Essential Question

My Essential Question is "How does my body produce breast cancer and how can I prevent breast cancer in my later years?

Q: Why did you select this as your essential question?

A: I selected this as my essential question for many reasons. Through my internship at an oncologists office, I have seen a lot of breast cancer patients since breast cancer is one of the top two most common cancers. It has made me start to question how the cancer itself is produced and if there is anything that can help to prevent it. The nurses at the office have given me numerous reading materials and by reading them, I have realized numerous things about this prevalent cancer. The readings have taught me the process of the body forming breast cancer cells as well as how to prevent it. However, my mom is at a high risk for breast cancer and I would really like to find out more things she can do to prevent this cancer from occurring in her body. Since cancer can be hereditary, it is necessary for me to know this information as well.


Q: What excites you most about finding the answer to this essential question?

A: There are many things that excite me about finding the answers to these questions. For instance, I am excited that by doing this research, I can help my family, myself, and others. Even though breast cancer has not started in my family yet, cancer is unpredictable and it could start with any generation. I hope it doesn't start any time soon, but it is always nice to have a prevention method. I am really interested in the medical field so I also like to know what is going on in my body. By researching these questions, I am able to better understand what would take place in my body if I did develop breast cancer. Overall, I am excited about researching my essential question in general and expanding my knowledge on cancer.


Q: Do you feel that this question accurately reflects a desire/need that you have to find out more about this topic?

I feel that this question greatly reflects a desire that I have as well as I need. I am greatly intrigued by the human body and everything that occurs within it. Thus, my question greatly reflects a desire. However, it also reflects a need. I have a need to know more about cancer because as I mentioned before, my mom is at a high risk for breast cancer. Since it can become hereditary, if she was to get it, I would be at a higher risk for breast cancer. Overall, this question reflects a desire of mine as well as a need for me and my family.

Cancer with Breast Implants

Many people wonder if the silicon breast implants hinder women from detecting cancerous lumps in the breasts. A large concern is whether doctors can find the lumps because if they can't then the chance for women to detect them are even slimmer. According to the article "Physicians' Abilities to Detect Lumps in Silicone Breast Models.", the detection rate is somewhat startling. On average, the mean number of lumps detected were eight (44%) by the physician. However, in the study, doctors findings ranged from three (17%) to 15 (83%). The amount found varied greatly depending on the size: 87% of 1.0-cm and 14% of 0.3-cm lumps were detected. The detection of the lump also greatly varied amongst the hardness: 56% of hard and 40% of soft lumps were detected. The depth of the lump within the breast did not seem to affect the finding of lumps. Doctors such as Gynecologists and Obstetricians who specialize in women care had a slightly higher detection rate than general internists and practitioners; however, the length of their experience did not seem to affect the amount of lumps these medical professionals detected. On multiple occasions, only search duration was consistently connected to an increase in detection. The findings in this experiment demonstrate that there are in fact ways to increase a doctor and even a patients chance to detect breast lumps. With a longer search duration and better techniques, there is hope that an increase will occur in the amount of cancerous lumps that are found in a woman with breast implants.

Works Cited:
Fletcher, S. W., M. S. O'Malley, and L. A. Bunce. "Physicians' Abilities to Detect Lumps in Silicone Breast Models." Diss. Abstract. Pubmed.gov. National Center of Biotechnology. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. .