What is Breast Cancer?
- The cancer that develops in the breast tissues
is called as Breast Cancer. A
mass of tissue is produced when breast cells mutate and grow out of control.
Breast cancer can spread to the surrounding tissues of the breast, just as other
types of cancer. Additionally, it might spread to other areas of your body and
develop new tumors and this is called as metastasis.
After lung cancer, breast cancer is the second
most common cancer among
women in the US. It also ranks first among cancer related deaths in women
aged 35 to 54.
There are many types of breast cancer such as:
-
Invasive ductal carcinoma:This cancer begins in the milk ducts of the
breast, penetrate into the duct walls and then spread to the surrounding
breast tissue. This is the most prevalent kind of breast cancer,
accounting for around 80% of all occurrences.
- Ductal Carcinoma in situ:It is also known as Stage 0 breast cancer since
it regarded as precancerous because the cells haven’t moved past your
milk ducts. It is remarkably curable.
- Invasive Lobular Carcinoma:The origin of this malignancy occurs in the
lobules of the breast which has spread to nearby breast tissues. 10%-
15% of breast cancer cases are attributed to the invasive lobular
carcinoma.
- Lobular Carcinoma in situ:A precancerous condition which results in the
appearance of the abnormal cell growth in the lobules of the breast. It
cannot be called a true cancer but can act as marker for breast cancer later on.
- Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC):TNBC is considered to be one of
the most challenging breast cancers to treat and it accounts for almost
15% of all the cases.
What are the signs and symptoms of Breast cancer?
The signs and symptoms of breast cancer include:
-
Nipple Discharge
- Change in the size, shape or appearance of the breast
- A lump or thickening in the breast
- A newly inverted nipple
- Dimpling.
- Redness
- Peeling, Scaling, Crusting or Flaking of the pigmented are of
surrounding skin.
What are the risk factors?
- There are no known risk factors for women to
develop breast cancer
but having one or more risk factors does not necessarily indicate the
development of breast cancer.
The various risk factors that might increase the risk of breast cancer
are:
-
Being a woman:Breast cancer is far more common in women than in men
- Aging:Aging can result in increased risk of developing breast cancer
- A personal history of breast conditions:Increased risk of
breast cancer is seen if you’ve had a biopsy of the breast which
established lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) or atypical hyperplasia of the breast.
- A family history of breast cancer:Or if you have been diagnosed with the breast cancer
earlier in
one of the breasts, you are more likely to develop again in the
other breast.
- Inherited genes that increase cancer risk:Gene mutations play
an important role in increasing the risk of breast cancer as they
are usually passed onto children from parents. The most well-
known gene mutations are BRCA1 and BRCA2. These genes
increase the probability of breast cancer as well as other cancer developments by three folds.
- Radiation Exposure:Receiving radiation treatment to your
chest as child or as a young adult lead to increased risk of
developing breast cancer.
- Obesity:Obesity can contribute in increased risk of breast cancer.
- Drinking Alcohol:Drinking alcohol increases risk of breast cancer.
- Postmenopausal hormone therapy:Combine estrogen and
progesterone which is usually given in hormonal therapy
medications, when taken to treat the signs and symptoms of
menopause lead to risk of advancing breast cancer.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
- Your doctor will check your breasts and enquire
about your
family history, medical history and any current symptoms in
addition to performing the breast exam. Additionally, your
doctor will advise testing to look for abnormalities in your
breasts. These tests could consist of:
-
Mammogram:Any abnormalities or alterations in the
breast can be found by using these specialized X-Ray photos.
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning:Specific
dyes are in the PET scan to highlight the questionable
spots. This test is performed by injecting a specific dye in
the veins while the scanner captures images.
- Ultrasonography:The inside tissues of the breast are
photographed during this test using sound waved. It aids
in the diagnosis of breast anomalies or masses.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI):To produce clear,
detailed images of the structures inside of the breast,
magnets and radio waves are used.
- If any suspicion is found on the imaging tests,
a biopsy can
be performed to confirm the presence of the cancer.
How is breast cancer treated?
- Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy,
hormone therapy,
immunotherapy and targeted medication therapy are just a few of
the breast cancer treatments available. To determine the right
choice of treatment, the position and size of tumor, the test results
and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of your body are
used.
-
Breast cancer surgery:An area of healthy tissue surrounding
the tumor as well as the cancerous section of the breast are
removed during breast cancer surgery. There are different
types of surgery depending on your situation including:
- Lumpectomy
- Mastectomy
- Sentinel node biopsy
- Axillary lymph node dissection
- Modified radical mastectomy
- Radical mastectomy
- Chemotherapy:Chemotherapy sessions before lumpectomy
are recommended in order to shrink the tumor. At times it
can be given after surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells
and decrease the risk of recurrence. Chemotherapy is
recommended as a primary treatment if the cancer has
spread beyond your breast tissues.
- Radiation Therapy:It is mostly given after a lumpectomy or
mastectomy to kill remaining cancer cells.
- Hormone Therapy:Few of the types of breast cancer use
hormones to grow such as estrogen and progesterone. In
such cases, hormone therapy can be used to either decrease
the estrogen levels or prevent estrogen from attaching to breast cancer cells.
- Immunotherapy:Your own immune system is capable of
targeting and attacking breast cancer cells. This uses
intravenous route for the administration of medications.
- Targeted drug therapy:Targeted drug therapy works best
when the cancer has spread to other regions of the body in
order to target specific cell characteristic that causes cancer.