Explain the nature of two named physiological disorders. Heart disease and Breast Cancer

by ravkhosa (student)

Unit 14: Physiological Disorders.

P1: Explain the nature of two named physiological disorders.

This unit covers physiological disorders. Physiological disorders can be defined as a malfunction within the body’s organs or systems causing illness, it is a physical condition that prevents the body from functioning normally. The two different physiological disorders I will be talking about are Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and Cancer of the breast.

Coronary heart disease is the buildup of plaque such as cholesterol and other fatty substances within the coronary arteries causing a reduced or no supply of oxygen to the heart. The process of plaque lining the coronary arteries is called arteriosclerosis. Coronary heart disease can be caused and triggered by many different factors. Some of which include; Smoking, smokers are at twice the risk of having a heart attack compared to individuals that have never smoked. It is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular disease such as coronary heart disease; High blood pressure, blood pressure can become dangerous the higher it gets. An increase of blood pressure is an increase of the force of blood against the walls of the arteries, and the higher the blood pressure the higher the likelihood the walls of the arteries can become damaged. This can lead to stiffness of the arteries making them less flexible which can lead to the buildup of cholesterol which can cause atherosclerosis; High levels of cholesterol, If the body takes in too much cholesterol, even after being used on cells the extra gets deposited inside the artery wall lining which can lead to atherosclerosis. This can occur from unhealthy diet intake; Physical activity, exercising helps reduce blood pressure and the likelihood of obesity, vice versa little physical activity would be a direct cause of coronary heart disease; Diabetes, people with diabetes have the same risk of developing heart disease as a person who has had a heart attack but who doesn’t have diabetes; Obesity, obese individuals are more likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes and high blood fats.

Coronary heart disease can cause a number of serious treatments if the diagnosis is not done as soon as possible. If your blood vessels are narrow due to a build up of atheroma, or if the symptoms of coronary heart disease cannot be controlled using medication, surgery may be needed to open up or replace the blocked arteries, in severe cases heart transplants may even be needed if the heart is too damaged to function after a serious buildup of plaque or after a heart attack.

Cancer of the breast is a serious disorder that is very common amongst both ...

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Cancer of the breast is a serious disorder that is very common amongst both men and women in today’s day and age. The breasts, and every other part of our body is made up of millions of individual cells, normally they would function to multiply and grow in an orderly way the body has implicated, however in cancer this process goes wrong and dysfunctional cells begin to multiply rapidly and uncontrollably. It has not been proven why exactly breast cancer is caused, however there are many risk factors that are associated with breast cancer which if taken into consideration can help reduce the risk of the likelihood of getting breast cancer. Some of these risk factors can include; Age, it is most common for women to develop breast cancer at an older age particularly for women who have been through menopause and are over the age of fifty; Family background, It is possible for you to have a higher risk in getting breast cancer if there is someone in your family who already has or had the condition; Previous breast cancer; If you have previously has breast cancer you are at a higher risk of obtaining and developing the disease again, this can be either in the same breast or in the other one; Height, if you are considered taller than average then you are at a higher risk of developing breast cancer the reason for this is yet to be discovered however it is related to genes, nutrition and hormones; Alcohol; studies have showed that women who drink alcohol on a daily basis are more likely to develop the disease than those who do not drink at all.

There are many different treatments of cancer of the breast, the seriousness and the type of cancer will result in what type of treatment you will be given. One example of breast cancer treatment is chemotherapy. This involves in using drugs such as cytotoxic to kill the cancer cells. This process usually happens after ‘the lump’ of cancer is removed to kill any leftover cancer cells that were not removed from repopulating. This process is called adjuvant chemotherapy. The other main type of chemotherapy is neoadjuvant chemotherapy, when chemotherapy is done before surgery, this is usually the case to help shrink a large tumor to make it easier to remove during the surgical procedure. Chemotherapy has many side effects, the main ones including infections, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting tiredness and hair loss.

Teacher Reviews

Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

Sam Morran

13th of Aug 2013

This is a good essay that discusses heart disease and cancer. The facts are correct and it is adequate for pass work. I do feel that the writer could enhance their work a little by building up explanations. There are times when it feels that there needs to be more included to complete the work. ***

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