Targeting Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer has become one of the more common types of cancer out there. While it affects both males and females, it tends to happen much more in women than men. What happens is that the cells in the breast tissue start to grow rapidly, forming actual tumors.

Just like with many types of cancer, breast cancer can be fatal if not treated or detected early enough. However, early detection methods are available, and the continued research into molecular testing is only helping the situation even more.

Importance of Early Detection

Cancer, in general, needs to be detected as soon as possible. This is the same with breast cancer, especially. The reason is that we are looking at too much cell growth corrupting the surrounding area. If left alone, it will continue to grow, expand, impede the area's functionality, and spread to other body parts, potentially spreading cancer. That's why early detection is important to offer the necessary treatment to eliminate it completely from the system.

Steps to take

Early detection requires consistency and discipline. The first place to consider is if your family is prone to getting breast cancer. This means that you will want to increase the number of checkups and testing you get.

Before heading into a testing area, women need to give themselves a monthly self-examination to see if there's any issue or abnormality with their breast tissue. This consistency will easily let you know if something is off.

It's also possible to get a clinical breast exam from a medical professional who will know what to look for exactly when it comes to breast cancer. On top of that, it is recommended, though, that after women reach the age of 40, they should start getting regular annual mammograms done.

Molecular testing can help

Of course, with the continued research into molecular testing, this is starting to be a more commonplace practice, on top of the yearly mammograms and self-examinations. Typically once the tumor is noticeable and it's determined its breast cancer, molecular testing comes in to help develop the best treatment plan for the individual.

Testing the DNA of the tumor itself will help with which approach to take and focus on expedient treatment and recovery plans. One that is becoming increasingly common is Oncotype DX. This molecular testing looks at how the genes act and helps with predictions on how successful chemotherapy will be and whether a recurrence is possible.

Another similar type of testing is hormone receptor testing which looks to see how the breast cancer cells react to estrogen and progesterone, again helping with guidance for treatment.

Then there's the specific testing of what type of breast cancer it is, which helps navigate the treatment options. A good example of this is HER2 testing which looks at if there's too much of the HER2 protein in the cancer cells themselves.

In the end

While the best approach is consistent testing and finding cancer at its earliest stage, there is only going to be more molecular testing that's going to come out. This will help develop unique and personalized treatments focusing on curing a specific type of breast cancer for a particular kind of person.

In addition, knowing how cancer would react to treatments ahead of time only saves time throughout the treatment to ensure that the patient has a fast recovery time.

Instead of trying out several different types of treatments that can be uncomfortable or even painful, molecular testing helps narrow down the treatment options with the best potential outcome.