first time on a patient and the results indicate an abnormal image of the breast tissue, the results of this method have been useful in accurately indicating the possibility of one developing breast cancer in the future. Therefore, when one gets a positive result from this test, it has been the norm to institute the right measures to ensure that if the inevitable occurs, it can be tackled quite easily and fast.

Breast cancer is a common health problem today. Here at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, we have devoted our resources to helping patients of breast cancer go through treatment quite fast and effectively. We use various alternative treatment methods to reduce the side effects and boost the effectiveness of the treatment method being used. We are located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Feel free to visit us or contact Dr. Dalal Akoury, a renowned cancer specialist for personalized solutions.