What You Need to Know about Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is the most common and spreadable cancer in women. It has become the second main cause of cancer death after lung cancer in women. Since 1989, survival rates have dramatically improved due to advances in screening and treatment. The chance of any woman dying from breast cancer is around 2.7 % i.e. 1 in 37. Awareness of the symptoms and the need for screening can reduce the risk of Breast Cancer.

Breast cancer is mind-boggling for any woman, but nothing to worry about all you need to do is, just Face the truth!!! Any woman can get Breast Cancer Young or Old Aged. You just need to become intelligent to know all the risks associated with Breast Cancer because once you know everything about the disease you have a better chance to reduce the risk. Men also get affected by Breast Cancer, but this article will focus on Breast Cancer in Women.

Fast Facts about Breast Cancer in Women:

Here are Some Main Points about Breast Cancer: We will discuss everything in detail in the article:

• Breast Cancer is the most common cancer that can spread in Women.
• Symptoms include: 1. A lump or Thickening of the Breast or 2. Changes to the Skin or the Nipple.
• In general cases risk factors are genetic, but sometimes lifestyle factors like alcohol intake make it more likely to happen.
• There is a range of treatments available such as surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy etc.
• Many breast lumps are not cancerous. However, any woman who is having a lump or noticing a change should check it up with a doctor.

Symptoms

An area of thickened tissue in the breast or a lump in the breast comes under the very first symptom of breast cancer and an early diagnosis of Breast Cancer can increase the Chances of Recovery.

Other Symptoms Include:

• Pain in the Armpits or Breast without changing with the Monthly Cycle.
• Rashes Around or on One of the Nipples
• Any kind of Discharge from a Nipple most probably Containing Blood
• A Sunken or Inverted Nipple
• A Sudden Change in the Shape/Size of the Breast
• Flaking, Peeling or Scaling of the Skin on the Breast or Nipple

Please Note: Most lumps are not Cancerous, but women should get checked it up with a health care professional.

Stages

Cancer is categorized into stages as per the size of the tumor or whether it has spread to lymph nodes & other parts of the body. There are many different ways of staging Breast Cancer. The most common way is staging it from stage 0 to 4:

Stage 0: This stage is known as Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS). In this stage the cells are limited to within a duct and have not yet spread in surrounding tissues.

Stage 1: In the beginning of the first stage, the tumor is has taken the size up to 2 Centimeter across but it has not affected any lymph nodes till this stage.

Stage 2: In the stage 2 the tumor is 2 cm across and it has now started to spread to nearby nodes/areas.

Stage 3: In the 3^rd stage of breast cancer, the tumor has become of the size up to 5 cm across and it may have spread to some nearby lymph nodes.

Stage 4: In this extreme stage the cancer has spread to Distant Organs too especially to the bones, liver, brain or lungs.

Types of Breast Cancer:

Breast Cancer can be of following types:

Ductal Carcinoma: Ductal Carcinoma begins in the milk Duct and it is the most common type of Breast Cancer.

Lobular Carcinoma: While the Lobular Carcinoma starts in the Lobules.

Invasive (Spreadable) Breast Cancer is when the Cells of the Cancer break out from inside the ducts or lobules and spread in nearby tissue. It increases the chances of spreading the cancer to other parts of the body. Non-invasive breast cancer is the cancer which is still inside its place of origin and has not broken out to spread to other parts of the body. Breast cancer can also affect men, but it is very less common in men in comparison of women.

How to Diagnose?

Diagnosis of the breast cancer occurs as the result of screening or when a woman consults with the doctor after detecting the symptoms. Some Diagnostic Tests are as follows which help to confirm a diagnosis.

Breast Examination:

The Physicians check the Patient’s Breasts for the existence of the lumps and other symptoms of Cancer.

Imaging Tests: Following are the types of Imaging Tests –

• Mammogram is a type of x-ray that is used for initial breast cancer screening. It produces images to help detect any lumps.
• A Suspicious Result is followed up by Further Diagnosis i.e. Ultra Sound and MRI.
• Ultrasound helps in differentiating between a Solid Mass or a Fluid-Filled Cyst.
• While MRI involves injecting a dye into the patient and to find out how far the cancer has spread till now.

Biopsy

In the biopsy a sample of tissue is surgically removed and sent for laboratory analysis to know whether the cells are cancerous or not. And if it is cancerous then which type of cancer it is. Moreover, it is analyzed for whether or not the cancer is hormone-sensitive.

In the diagnosis the staging the cancer is also done in order to establish:

• The size of the lump or Tumor
• How far it has spread till now
• Whether it is invasive or not
• Whether it has metastasized or not

Staging is necessary for the increased chances of recovery as it helps doctors to decide the best treatment options.

Treatment of Breast Cancer:

Treatment of the Breast Cancer depends on the type of breast cancer/ the stage of the cancer/sensitivity to hormones/the patient’s age, overall health, and preferences.

The main treatment options include:

• Radiation Therapy
• Surgery
• Biological Therapy or Targeted Drug Therapy
• Hormone Therapy
• Chemotherapy

There are some factors that affect a person’s choice of treatment such as: the stage of the cancer or some other medical conditions and most importantly their individual preference.

Surgery

If surgery is needed for treating Breast Cancer, the choice will depend on the diagnosis and the individual. Main types of surgery are:

• Lumpectomy: In this type of surgery the tumor and a small amount of healthy tissue around it gets removed and prevent the spread of the cancer to other parts of the body.
• Mastectomy: In the mastectomy kind of surgery doctors remove the lobules, fatty tissue, nipple, ducts, areola and some skin.
• Sentinel Node Biopsy: In this surgery the lymph node is removed that can stop the cancer spreading, because if breast cancer reaches a lymph node, it can spread farther in other parts of body.
• Axillary Lymph Node Dissection: In this kind of surgery several lymph nodes in the armpit are removed to prevent the spread of disease.
• Reconstruction: In reconstruction surgery a surgeon perform a reconstruction to recreate the breast to look it similar to the other one.

Radiation Therapy:

In the radiation therapy a controlled dose of radiation is targeted at the tumor for destroying the cancer cells. A person with breast cancer can undergo this therapy after a month after surgery, along with chemotherapy. This helps to kill any remaining cancer cells.

Chemotherapy:

If a tumor is large, a specialist may choose to give a chemotherapy session before the surgery so that the tumor can get shrink and its removal get easier. This is known as neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. Chemotherapy can also treat cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. It can also reduce the production of estrogen as it is the main reason for encouraging the growth of some breast cancers.

Hormone Blocking Therapy:

When the cancer is hormone sensitive, then doctors use hormone-blocking therapy to prevent its recurrence. Doctors normally administer hormone blocking therapy after surgery, but in some cases they might use it beforehand for shrinking the tumor. This therapy is the only option for patients who cannot undergo the chemotherapy, surgery or radiotherapy treatment. But this has no effect on other cancers other than Hormone Sensitive Cancer.

Biological Treatment:

Some targeted drugs can destroy Breast Cancer such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), lapatinib (Tykerb), and bevacizumab (Avastin) etc. Doctors use these drugs for different purposes and treatments for cancers using these drugs can have many severe adverse effects. So, while deciding on a treatment, the patient should discuss with a doctor about the risks involved and the best ways to minimize the negative effects of the drugs.