Breast cancer, medical imaging, and cancer genetics. A new genetic concept regarding the causes and prevention strategies of cancer is presented

Breast cancer is the most common cancer type in the United Kingdom. Many women with breast cancer do not show any noticeable symptoms in their early stages, hence regular breast screening is important. In this research focus is on medical imaging and its role in breast cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment monitoring. Around 10% of all cancers are caused by inherited gene mutations which may cause cancer to run in families. Though, majority of cancer cases (up to 90%) are caused by acquired gene mutations which may also appear to run in families when family members share a particular environment or exposure. Genetic testing is conducted in this research on a number of participants to investigate the cancer cases found among their families. The findings of this research show that significant improvements have taken place in the emergence of hybrid imaging modalities used for breast imaging, through the fusion of different imaging techniques. The findings also provide evidence that similar to cancers caused by inherited gene mutations, cancers caused by non-inherited gene mutations may also appear to run in families when family members share certain environments and exposures or lifestyle behaviours. As a result, a new genetic concept of cancer essential to understand and control the disease is presented in this work which links between the human population origins and migrations, environmental factors and gene mutations, and the development of cancer. Furthermore, a number of cancer prevention strategies are recommended in this study to prevent people from getting the disease.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10454/19773

Type

Thesis

Qualification name

PhD