Breast Cancer
Introduction to Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancer found in women and has been said to be second most general cause of cancer death in women in the U.S. While most of the new breast cancer cases are diagnosed because of the abnormality witnessed on a mammogram a mass or change in consistency of the breast muscles can also be a sign of the disease. Accentuated awareness of breast cancer risk in the recent decades has resulted in an increase in the number of women going for mammography for screening, leading to detection of cancers in an earlier stage that eventually leads to augmentation in survival rates.
Causes of Breast Cancer
Research has proclaimed much information about the reasons of breast cancers, and it is now declared that genetic and/or hormonal factors are the primary reasons for breast cancer. Staging model has been generated to enable doctors to earmark the type to which a particular cancer has developed and to take decisions related to treatment options.
Breast Cancer Symptoms
Common symptoms of breast cancer are:
- A change in the feel of the breast or nipple
- A lump in or near the breast or around the underarm area
- A change in the looks of the breast or nipple
- A change in the shape and shape of the breast
- A nipple shows an inward thrust into the breast
- The skin of the breast, areola, or the nipple may become red, scaly, or swollen. It may have ridges or pitting to look like the skin of an orange.
Sign of Breast Cancer
Clinical breast exam
If you have a lump, your doctor will identify its shape, size, and nature. Your doctor will also check to identify if it moves easily. Benign lumps usually differ from cancerous lumps. Soft, smooth, and moving lumps are most likely not cancer. A tough and oddly shaped lump can be cancer.
Diagnostic mammogram
X-ray pictures of the breast are called diagnostic mammograms. They take clearer, more explicit images of areas that seem abnormal on a screening mammogram. Doctors store them to learn more about unusual breast changes, such as a lump, thickening, pain, nipple discharge, or changes in breast size or shape.
Ultrasound
An ultrasound device sends sound waves that are not audible. The waves bounce off the tissues. A computer creates a picture using the echoes. Your doctor can watch these pictures on a computer. The pictures may explain whether a lump is tough or filled with fluid. As a solid lump may be cancer.
Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a high quality magnet connected to a computer. MRI makes comprehensive pictures of breast tissue. Your doctor can watch these images on a compute or print them on film. MRI may be used with a mammogram.
Biopsy
Your doctor may refer you to a breast disease specialist for conducting biopsy. Fluid or tissue is removed from your breast to identify if there is cancer.
Some unclear areas can be witnessed on a mammogram but cannot be felt. Doctors can utilize imaging method to see the area and remove tissue. Such procedures involve ultrasound-guided, needle-localized, or stereotactic biopsy.
Treatments
Breast cancer treatment depends upon many elements, comprising the kind of cancer and the stage it has passed. Treatment options for breast cancer may involve surgery (removal of the cancer), chemotherapy, radiation therapy or hormonal therapy,
Surgery
Surgery is the most general diagnosis for breast cancer. There are various types of surgery.
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Breast-sparing Surgery
An operation to remove the cancer without removing breast is termed as breast-sparing surgery. It is also defined as breast-conserving surgery, partial mastectomy, and segmental mastectomy.
The surgeon sometimes also removes the underarm lymph nodes. This process is defined as auxiliary lymph node dissection. It detects whether cancer cells have travelled the lymphatic system.
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Mastectomy
An operation to remove the breast is called mastectomy. In several cases, the doctor also removes lymph nodes around the arm. Some women have to undergo radiation therapy after surgery.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy uses powerful rays to terminate cancer cells. A lot of women undergo radiation therapy after breast-sparing surgery. Treatment depends on the volume of the tumor and other components. This radiation kills breast cancer cells which may remain in the area.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapy for breast cancer is generally a blend of drugs. The drugs may be administered as a pill or may be injected into a vein. Either ways, the drugs enter the bloodstream and spread throughout the body.
Biological Therapy
Biological therapy enables the immune system fight cancer. The immune system is the body's natural defense system against disease.
Some women with breast cancer undergo a biological therapy called Herceptin. It is a monoclonal antibody. Herceptin is given to those women whose lab tests display that a breast tumor has too much of a particular protein known as HER2. By blocking HER2, it can cut down or stop the development of the cancer cells.
Herceptin is injected into the vein. It may be administered separately or with chemotherapy.
Breast Cancer Awareness
Breast cancer awareness helps us to realize how both high fat and highly refined carbohydrate diets are the major cause for breast cancer.
Awareness Ribbons are generally used to advocate a cause or disease that is plaguing the world.
Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC)
Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but very tough type of breast cancer in which the lymph is blocked by the cancer cells in the skin of the breast. Such breast cancers are termed as “inflammatory” as the breast looks red and swollen, or “inflamed.” IBC encompasses 1-5 percent of all breast cancer cases in the US. It tends to be detected in younger women compared to non-IBC breast cancer. Like other kinds of breast cancer, IBC can be seen in men, but generally at an older age than in female.
Breast cancer ribbon and breast cancer bracelets are also available in the market to display and embrace the concern in this regard.
