If Your Physician Assure You You Only Have A Fibroid Cyst, You May Not Discover You Have Breast Cancer Until It Is Too Late by Joseph Hernandez

Women trust that their physicians will know the difference between a significant health problem and something that fails to pose any danger to their health. A particular issue to which this apples is with breast cancer. Women trust in doctors to run all appropriate tests to discover any cancer that might be present as early as feasible. The existence of a lump in a breast heightens concern right away. And here is where the doctor can take the steps required to make a correct diagnosis. The majority of physicians acknowledge that the right thing is to do tests to determine whether that lump is cancerous. The reason most physicians acknowledge that this is the proper course of action is due to the fact that a doctor cannot establish if the lump is cancerous or benign based merely on a physical examination.

There are 2 statistical facts physicians are aware of. Most changes that arise in the breast are benign. Women oyunger than fifty are far less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than women above that age. Considering these two statistics some doctors have a tendency to discount a lump as just a benign cyst in case it happens in a woman under the age of fifty. It is merely a matter of statistics. The likelihood is that such a patient does not have breast cancer.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story. In the event breast cancer is detected before it can reach a late stage (for example, stage 0, stage I or stage II), the five-year survival rate is generally at least 80%. The 5-year survival rate is a statistical measure used by cancer specialists to discern the percentage of patients who outlive the cancer for beyond five years following detection. Hencel insurance company, a five-year survival rate higher than eighty percent means that, statistically, more than eighty out of every one hundred patients with a less advanced stage breast cancer will, given appropriate treatment, survive the disease for at least five years beyond diagnosis.

If the breast cancer is not detected until it gets to a stage III (typically involving larger tumors in the breast or a spread of the cancer to lymph nodes), the 5-year survival rate drops to approximately 54%. With regard to stage IV (generally associated with a tumor that is larger that five cm or the spread of the cancer to the bone or other organs, such as the lungs), the 5-year survival rate is around 20%.

It is estimated that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lifetime. It is the second prevalent cancer in females. Over one hundred ninety thousand females are expected to be newly diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year. Additionally over forty nine thousand females are predicted to pass away of breast cancer this year. Considering the fact that women whose breast cancer is diagnosed while still in the early stages have a greater than eighty percent chance of outliving the cancer for over 5 years after diagnosis, a question that follows is how many of those forty thousand or more women who will die of from advanced breast cancer this year would instead survive if their cancer had been no delay in diagnosing their cancer.

By performing a clinical breast examination a doctor just cannot correctly differentiate between a benign cyst and a cancerous growth. Given this a doctor ought to typically advocate that diagnostic testing be done without delay if a lump is found in a woman's breast. Among the tests can should be performed are an imaging study such as a mammogram or an ultrasound, or a sampling, such as by biopsy or aspiration. Each can fail to diagnose a cancer thus it might be important to do more than one test before cancer can be eliminated as the cause of the lump.

If a doctor diagnoses a lump in a woman's breast as simply a benign fibroid cyst based only on a clinical breast examination, that physician puts the patient in danger of not knowing she has breast cancer until it metastasizes. The failure to conduct proper diagnostic testing, like an imaging study such as a mammogram or ultrasound, or a sampling, such as a biopsy or aspiration, might constitute a departure from the accepted standard of medical care and might bring about a malpractice lawsuit.