What is breast cancer?
Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that starts in the cells of the breast. A malignant tumor is a group of cancer cells that can grow into (invade) surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to distant areas of the body. The disease occurs almost entirely in women, but men can get it, too.
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| Pink is the color for Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October. |
American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Screening Guideline
American Cancer Society breast cancer screening guidelines are developed to save lives by finding breast cancer early, when treatment is more likely to be successful. The Society regularly reviews the science and updates screening recommendations when new evidence suggests that a change may be needed.
The latest guideline applies to women at average risk for breast cancer.
Among other recommendations, it says all women should begin having yearly mammograms by age 45, and can change to having mammograms every other year beginning at age 55. Women should have the choice to start screening with yearly mammograms as early as age 40 if they want to.
The normal breast
ANATOMY OF BREAST--
To understand breast cancer, it helps to have some basic knowledge about the normal structure of the breasts, shown in the diagram below.
The female breast is made up mainly of lobules (milk-producing glands), ducts (tiny tubes that carry the milk from the lobules to the nipple), and stroma (fatty tissue and connective tissue surrounding the ducts and lobules, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels).
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| 1. Chest wall. 2. Pectoralis muscles. 3. Lobules (glands that make milk). 4. Nipple surface. 5. Areola. 6. Lactiferous duct tube that carries milk to the nipple. 7. Fatty tissue. 8. Skin. | Image by Patrick J. Lynch and Morgoth666 |
Most breast cancers begin in the cells that line the ducts (ductal cancers). Some begin in the cells that line the lobules (lobular cancers), while a small number start in other tissues.
The lymph (lymphatic) system of the breast
Lymph nodes are small, bean-shaped collections of immune system cells (cells that are important in fighting infections) that are connected by lymphatic vessels. Lymphatic vessels are like small veins, except that they carry a clear fluid called lymph (instead of blood) away from the breast. Lymph contains tissue fluid and waste products, as well as immune system cells. Breast cancer cells can enter lymphatic vessels and begin to grow in lymph nodes.
Benign breast lumps
Most breast lumps are not cancerous (benign). Still, some may need to be biopsied (sampled and viewed under a microscope) to prove they are not cancer.
Fibrosis and cysts
Most lumps turn out to be caused by fibrosis and/or cysts, benign changes in the breast tissue that happen in many women at some time in their lives.
Fibroadenomas and intraductal papillomas
Benign breast tumors such as fibroadenomas or intraductal papillomas are abnormal growths, but they are not cancerous and do not spread outside the breast to other organs. They are not life threatening.
What are the risk factors for breast cancer?
A risk factor is anything that affects chance of getting a disease, such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. For example, exposing skin to strong sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer. Smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the lung, mouth, larynx (voice box), bladder, kidney, and several other organs.
But risk factors don't tell us everything. Having a risk factor, or even several, does not mean that you will get the disease. Most women who have one or more breast cancer risk factors never develop the disease, while many women with breast cancer have no apparent risk factors (other than being a woman and growing older). Even when a woman with risk factors develops breast cancer, it is hard to know just how much these factors might have contributed.
Some risk factors, like a person's age or race, can't be changed. Others are linked to cancer-causing factors in the environment. Still others are related to personal behaviors, such as smoking, drinking, and diet. Some factors influence risk more than others, and your risk for breast cancer can change over time, due to factors such as aging or lifestyle.
Gender
Simply being a woman is the main risk factor for developing breast cancer. Men can develop breast cancer, but this disease is about 100 times more common among women than men. This is probably because men have less of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone, which can promote breast cancer cell growth
Aging
Your risk of developing breast cancer increases as you get older. About 1 out of 8 invasive breast cancers are found in women younger than 45, while about 2 of 3 invasive breast cancers are found in women age 55 or older.
Genetic risk factors
About 5% to 10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be hereditary, meaning that they result directly from gene defects (called mutations) inherited from a parent. See the section "Do we know what causes breast cancer?" for more information about genes and DNA and how they can affect breast cancer risk.
Lifestyle-related factors and breast cancer risk
Having children
Women who have had no children or who had their first child after age 30 have a slightly higher breast cancer risk overall. Having many pregnancies and becoming pregnant at a young age reduce breast cancer risk overall. Still, the effect of pregnancy is different for different types of breast cancer. For a certain type of breast cancer known as triple-negative, pregnancy seems to increase risk.
Birth control
Oral contraceptives: Studies have found that women using oral contraceptives (birth control pills) have a slightly greater risk of breast cancer than women who have never used them. This risk seems to go back to normal over time once the pills are stopped. Women who stopped using oral contraceptives more than 10 years ago do not appear to have any increased breast cancer risk. When thinking about using oral contraceptives, women should discuss their other risk factors for breast cancer with their health care team.
Hormone therapy after menopause
Hormone therapy with estrogen (often combined with progesterone) has been used for many years to help relieve symptoms of menopause and to help prevent osteoporosis (thinning of the bones). Earlier studies suggested it might have other health benefits as well, but these benefits have not been found in more recent, better designed studies.
Breastfeeding
Some studies suggest that breastfeeding may slightly lower breast cancer risk, especially if it is continued for 1½ to 2 years. But this has been a difficult area to study, especially in countries such as the United States, where breastfeeding for this long is uncommon.
One explanation for this possible effect may be that breastfeeding reduces a woman's total number of lifetime menstrual cycles (similar to starting menstrual periods at a later age or going through early menopause).
Drinking alcohol
The use of alcohol is clearly linked to an increased risk of developing breast cancer. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed. Compared with non-drinkers, women who consume 1 alcoholic drink a day have a very small increase in risk. Those who have 2 to 5 drinks daily have about 1½ times the risk of women who don’t drink alcohol. Excessive alcohol consumption is also known to increase the risk of developing several other types of cancer.
Being overweight or obese
Being overweight or obese after menopause increases breast cancer risk. Before menopause your ovaries produce most of your estrogen, and fat tissue produces a small amount of estrogen. After menopause (when the ovaries stop making estrogen), most of a woman's estrogen comes from fat tissue. Having more fat tissue after menopause can increase your chance of getting breast cancer by raising estrogen levels. Also, women who are overweight tend to have higher blood insulin levels. Higher insulin levels have also been linked to some cancers, including breast cancer.
Unclear factors
Diet and vitamin intake
Many studies have looked for a link between what women eat and breast cancer risk, but so far the results have been conflicting. Some studies have indicated that diet may play a role, while others found no evidence that diet influences breast cancer risk. For example, a recent study found a higher risk of breast cancer in women who ate more red meat.
Chemicals in the environment
A great deal of research has been reported and more is being done to understand possible environmental influences on breast cancer risk.
Compounds in the environment that have estrogen-like properties are of special interest. For example, substances found in some plastics, certain cosmetics and personal care products, pesticides (such as DDE), and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) seem to have such properties. These could in theory affect breast cancer risk.
Studies continue to uncover lifestyle factors,environment and habits that alter breast cancer risk. Ongoing studies are looking at the effect of exercise, weight gain or loss, and diet on breast cancer risk.
Tobacco smoke
For a long time, studies found no link between cigarette smoking and breast cancer. In recent years though, more studies have found that long-term heavy smoking is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer. Some studies have found that the risk is highest in certain groups, such as women who started smoking before they had their first child. The 2014 US Surgeon General’s report on smoking concluded that there is “suggestive but not sufficient” evidence that smoking increases the risk of breast cancer.
Controversial or disproven factors
Antiperspirants
Internet and e-mail rumors have suggested that chemicals in underarm antiperspirants are absorbed through the skin, interfere with lymph circulation, cause toxins to build up in the breast, and eventually lead to breast cancer.
Bras
Internet and e-mail rumors and at least one book have suggested that bras cause breast cancer by obstructing lymph flow. There is no good scientific or clinical basis for this claim, and a recent study of more than 1,500 women found no association of bra use with breast cancer risk.
Induced abortion
Several studies have provided very strong data that neither induced abortions nor spontaneous abortions (miscarriages) have an overall effect on the risk of breast cancer. For more detailed information.
Several studies have found that breast implants do not increase the risk of breast cancer, although silicone breast implants can cause scar tissue to form in the breast. Implants make it harder to see breast tissue on standard mammograms, but additional x-ray pictures called implant displacement views can be used to examine the breast tissue more completely.
Many risk factors can increase chance of developing breast cancer, but it is not yet known exactly how some of these risk factors cause cells to become cancerous. Hormones seem to play a role in many cases of breast cancer, but just how this happens is not fully understood.
DNA is the chemical in each of our cells that makes up our genes—the instructions for how our cells function. We usually look like our parents because they are the source of our DNA. But DNA affects more than how we look.
Some genes control when our cells grow, divide into new cells, and die. Genes that speed up cell division are called oncogenes. Others that slow down cell division, or cause cells to die at the right time, are called tumor suppressor genes. Certain changes (mutations) in DNA that “turn on” oncogenes or “turn off” tumor suppressor genes can cause normal breast cells to become cancerous.
Inherited gene mutations
Certain inherited DNA mutations can dramatically increase the risk for developing certain cancers and are responsible for many of the cancers that run in some families. For example, the BRCA genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) are tumor suppressor genes. A mutation in one of these genes can be inherited from a parent. When one of these genes are mutated, it no longer suppresses abnormal growth, and cancer is more likely to develop.
Women have already begun to benefit from advances in understanding the genetic basis of breast cancer. Genetic testing can identify some women who have inherited mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 tumor suppressor genes (or less commonly in other genes such as PTEN or TP53). These women can then take steps to reduce their risk of developing breast cancers and to monitor changes in their breasts carefully to find cancer at an earlier, more treatable stage.
Acquired gene mutations
Most DNA mutations related to breast cancer occur in single breast cells during a woman's life rather than having been inherited. These acquired mutations of oncogenes and/or tumor suppressor genes may result from other factors, like radiation or cancer-causing chemicals. But so far, the causes of most acquired mutations that could lead to breast cancer are still unknown. Most breast cancers have several acquired gene mutations.
Can breast cancer be prevented?
There is no sure way to prevent breast cancer. But there are things can do that might lower risk., such as changing risk factors that are under control. (See the section "What are the risk factors for breast cancer?")
For example, body weight, physical activity, and diet have all been linked to breast cancer, so these might be areas where can take action. This is discussed in more detail in American Cancer Society Guidelines on Nutrition and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention.Taking a drug to lower breast cancer risk may also be an option.
This is discussed in more detail in Medicines to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk.
If a strong family history of breast cancer can talk to doctor about genetic testing for mutations in genes that increase the risk of breast cancer, such as the BRCA genes. If have such as mutation or come from a family with a mutation but haven’t been tested, could consider surgery to lower risk of cancer.Eg-ANGEELINA JOLIE
Breast Cancer Prevention and Early Detection has more detailed information about ways to lower risk of breast cancer.
Can breast cancer be found early?
Screening refers to tests and exams used to find a disease, like cancer, in people who do not have any symptoms. The goal of screening exams, such as mammograms, is to find cancers before they start to cause symptoms. Breast cancers that are found because they can be felt tend to be larger and are more likely to have already spread beyond the breast. But screening exams can often find breast cancers when they are small and still confined to the breast.
The mammogram is the main test recommended by the American Cancer Society to find breast cancer early. The American Cancer Society also recommends breast MRI for women who are at high risk of breast cancer because of certain factors.
What are the early signs and symptoms of breast cancer?
- Some of the warning signs of breast cancer include: a lump or thickening in or near the breast - or in the underarm areas
- A change in the size or shape of the breast
- A discharge from the nipple
- A change in the color or feel of the skin of the breast
Widespread use of screening mammograms has increased the number of breast cancers found before they cause any symptoms. Still, some breast cancers are not found by mammogram, either because the test was not done or because, even under ideal conditions, mammograms do not find every breast cancer.
The most common symptom of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. A painless, hard mass that has irregular edges is more likely to be cancerous, but breast cancers can be tender, soft, or rounded. They can even be painful. For this reason, it is important to have any new breast mass or lump or breast change checked by a health care professional experienced in diagnosing breast diseases.
Other possible symptoms of breast cancer include:
Swelling of all or part of a breast (even if no distinct lump is felt)
Skin irritation or dimpling
Breast or nipple pain
Nipple retraction (turning inward)
Redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
Nipple discharge (other than breast milk)
Sometimes a breast cancer can spread to lymph nodes under the arm or around the collar bone and cause a lump or swelling there, even before the original tumor in the breast tissue is large enough to be felt. Swollen lymph nodes should also be reported to your doctor.
Although any of these symptoms can be caused by things other than breast cancer, they should be reported to doctor so that he or she can find the cause.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
Breast cancer is sometimes found after symptoms appear, but many women with early breast cancer have no symptoms. This is why getting the recommended screening tests (as described in the section "Can breast cancer be found early?") before any symptoms develop is so important.
If something suspicious is found during a screening exam, or if you have any of the symptoms of breast cancer described in the previous section, your doctor will use one or more methods to find out if the disease is present. If cancer is found, other tests will be done to determine the stage (extent) of the cancer.
The most common symptom of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. A painless, hard mass that has irregular edges is more likely to be cancerous, but breast cancers can be tender, soft, or rounded. They can even be painful. For this reason, it is important to have any new breast mass or lump or breast change checked by a health care professional experienced in diagnosing breast diseases.
Other possible symptoms of breast cancer include:
Swelling of all or part of a breast (even if no distinct lump is felt)
Skin irritation or dimpling
Breast or nipple pain
Nipple retraction (turning inward)
Redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
Nipple discharge (other than breast milk)
Sometimes a breast cancer can spread to lymph nodes under the arm or around the collar bone and cause a lump or swelling there, even before the original tumor in the breast tissue is large enough to be felt. Swollen lymph nodes should also be reported to your doctor.
Although any of these symptoms can be caused by things other than breast cancer, they should be reported to doctor so that he or she can find the cause.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
Breast cancer is sometimes found after symptoms appear, but many women with early breast cancer have no symptoms. This is why getting the recommended screening tests (as described in the section "Can breast cancer be found early?") before any symptoms develop is so important.
If something suspicious is found during a screening exam, or if you have any of the symptoms of breast cancer described in the previous section, your doctor will use one or more methods to find out if the disease is present. If cancer is found, other tests will be done to determine the stage (extent) of the cancer.
- Complete medical history
- Physical exam which includes palpation of the breast and nearby lymph nodes.
- Aspiration or needle biopsy to determine if a lump is a cyst or a solid mass - and to check cancer cells.
Medical history and physical exam
If any signs or symptoms that might mean breast cancer, be sure to see doctor as soon as possible. Doctor will ask questions about symptoms, any other health problems, and possible risk factors for benign breast conditions or breast cancer.
Breasts will be thoroughly examined for any lumps or suspicious areas and to feel their texture, size, and relationship to the skin and chest muscles. Any changes in the nipples or the skin of breasts will be noted. The lymph nodes in armpit and above collarbones may be palpated (felt), because enlargement or firmness of these lymph nodes might indicate spread of breast cancer. Doctor will also do a complete physical exam to judge general health and whether there is any evidence of cancer that may have spread.
If any signs or symptoms that might mean breast cancer, be sure to see doctor as soon as possible. Doctor will ask questions about symptoms, any other health problems, and possible risk factors for benign breast conditions or breast cancer.
Breasts will be thoroughly examined for any lumps or suspicious areas and to feel their texture, size, and relationship to the skin and chest muscles. Any changes in the nipples or the skin of breasts will be noted. The lymph nodes in armpit and above collarbones may be palpated (felt), because enlargement or firmness of these lymph nodes might indicate spread of breast cancer. Doctor will also do a complete physical exam to judge general health and whether there is any evidence of cancer that may have spread.
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Wikimedia Commons
If breast symptoms and/or the results of physical exam suggest breast cancer might be present, more tests will probably be done. These might include imaging tests, looking at samples of nipple discharge, or doing biopsies of suspicious areas.
The most effective way a woman can detect early breast cancer is through routine mammography. A mammogram can detect a tumor about two years before it can be felt by a woman.
ATTENTION--Friends!!!!PART A--Breast Cancer---as October is officially the breast cancer awareness month, the steps to reduce risks and to detect any sign in its early stages!!! Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that starts in the cells of the breast. A malignant tumor is a group of cancer cells that can grow into (invade) surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to distant areas of the body. The disease occurs almost entirely in women, but men can get it, too. Contd----
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/37136.php
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide
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