Mastectomy for Ductal Carcinoma insitu, impact on patient Essay

Mastectomy for Ductal Carcinoma insitu, impact on patient - Essay Example In fact, DCIS accounts for approximately 20% of all new breast cancer and precancerous condition diagnoses (Clause Stowe & Carter 2001). With or without treatment, DCIS patients have a very high survival rate; and, for most women diagnosed with DCIS, it is not considered to be a life-threatening condition. Mastectomy is the preferred, and most effective, treatment option for DCIS patients (Katz et al. 2010). However, there is currently very little research regarding how patients are actually affected by choosing mastectomy to treat DCIS; and, since the number of new DCIS diagnoses is continuing to increase, much more research is needed. DCIS, also called intraductal carcinoma, is a condition whereby the cancer cells develop in the milk ducts of the breast and have not moved out of the duct into any of the surrounding tissue (National Institute of Health 2009). As mentioned above, there is disagreement as to whether or not DCIS should be called cancer; and, some experts often refer to it as "stage zero breast cancer" ( Harris & Morrow 2009). Even though DCIS itself is not considered to be harmful, it is a known risk factor for invasive breast cancer (Zuckerman 2009). While most DCIS patients do not develop invasive breast cancer, approximately two percent (2%) of DCIS cases show evidence of metastases and an even smaller percentage of cases do actually develop into invasive breast cancer (Cornfield et al. 2004). Certain biomarkers may help to identify whether DCIS patients are at high or low risk of developing invasive breast cancer; however, more research is necessary to make more accurate risk predictions (Welch et al. 2008). Currently, however, there is no way to determine or predict which DCIS cases will in fact develop into invasive breast cancer. This paper will try to determine the available information on the rationale for selecting this modality; explore literature regarding the physiological/biological basis of the treatment or how the treatment manage s the disease, critic the impact this treatment had on the individual and the nurses’ role in addressing this, and consider how the patients’ experience could have been improved. Discussion Overview: Even without treatment, most women diagnosed with DCIS do not go on to develop invasive breast cancer. DCIS patients that do opt for treatment have surgical options, the most common being lumpectomy (with or without radiation therapy) and mastectomy. Lumpectomy followed by radiation therapy and mastectomy have the same high survival rate of 96% and above; however, mastectomy does have a slightly lower recurrence rate than lumpectomy with radiation which has a lower recurrence rate than lumpectomy alone (Holmberg et al. 2008; Hughes et al. 2009). Other factors have been found to affect DCIS recurrence rates

Introduction to wind energy systems Research Paper

Introduction to wind energy systems - Research Paper Example Coal and nuclear energy have adverse environmental impacts despite being examples of alternative sources of energy. Wind power looks extremely promising as much as it has comparatively high costs. According to Johnson (14) a typical wind energy system has a turbine which works to harness kinetic energy and convert it into usable power. A wind energy system can also be combined with a solar panel. The introduction of a solar panel to the wind energy system is supposed to increase overall efficiency in terms of power generation. In other words, these two technologies complement one another. This power provides electricity for farms, homes, schools and business establishments. Site selection is very important in such a way that, for a small home, the site should be more than half an acre of land and the wind speed should be at least 16km/h (Johnson, 5). The size of the turbine to be installed greatly depends on energy consumption; for instance, homes require smaller turbines as compared to business establishments. It follows that the smaller the turbines the lesser the noise produced. The sound produced can easily be compared to the whispering of leaves as the wind blows past them. Wind energy systems can either be on-grid or off-grid. The off-grid system occurs when a home or business enterprise totally relies on the power generated by turbines and it is completely disconnected from the electric utility company. Studies reveal that this system is 30% more costly than on-grid. This system is made up of a wind turbine mounted on a tower (Appstate). The tower is usually wired up to a control box which works to regulate battery charging. Ecomall believes that an electric utility is expected to give credit to the owner in the event that a grid tie power system sends its electricity to the public grid. The electric company will sum up the monthly credits so as to determine the amount of money owed to the owner of the wind energy system;