What will happen if you refuse treatment for breast cancer how long will a person live?
Cancer - 4 Answers
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1 :
It depends on the type of breast cancer they have.
2 :
There are many factors that would play a role in how long a person would survive with out treatment. Like one poster said, it depends on the type of cancer. There are slow growing and very aggressive types. It also depends on the persons general health and life style. If the person is basically healthy, with exception of the cancer, that's a plus. Attitude has a lot to do with the quality and longevity of a person's life, as well. Someone who is up-beat and has a good outlook on life, will cope better and perhaps live a bit longer, than someone who is depressed. May I just add, I had breast cancer 2 years ago. I had a lumpectomy and 33 days of radiation. I was a lucky lady, it was caught early. Only the person who has the cancer can make the decisions, as to what type of treatment they want to endure. Breast Cancer treatment has come such a long way, and there are options in the medical field...research all the options.
3 :
Interesting question. I had one patient who refused mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy. She lived for several years with a large fungating, chronically infected, foul smelling, softball sized tumor in her breast breaking through the skin. She was referred to me because the referring doctor knew I would listen to her and observe her wishes. Some oncologists will not see people who decide to do things their own way. She also had no money or insurance, so I followed her for free. Very nice person with her own ideas. I retired from medical practice before anything more happened to her. ' Wonder what did occur in time? This is quite unusual in the U.S. where people usually want everything possible done regardless of expense. The point is that breast cancers follow no rules. Some do not seem to spread to distant areas such as bone, lung, brain, liver, and elsewhere. Predicting what a breast cancer will do is part of oncology - an imperfect part - we have to guess based on parameters developed over the years. Many women are currently treated with adjuvant chemotherapy (to prevent recurrence) when they are already cured with lumpectomy and radiation therapy. We don't know which ones are already cured with local treatment, so ten women are treated to help one. Roughly 9 of 10 women do not need chemotherapy for node negative breast cancer, but there is no way to know which ones need it and which ones do not - so the recommendation is to treat all of them hoping to help that 10% who may benefit. We cannot see microscopic disease that has spread from the original primary - nor can we predict where and how fast metastatic breast cancer will grow. Long winded answer to explain that even cancer specialist doctors can not predict what a breast cancer will do. It is unknowable. Every single breast cancer and breast cancer patient is different. Note - it is NOT advisable to do nothing for breast cancer. This is often a deadly disease.
4 :
It would depend on the individual, their age, overall health, the type of cancer, grade, location, and stage at diagnosis. Predicting how long an individual will live becomes fuzzy . . no one really knows. However, here is a general guide . . cancer is a progressive disease which means it starts out very, very small . . that is an early stage of disease and with treatment a patient has a greater chance for survival. The more that the disease grows or progresses on a daily, weekly, monthly basis . . the bigger it becomes and the more difficult treatment becomes. As the disease progresses at some point the tumor will begin to shed hundreds and thousands of microscopic cancer cells into the blood stream or lymphatic system . . like salt is sprinkled around . . this is called metastasis. The metastatic cells travel all over the body and set up new cancer colonies that begin the cycle all over again . . if a patient has a fast growing or aggressive cancer than the cancer can grow in weeks or months and fill the body rapidly . . survival would be bleak without treatment. So . . without treatment and if the patient has an aggressive cancer . . the tumors will grow indefinitely, shed more and more cancer cells into the body . . which in turn will grow large and indefinitely and shed their own cancer cells into the body . . this can be for an undetermined amount of time based on the individual . . but eventually (if the patient does not die from infection or major organ failures) the body will fill with cancer . . how long this takes can be days, weeks, months, or years but eventually the disease will overwhelm the body.
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Title : What will happen if you refuse treatment for breast cancer how long will a person live
Description : What will happen if you refuse treatment for breast cancer how long will a person live? Cancer - 4 Answers Random Answers, Critics, Com...