PREVENTION+by+melissa+and+michelle

===|| HOME || CAUSE || EFFECTS || TREATMENT || PREVENTION || CHOICE || NOTES || MLA ||===  http://www.asiaing.com/images/stories/magazines/2006.Breast.Cancer.Handbook.Asiaing.gif

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Nowadays, there are many things you can do to prevent breast cancer. __Chemoprevention __: Even though it is actually not possible to fully prevent breast cancer, but many women now use chemo prevention.  In chemo prevention, you take pills, like a drug called tamoxifen. It have been tested and been shown to reduce the risk of getting breast cancer. Since estrogen encourages breast cell division, tamoxifen blocks the estrogen effect, which will stop the the division of the breast cancer cells that are already in the body. Unfortunately, there are some undesirable side effects of using this drug so doctors only recommend it for women who have a high risk of getting breast cancer.

__Lifestyle Changes: __ Some studies showed that women who don't drink alcohol, have a healthy diet/not obese, and exercises regularly are less likely to develop breast cancer. Exercise can also decrease the estrogen level, so even for women who already have breast cancer, exercise can boost the immune system and help kill any cancer cells or at least slow their growth rate. __Surgery: __ Rarely used and is only considered for women at a high risk of breast cancer (family history) or ones that are very concerned about the possibilty of them getting breast cancer. __Early Detection: __ This is when doctors find cancers when they are still very tiny(curable). This process is called screening and involves frequent checking for breast cancer. Mammography is the most importing screening test for breast cancer. A trained technician uses a low-dose X-ray machine to take a picture of the tissues inside the breast. Physicians can then look at these pictures and see if there are any signs of cancer. The National Cancer Institute recommends that women older that forty have a mammogram every one or two years. Although, there are some drawbacks and people who goes through mammography can still die of breast cancer. People are reccomended to use mammography because sometimes a tumor is too small to be felt by just breast examination. Earlier detection has made a positive impact on the survival of women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and most women can look forward to long healthy lives.

Quiz Question: Out of the four ways listed to prevent breast cancer, which one is the most rarely used and why?