Breast Cancer Treatment Only lung cancer kills more women in the United States each year than breast cancer. The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that more than 184,000 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in women in 1996 (ACS Breast). While these statistics are alarming, there are numerous treatment options available to those diagnosed with breast cancer. .The best way to cure any disease is to prevent it. Because little is known about breast cancer, there are no established rules for prevention. The ACS recommends that women in their twenties and older perform a monthly breast self-examination and also suggests clinical exams every three years (ACS breast). Mammography is also a wonderful tool for detecting tumors; However, there is conflicting data about when and how often women should get mammograms. What is known is that mammography is the best way to determine whether a palpable lump is actually cancerous or not. Treatment methods for breast cancer can be grouped into two main categories; local or systemic. Local treatments are used to destroy or control cancer cells in a specific area of ​​the body. Surgery and radiation therapy are considered local treatments. Systemic treatments are used to destroy or control cancer cells anywhere in the body. Chemotherapy and hormone therapy are considered systemic treatments. Surgery is the most common treatment for breast cancer. While there are many different types of breast cancer surgery, they all fall into a few basic categories. An operation that aims to remove most or all of the breast is called a mastectomy. If possible, doctors avoid mastectomies because of side effects that include loss of strength in the near arm, swelling of the arm, and limitation of shoulder movement. If you need to have a mastectomy, your doctor will often suggest post-surgical breast reconstruction (Kushner 37). Another type of breast cancer surgery is called breast-sparing surgery. This category includes lumpectomies and segmental mastectomies. In this situation, doctors remove only the tumor and attempt to spare the rest of the breast tissue. These procedures are often followed by radiation therapy to destroy any cancer......middle of paper......nbsp; Contrary to the negative press commonly attributed to breast cancer, viable treatment options exist for those diagnosed with this terrible disease. The push to increase breast cancer research even comes from the White House. President Bill Clinton mentioned his support for increasing funding for research and prevention in his recent State of the Union address and urged insurance companies to pay for more mammograms. Hopefully, with support from the White House, new treatments for breast cancer can be found and perhaps, with any luck, we will have a cure by the end of the century. Works CitedAmerican Cancer Society. Breast cancer. Document 004070.American Cancer Society. For women with breast cancer. 1995.Kushner, Rose. If you have thought about breast cancer. Kensington, MD: RoseKushner Breast Cancer Advisory Center, 1994.LaTour, Kathy. The breast cancer companion. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1993. National Institutes of Health. National Cancer Institute. What you need to know about breast cancer. August revised 1995.