The History and Mystery of Breast Cancer

The History and Mystery of Breast Cancer PDF Author: Michael Baum
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527536750
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Breast cancer and its treatment is a terribly complex problem that involves all the intricacies of the human body, the anatomical and microscopic anatomy of the breast, the endocrine system, and bone metabolism, as well as the nature of malignant transformation. Even experts still have uncertainties. However, there is now an ethical and legal obligation for specialists to share their uncertainties with their patients when we are looking for informed consent before invasive procedures. Obsessive ruminations about the threat of breast cancer mean that few in the lay public know that breast cancer has slipped out of the top seven causes of death for women. Treatments for breast cancer might increase the risk of death from cardio-vascular disease, whilst, on the other hand, denying women in this age group hormone replacement therapy for the unjustified fear of breast cancer can impair their quality of life, cognitive function and bone mineral density. The totality of women’s health and expectation of life must always trump the single-issue fanatics who only view women as the sum of their two breasts. This is more than a self-help book, but should also be considered as introducing the history and mystery of breast cancer, from the time of the Ancient Egyptians to the modern era, as well as hopes for the future.

The History and Mystery of Breast Cancer

The History and Mystery of Breast Cancer PDF Author: Michael Baum
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527536750
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Get Book Here

Book Description
Breast cancer and its treatment is a terribly complex problem that involves all the intricacies of the human body, the anatomical and microscopic anatomy of the breast, the endocrine system, and bone metabolism, as well as the nature of malignant transformation. Even experts still have uncertainties. However, there is now an ethical and legal obligation for specialists to share their uncertainties with their patients when we are looking for informed consent before invasive procedures. Obsessive ruminations about the threat of breast cancer mean that few in the lay public know that breast cancer has slipped out of the top seven causes of death for women. Treatments for breast cancer might increase the risk of death from cardio-vascular disease, whilst, on the other hand, denying women in this age group hormone replacement therapy for the unjustified fear of breast cancer can impair their quality of life, cognitive function and bone mineral density. The totality of women’s health and expectation of life must always trump the single-issue fanatics who only view women as the sum of their two breasts. This is more than a self-help book, but should also be considered as introducing the history and mystery of breast cancer, from the time of the Ancient Egyptians to the modern era, as well as hopes for the future.

The Cancer Chronicles

The Cancer Chronicles PDF Author: George Johnson
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385349718
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
When the woman he loved was diagnosed with a metastatic cancer, science writer George Johnson embarked on a journey to learn everything he could about the disease and the people who dedicate their lives to understanding and combating it. What he discovered is a revolution under way—an explosion of new ideas about what cancer really is and where it comes from. In a provocative and intellectually vibrant exploration, he takes us on an adventure through the history and recent advances of cancer research that will challenge everything you thought you knew about the disease. Deftly excavating and illuminating decades of investigation and analysis, he reveals what we know and don’t know about cancer, showing why a cure remains such a slippery concept. We follow him as he combs through the realms of epidemiology, clinical trials, laboratory experiments, and scientific hypotheses—rooted in every discipline from evolutionary biology to game theory and physics. Cogently extracting fact from a towering canon of myth and hype, he describes tumors that evolve like alien creatures inside the body, paleo-oncologists who uncover petrified tumors clinging to the skeletons of dinosaurs and ancient human ancestors, and the surprising reversals in science’s comprehension of the causes of cancer, with the foods we eat and environmental toxins playing a lesser role. Perhaps most fascinating of all is how cancer borrows natural processes involved in the healing of a wound or the unfolding of a human embryo and turns them, jujitsu-like, against the body. Throughout his pursuit, Johnson clarifies the human experience of cancer with elegiac grace, bearing witness to the punishing gauntlet of consultations, surgeries, targeted therapies, and other treatments. He finds compassion, solace, and community among a vast network of patients and professionals committed to the fight and wrestles to comprehend the cruel randomness cancer metes out in his own family. For anyone whose life has been affected by cancer and has found themselves asking why?, this book provides a new understanding. In good company with the works of Atul Gawande, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Abraham Verghese, The Cancer Chronicles is endlessly surprising and as radiant in its prose as it is authoritative in its eye-opening science.

The End of Breast Cancer

The End of Breast Cancer PDF Author: Kathleen T. Ruddy
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510723021
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Can a mouse virus cause breast cancer in women? Answering that question has become Dr. Kathleen Ruddy's life’s work. The End of Breast Cancer is the landmark book that gives an extraordinary glimpse into the history of breast cancer research, and the findings that support the theory that the virus that causes breast cancer in mice, and has also been found in rats, cats, dogs, and monkeys plays a significant role in 40-94% of human breast cancer. Researchers contend that we are one step away from having final proof of this. Once we know the cause, then we can move forward to develop a preventative vaccine. The first and only breast cancer specialist to compile this encyclopedic research in one volume, Dr. Ruddy writes: “If there’s a virus that causes breast cancer, and a safe and effective vaccine that can prevent this disease, we need to know about it now, not in another 100 years.” The End of Cancer represents the culmination of Ruddy’s research findings and the breakthroughs that are happening every day to unravel the mystery. We may well witness in our lifetimes the eradication of breast cancer.

False Hope

False Hope PDF Author: Richard A. Rettig
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199748241
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
In the late 1980s, a promising new treatment for breast cancer emerged: high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplantation or HDC/ABMT. By the 1990s, it had burst upon the oncology scene and disseminated rapidly before having been carefully evaluated. By the time published studies showed that the procedure was ineffective, more than 30,000 women had received the treatment, shortening their lives and adding to their suffering. This book tells of the rise and demise of HDC/ABMT for metastatic and early stage breast cancer, and fully explores the story's implications, which go well beyond the immediate procedure, and beyond breast cancer, to how we in the United States evaluate other medical procedures, especially life-saving ones. It details how the factors that drove clinical use--patient demand, physician enthusiasm, media reporting, litigation, economic exploitation, and legislative and administrative mandates--converged to propel the procedure forward despite a lack of proven clinical effectiveness. It also analyzes the limited effect of technology assessments before randomized clinical trials evaluated decisively the procedure and the ramifications of this system on healthcare today. Sections of the book consider the initial conditions surrounding the emergence of the new breast cancer treatment, the drivers of clinical use, and the struggle for evidence-based medicine. A concluding section considers the significance of the story for our healthcare system.

Bathsheba's Breast

Bathsheba's Breast PDF Author: James S. Olson
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801880643
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
" ... An absorbing narrative history of breast cancer told through the heroic stories of women who have confronted the disease."--Back cover.

Radical

Radical PDF Author: Kate Pickert
Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
ISBN: 0316470333
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
In this "powerful and unflinching page-turner" (New York Times), a healthcare journalist examines the science, history, and culture of breast cancer. As a health-care journalist, Kate Pickert knew the emotional highs and lows of medical treatment well -- but always from a distance, through the stories of her subjects. That is, until she was unexpectedly diagnosed with an aggressive type of breast cancer at the age of 35. As she underwent more than a year of treatment, Pickert realized that the popular understanding of breast care in America bears little resemblance to the experiences of today's patients and the rapidly changing science designed to save their lives. After using her journalistic skills to navigate her own care, Pickert embarked on a quest to understand the cultural, scientific and historical forces shaping the lives of breast-cancer patients in the modern age. Breast cancer is one of history's most prolific killers. Despite billions spent on research and treatments, it remains one of the deadliest diseases facing women today. From the forests of the Pacific Northwest to an operating suite in Los Angeles to the epicenter of pink-ribbon advocacy in Dallas, Pickert reports on the turning points and people responsible for the progress that has been made against breast cancer and documents the challenges of defeating a disease that strikes one in eight American women and has helped shape the country's medical culture. Drawing on interviews with doctors, economists, researchers, advocates and patients, as well as on journal entries and recordings collected over the author's treatment, Radical puts the story of breast cancer into context, and shows how modern treatments represent a long overdue shift in the way doctors approach cancer -- and disease -- itself.

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer PDF Author: Fred Harding
Publisher: Tekline Publishing
ISBN: 0955422108
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
An updated edition of a prior work entitled "Breast Cancer Prevention and Cure," this text includes new chapters that--with several hundred references--show conclusively what causes the disease and how to prevent it.

Breast Cancer: Beyond Convention

Breast Cancer: Beyond Convention PDF Author: Isaac Cohen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743424468
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 498

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Book Description
Today, more breast cancer treatment options are available than ever before. But how can you determine the course of action that is right for YOU? Breast Cancer: Beyond Convention is the only single resource that lays out all of the traditional and alternative approaches available today. Assembling a "dream team" of breast cancer experts, the editors of this truly groundbreaking guide encourage readers to work with their practitioners as they consider a variety of approaches, all explained in clear, nontechnical language. Readers will discover how to find the right caregiver and how to best complement conventional medical treatment with alternative medicine how to be "healed" without necessarily being "cured" how to incorporate traditional Chinese medicine -- including herbs, qigong, and acupuncture the right diet to choose, no matter the form of treatment; the importance of soy products; plus fifteen delicious recipes to sample the best vitamins, minerals, and natural foods, and the specific benefits -- and possible dangers -- of each the merits of spiritual treatments, from meditation and directed prayer to the powerful mystery of the "will to live." The guide features an encyclopedic appendix of websites, and lists of national support organizations, care centers, recommended audiotapes, CDs, and books -- making this the single source to help patients take control of their treatment, assuage their fears, and get them on the road to healing. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program at the University of California, San Francisco

Looking Well Beyond Breast Cancer

Looking Well Beyond Breast Cancer PDF Author: Carmen Brown Marshall
Publisher: Bookbaby
ISBN: 9781098343699
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 110

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Book Description
Beyond breast cancer is where so many of us are who have been impacted by this disease. This has happened partly because we learn more about ourselves and are not afraid to take the power to make life saving decisions for ourselves. I chose the word 'beyond' with emphasis on describing how to arrive at or get to the further side of a diagnosis. I have had the opportunity to meet amazing Doctors. Many choose the profession looking to do the greatest good but we must always remember they too are imperfect. Doctors are practicing medicine but we are the experts of our bodies and have the most knowledge about ourselves. With this understanding, we can look well beyond the time point of a diagnosis of breast cancer. One of the greatest keys to looking well beyond breast cancer or any situation that tried to hinder you from walking into your destiny is to remember that we were amazing creations made by God. We are fashioned in His image and each one of us is uniquely special. If you don't already know yourself and your purpose and what you are to be while here on earth, take time to quietly reflect and consider your life. We are so much more than our physical bodies designed to live well beyond breast cancer. .

The Cancer Code

The Cancer Code PDF Author: Dr. Jason Fung
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062894021
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
Author of the international bestsellers The Diabetes Code and The Obesity Code Dr. Jason Fung returns with an eye-opening biography of cancer in which he offers a radical new paradigm for understanding cancer—and issues a call to action for reducing risk moving forward. Our understanding of cancer is slowly undergoing a revolution, allowing for the development of more effective treatments. For the first time ever, the death rate from cancer is showing a steady decline . . . but the “War on Cancer” has hardly been won. In The Cancer Code, Dr. Jason Fung offers a revolutionary new understanding of this invasive, often fatal disease—what it is, how it manifests, and why it is so challenging to treat. In this rousing narrative, Dr. Fung identifies the medical community’s many missteps in cancer research—in particular, its focus on genetics, or what he terms the “seed” of cancer, at the expense of examining the “soil,” or the conditions under which cancer flourishes. Dr. Fung—whose groundbreaking work in the treatment of obesity and diabetes has won him international acclaim—suggests that the primary disease pathway of cancer is caused by the dysregulation of insulin. In fact, obesity and type 2 diabetes significantly increase an individual’s risk of cancer. In this accessible read, Dr. Fung provides a new paradigm for dealing with cancer, with recommendations for what we can do to create a hostile soil for this dangerous seed. One such strategy is intermittent fasting, which reduces blood glucose, lowering insulin levels. Another, eliminating intake of insulin-stimulating foods, such as sugar and refined carbohydrates. For hundreds of years, cancer has been portrayed as a foreign invader we’ve been powerless to stop. By reshaping our view of cancer as an internal uprising of our own healthy cells, we can begin to take back control. The seed of cancer may exist in all of us, but the power to change the soil is in our hands.