Breast Cancer Statistics
How many people are already working with breast cancer survivors in their clinic? I have made an assumption through this presentation that you have some understanding of breast cancer diagnosis and reconstruction, but I will talk through that more as I am not sure how many of you have that background. For starters, let’s talk about breast cancer in general. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2013, there are going to be over 230,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and almost 65,000 cases of carcinoma in situ this year. That is a lot of breast cancer that is being diagnosed in our country. As a result of that and the great treatment that we have developed over the years, there are almost 3,000,000 breast cancer survivors in the U.S. today. There are a lot of people who need to know how to exercise following their breast cancer diagnosis.
Breast Cancer Treatment and Resultant Impairments
The treatment for breast cancer is incredibly varied depending on what type of breast cancer is diagnosed and treatments may include surgery, which could be a lumpectomy, reconstruction, or implants. It is quite varied and typically followed by radiation, and/or chemotherapy, and/or ongoing hormonal therapy. When patients come to us as physical therapists, we do not know which one of these treatments they may have had. What we do know is that when they are getting treatment for their breast cancer, there are impairments that may happen as a result of that treatment. Figure 1 shows how significant that is. For example, with surgical treatment alone, almost every one of these impairments can occur as a result, from fatigue to pain to pulmonary changes, cognitive, endocrine, weight body changes, musculoskeletal damage, lymphedema, GI impairment, or organ function changes. Even those patients who are not going on to chemo and radiation are already seeing quite a number of challenges through their treatment. When we add to that the chemo and radiation, we see the potential for a lot of changes in the body, and we need to consider those when we are looking at an exercise program.
