Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example

Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example

Assignment:
Cancer and Women\’s and Men\’s Health
The American Cancer Society estimates that by the end of 2012, more than 226,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 241,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer (American Cancer Society, 2012a; American Cancer Society 2012b). With such prevalence of women’s and men’s cancers, patient education and preventive services are essential. In clinical settings, advanced practice nurses must assist physicians in educating patients on risk factors, preventive services, and for patients diagnosed with cancer, on potential drug treatments. The clinical implications of women’s and men’s cancer greatly depend on early detection, which is primarily achieved through preventive services. In this Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example Assignment, you consider the short-term and long-term implications of cancer and drug treatments associated with women’s and men’s health, as well as appropriate preventive services.

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To prepare:
• Select a type of cancer associated with women’s or men’s health such as breast, cervical, or ovarian cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.
• Locate and review articles examining the type of cancer you selected.
• Review the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force article in the Learning Resources. Think about available preventive services that providers might recommend for patients at risk of this type of cancer.
• Select two of the following factors: genetics, gender, ethnicity, age, or behavior. Reflect on how these factors might impact decisions related to preventive services. Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example.
• Consider drug treatment options for patients diagnosed with the type of cancer you selected including short-term and long-term implications of the treatments.
By Day 7
Write a 2- to 3- page paper that addresses the following:
• Describe available preventive services that providers might recommend for patients at risk of the type of cancer you selected.
• Explain how the factors you selected might impact decisions related to preventive services.
• Describe drug treatment options for patients diagnosed with the type of cancer you selected. Explain the short-term and long-term implications of these treatments.

Reminder: The School of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The Sample Paper provided at the Walden Writing Center provides an example of those required elements (available at http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/57.htm). All papers submitted must use this formatting. Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example.

Prostate cancer and men’s health

Introduction

Prostate cancer is a type of cancer that affects the prostate gland in men. A normal prostate gland is a small organ that is walnut shaped and responsible for producing seminal fluids that transport and nourish sperms. In fact, it is one of the most common types of cancers among men with an 11.11% prevalence rate. It rarely presents among persons less than 40 years of age and has a 60% incidence rate among males older than 64 years of age. Once the prostate gland develops cancer, it will present malignant cells that are confined to the gland as a tumor that could either grow slowly or aggressively Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example. Aggressive growth of the tumor is an indication that it could spread to other body organs (Seyfield, 2012).

Preventive services for prostate cancer

There are a range of medically recommended approaches that can be applied in the prevention of prostate cancer. Although there is no sure way of preventing prostate cancer, these approaches can act as strategies for meaningfully reducing the cancer risk. The first approach involves ingesting a healthy diet that is high in vegetables and fruits while low in fats. Some of the fatty foods that should be avoided include cheese, milk, oils, nuts and meats. Even though the specific association between fatty diets and increased risk of prostate cancer development, medical studies show that the link between higher risk of prostate cancer and high amounts of fats in the diet is statistically significant. The implication is that men should eat foods that have low fat content, limit foods rich in fats, and reduce the amount of fat they eat. In addition, it is important to replace animal fats with plant fats. That is because animal fats are linked with higher risk of prostate cancer. Also, the diet should be rich in vegetables and fruits since they contain healthy nutrients and vitamins that improve immunity, reduce the risk of prostate cancer, and reduces the opportunities for eating high-fat foods. Eating fatty fish (such as herring, tuna and salmon) is encouraged since they contain omega-3 and -6 fatty acids. These fatty acids reduce the risk of prostate cancer occurrence (Palmieri, Bird & Simcock, 2013). The second approach involves maintaining a healthy weight through eating the required number of calories. Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example. That is because a BMI figure that exceeds 29 increases prostate cancer risk. The third approach is to exercise regularly to help in loosing and maintaining a healthy weight to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. The final approach is to have regular forums with medical personnel who would determine the risk for prostate cancer (based on demographics such as age and ethnicity) and present alternative risk reduction options that could include medication (Palmieri, Bird & Simcock, 2013) Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example.

Risk factors for prostate cancer

There are four risk factors that are noted when offering preventive services for prostate cancer. The first risk factor is obesity with BMI exceeding 29. The second risk factor is family history whereby past incidence of the condition occurring is an indication of a possibility that it could occur in future generations. In addition, the presence of BRCA1 or BRCA2 in matrilineal inheritance along with breast cancer among the female members of the family is an indication that there is a higher risk of the male members of the family developing prostate cancer Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example. The third risk factor is ethnicity whereby it is determined that persons of Black/African descent have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer when compared to men of other ethnicities. The final risk factor is age whereby higher incidences of the condition is noted among older men when compared to their younger counterparts. To be more precise, 60% incidence rate is reported among males older than 64 years of age (Weinberg, 2014). In this respect, obesity, family history, ethnicity and age are four risk factors that influence the risk for prostate cancer thus impacting preventive services decisions.

Drug treatment options for prostate cancer

The specific drug treatment for addressing the condition is dependent on the cancer prognosis, progression, spread and the patient’s health, as well as the potential side effects and benefits of the drug treatment. There are two main groups of drugs available for prostate cancer treatment. The first group is chemotherapy that focuses on killing rapidly growing cells. Drugs in this category include dacarbazine, cyclophosphamide, cisplatin, chlorambucil, carmustine, carboplatin, busulfan and altretamine Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example. Although chemotherapy can kill the fast growing cancer cells, chemotherapy has a negative side effect in the form of being non-selective and affecting health cells thus negatively affecting other organs and body systems (Palmieri, Bird & Simcock, 2013). The second group is hormone therapy that influences testosterone hormone levels in the body. That is because the hormone helps the cancer cells to grow so that halting testosterone supply in the body is expected to halt the growth of cancer cells and could even cause them to die out. Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example. Hormone therapy can either be presented to stop testosterone production or block the cancer cells from receiving the hormone. Medication that stop the hormone production are presented as luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists, and they include abiraterone, ketoconazole, histrelin, triptorelin, goserelin and leuprolide. Medical that prevent the cancer cells from accessing testosterone hormone are anti-androgens and they include enzalutamide, nilutamide and bicalutamide. Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example. It is important to note that although hormone therapy can shrink or slow down the growth of cancer cells, they could present undesirable side effects that include weight gain, reduced sex drive, bone mass loss, hot flashes and erectile dysfunction (Palmieri, Bird & Simcock, 2013).

Summary

One must accept that prostate cancer is a source of concern among men where an 11.11% incidence rate is reported. In addition, one must acknowledge that there are preventive services that can be applied to facilitate management. The preventive services include eating a healthy diet that is high in vegetables and fruits while low in fats, eating the required calories and maintaining a healthy weight, and regular forums with medical personnel. Also, prostate cancer has risk factors that include BMI exceeding 29, family history of cancer, ethnicity and age. Although prostate cancer paints a grim prognosis, drug treatment can be applied to include chemotherapy that kills the cancer cells but could also kill healthy cells, and hormone therapy that influences the growth of cancer cells but could also present undesirable side effects that include weight gain, reduced sex drive, bone mass loss, hot flashes and erectile dysfunction Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example.

References

Palmieri, C., Bird, E. & Simcock, R. (2013). ABC of cancer care. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Seyfield, T. (2012). Cancer as a metabolic disease: on the origin, management, and prevention of cancer. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Weinberg, R. (2014). The biology of cancer (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Garland Science, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Cancer and Women’s and Men’s Health Essay Example.

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+1 (315) 636-5076
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We will write your work from scratch and ensure it's plagiarism-free, you just submit the completed work.


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