A lot of research has gone into screening for breast cancer. There is some evidence that yearly screening with clinical examination (feeling the breast) and mammography (special X-rays) in women over forty-five may improve the survival for breast cancer, but it doesn’t make a dramatic difference. I believe the best way of ensuring that breast cancer is diagnosed as early as possible is by examining your own breasts regularly and reporting to a doctor when you detect any lump or thickening. Breast cancer diagnosis is often delayed because women who know they have a lump ‘keep an eye on it’ themselves for some time before seeking attention. What I say about this applies to every symptom that may be due to cancer. If it is not cancer, having tests right away will put your mind at rest and save you a lot of unnecessary worry. If itis cancer, the earlier it is diagnosed, the better your chances. Pretending it isn’t there won’t make it go away—it will only live it mote time to grow and spread.
Cancer of die cervix is the only type of cancer where a screening procedure has been shown to influence the mortality of the disease;; You could think through possible screening procedures fof other: types of cancer yourselfI think that the examples I have given are enough to show you the difficulties involved. If only there was a simple blood test for cancer!
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Thus, a deposit starting in the bones of the spine or between the bone and meningeal covering can cause pressure on the spinal cord. Because the outside part of the meninges is called the dura, these deposits are called extradural lesions (‘extra’ meaning ‘outside of). Symptoms depend on the location. They often include pins and needles, loss of feeling and loss of strength in the feet and legs, and partial or complete loss of control of bowel and bladder. Extradural lesions cannot be seen on a plain X-ray. They do show up on a CT scan. Another way of ‘seeing’ them is with a myelogram. Here a liquid contrast material is injected into the spinal fluid through a lumbar puncture needle. Because the liquid is heavier than the spinal fluid, it ‘settles’ in the lowest available location. The person can be safely tilted up and down at different angles on a special ’tilt table’ to get the contrast material to the trouble spot.
I have discussed in detail how we can look for secondary deposits in the common sites: the lungs, liver, bone and central nervous system. The same type of approach applies to whatever part of the body is suspected of containing secondary lesions. Suspicions based on symptoms, findings on clinical examination or blood tests may be followed up by appropriate X-rays, scans, biopsies etc. Ask your doctor for an explanation if you don’t understand why certain tests are recommended. You have every right to refuse tests, for example, if you can’t see what difference the results would make to your care.
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Being a bacterial illness it responds to antibiotics, although the organism is resistant to penicillin.
Pertussis vaccine is present in the triple antigen and is given to children starting at eight weeks of age. The greatest threat to children from whooping cough is to those under 12 months old.
Older children tolerate whooping cough much better, but may be affected by severe side effects from the vaccine.
The whooping cough part of triple antigen is usually not given to those over 12 months old. When immunisation is necessary, the CDT (combined diphtheria and tetanus) vaccine is used instead.
Cough suppressants are of little use trying to control whooping cough, but the child will usually respond fairly quickly once antibiotics are given.
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