Getting diagnosed with cancer is often a life altering thing, and understandably so. After all, cancer poses a great unknown, especially depending on the type of cancer that is being diagnosed. Some cancers, for instance, are very much treatable and have a high cure rate. Other types, on the other hand, are considerably more deadly. But no matter what type of cancer it is that you end up having, it can still be a very jarring and terrifying thing to learn of your diagnosis. Understanding the ins and outs both of cancer diagnosis and treatment protocol can help, even just in making things a little bit more clear and easy to understand.
For instance, cancer, in all of its forms, is likely much more commonplace than many of us even realize. As a matter of fact, nearly 440 people will be diagnosed with cancer for every group of 100,000 people – men and women alike – here in the United States over the course of year. However, many of these cancer diagnoses will be for wholly treatable forms of cancer, especially since cancer screening tools have only continued to improve and improve as the years have passed and are now more comprehensive at detecting cancer early on than ever before.
Early screening is an absolute must if you have any of the risk factors for cancer. From getting a tumor board done to even just having an ultrasound, there are many ways that cancer can be picked up on – and the early that any form of cancer is caught, via tumor board of other diagnosing tool, the better and more effectively it can be treated and the more likely the patient will be to go into – and stay in – remission. Knowing your risk factors is key, such as in the cases of breast cancer that are seen all throughout the country.
For instance, your breast cancer risk can actually be influenced, at least in part, by what race you are. Among breast cancer patients here in the United States, incidence rates of this type of cancer are particularly high for white women who are not of Hispanic descent. However, it is incredibly crucial to also note that when it comes to death rates, it is instead African American women who are dying most frequently of breast cancer. No matter what your race, though, routine and regular screening of your breasts is an important step for any woman to take.
More extensive screening, such as with the use of mammograms, is likely to come into play earlier on for women with a family history of breast cancer as well. This is due to the fact that having an immediate family member who has developed breast cancer puts you directly at risk for developing breast cancer yourself, so much more so than someone who has no family members who have developed breast cancer. For such women, screening for certain genes might even be worthwhile, if just to better understand their risk factors – after all, it’s better safe than sorry, as breast cancer is second only to skin cancer when it comes to common types of cancer found in women.
And if you suspect cancer (or your doctor does), requesting a tumor board is likely to pick up on things that would not be caught by a typical blood test. A tumor board can be more expensive than a typical blood test, to be sure, but if your doctor recommends a tumor board, getting a tumor board is likely more than worth it at the end of the day. And if your tumor board comes back indicating that you likely have cancer, you’ll be able to have your cancer staged more quickly and be able to begin treatment more promptly as well.
Fortunately, the types of treatment available for cancer have evolved, from chemotherapy treatment to even clinical trials. For many people, early detection of their cancer means that these forms of treatment are likely to be much more effective than they would otherwise be and their rates of survival will be higher.
