Breast cancer treatment may be effective, however, there are some stern side effects that occur. According to researchers led by Christopher Friese at the University of Michigan they found out that 42 percent of women who underwent breast cancer treatment reported stern side effects. It was reported that during the seven months after diagnosis and following treatment with surgery, chemotherapy or radiation, patients experience nausea or vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, swelling in the arms, pain, shortness of breath, and skin irritation around the breasts.
Dr. Allison Kurian said that as a physician, she doesn’t see the whole of it in terms of how patients are suffering. She is one of the coauthors of the study and associate professor of medicine at Stanford University. She stated that she might have seen slight of it in the clinic. For her to learn about the compelling number of cases women suffering from side effects was totally extraordinary.
The rate was higher than she might have thought it is a reminder to clinicians that these therapies are quite toxic, and that clinicians need to consider what the patients are telling about them. The information may help women to decide about their breast cancer treatment. But there are too few data on how thorough this side effects really are.
Not having full scope of the information about the side effects of these treatments could affect women’s decision about which treatment they choose. And there is a growing recognition that these side effects could affect the women’s health in a different way that might also affect their recovery whether or not they finish their treatments. In the study, most women that was reported who were experiencing severe side effects also scored low on physical functioning including fatigue, sleep problems, pain, difficulty breathing and more.
According to the Time, about 29 percent of women experience stern side effects. While 37 percent that undergone with removal of both breast experience highest level of pain. Compared to 25 percent of women who removed one breast and 18 percent of women who chose lumpectomy. This information could help women decide between lumpectomy or mastectomy.
According to the News Medical, researchers are developing tools to help women understand how side effects vary by treatment. Additional studies are examining how breast cancer treatment side effects vary across diverse chemotherapy practices, as well as the optimal way to manage side effects. However there are few studies that tackle breast cancer treatment side effects from a diverse group of patients.
