Breast Cancer - Signs, Symptoms and Treatment

Breast cancer, as the name implies, is a cancer that strikes the breast, normally of the woman, but sometimes of men as well.  The breast is the collection of fatty tissue and glands lying between the chest wall and the skin.  These glands inside the woman's breast produce milk following the delivery of a baby.  Each of these glands has 15 to 20 lobes inside it. 

Tubes in the breasts deliver the milk to the nipple; these tubes are called ducts.  Both the ducts and glands get bigger as the breast fills with milk.  However, the fatty tissue is the tissue most responsible for the breast's shape and size.  Sometimes a tumor can grow within the breast, which might be cancerous.

A tumor is a collection of cells with abnormal growth tendencies, causing an out-of-control population of these cells.  If a tumor does not have an ability to spread through the body, it's called benign, and is not cancerous.  A tumor with n ability to grow into other body tissues or spread throughout the body are said to be malignant--which means they are cancer.  Malignant tumors found inside the breast are what we call breast cancer.

Although in theory, any tissue in the breast could form into a cancer, cancer cells normally only develop from the glands or ducts.  Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer found in North American and European women.  More than 200,000 cases are diagnosed per year. It's also the second most deadly form of cancer among American women; only lung cancer causes more deaths.

Having said that, breast cancer does not have to be deadly.  In fact, while a woman's chance of getting the affliction is 1 in 8, her chance of dying from breast cancer is only 1 in 28.

The biggest risk factor that influences the developing of this form of cancer is age.  As a woman gets older, her odds get better of getting it.  Her risk also increases if she began menstruating at a young age.  Some other risk factors include the woman's age when first pregnant, a prior family history of breast cancer, and genetic mutations in the BRCA! and BRCA2 genes. 

Because as much as 3 to 10 percent of breast cancer could be related to these mutations, any woman with a history of breast cancer in her family should ask for genetic testing. Some things the woman can do to reduce her chance of getting breast cancer include limiting her drinking to no more than five drinks a week, maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising regularly. 

Also, if a woman avoids long-term hormone replacement, has children before she's 30, and breastfeeds, it's believed she will lower her chances of developing the cancer.  Finally,, women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer should ask their physician about a drug called Tamoxifen.  It's been found that a woman could lower her chances of getting a breast tumor by 50 percent through using the drug for five years.

The biggest key for surviving and curing breast cancer is early detection.  It's important, therefore, that the woman become acquainted with, and make use of, mammograms, clinical exams, and self-exams.  Women between age 20 and 39 should get a clinical breast exam after every three years.  After she turns 40, this should be increased to an annual exam.  At this clinical exam, you can learn how to do a self exam, which you should then do once a month.  The self-exam involves checking for unusual lumps in the breast area.

Some women, especially those known to carry a BRCA 1or 2 mutation, are sometimes asked to get an annual MRI screening; if you know you have this mutation, speak to your physician about this.

Breast cancer is often not detectable in early stages without a visit to the doctor.  However, as it grows, it might produce a lump in the breast or in the underarm, a change in the shape or size of the breast, an inward-turning of the nipple, a nipple discharge, a redness of the nipple, or ridges of the breast skin.

Treatment of breast cancer almost always involves some kind of surgery.  This surgery is done to get rid of as much of the cancer as is feasible. If caught in the early stages, the cancer can possibly be removed through BCT - "breast conservation therapy."  Cancers caught in later stages might require a modified radical mastectomy.

Even after the surgery, many patients are advised to undergo chemotherapy.  This is to decrease the chance of the cancer recurring.  The chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to get rid of those cancer cells which broke off from the main tumor and spread to other parts of the body. Generally, chemotherapy is suggested for those with higher stage disease.

Sometimes radiation therapy is used to treat breast cancer.  In this method, high-energy xrays are used to kill the cancer cells.  This is used in anyone who has received breast conservation therapy, and is also suggested for those who have had a mastectomy to remove large tumors.

If the pathologist determines that a tumor is expressing progesterone and / or estrogen receptors, he may suggest hormonal therapy.  This makes use of estrogen-blocking drugs in pill form for up to five or ten years after surgery.  They have been found to reduce the patient's chance of cancer recurrence caused by a tumor expressing estrogen / progesterone receptors.