Women's Health Tips

At one time a woman who learned that her breast tumor had metastasized knew that she did not have long to live. At one time a metastasized tumor would be bound to spread quickly in the woman’s body. Now, however, thanks to the various treatment regimens, women have learned to live with a controlled metastatic disease.

There are three types of treatment for a metastasized breast tumor. One involves use of hormonal therapies, such as Tamoxifen or Arimidex. While such treatments typically have fewer side effects than chemotherapy, they only work for women who have an estrogen-positive breast tumor.
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In 1994 medical researchers announced discovery of a genetic mutation that could cause breast cancer. They called it BRCA1. In 1995 other researchers found a second mutated gene, another gene that could cause breast cancer. They called that gene BRCA2.

Those discoveries helped to explain why some families had many family members who were beset with special problems. Some families found that many family members had an early onset of breast cancer; quite a few had a cancer in both breasts; some family members had cancer of the ovary (in addition to breast cancer) or knowledge of a male family member who had had breast cancer. Research in the field of cancer genetics had uncovered the reason for the high numbers of breast cancers in certain families.
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