Guide To Breast Cancer, What you need to Know: Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Cancer develops when the body’s control mechanism stops working.
What then is breast cancer?
Breast-cancer occurs when the cell in the breast grow out of control. Typically, cancer either forms in the lobules or the ducts of the breast. Cancer can also occur in the fatty tissue or fibrous connective tissue within the breast.
Different types of breast cancer grow and spread at different rates. Some take a year to spread beyond the breast, while others grow and spread quickly.
Breast Cancer Symptoms
Usually, breast-cancer may not cause any symptoms in its early stage. In most cases, the tumor may be too small to be felt, but an abnormality can still be seen on a mammogram.
If a tumor can be felt at its early stage, the first sign is usually a new lump in the breast that was not there before. However, not all lumps are cancer.
Symptoms for the most common breast cancer include
- Inverted nipple
- A lump or swelling under your arm
- Breast pain
- A nipple discharged apart from breast milk
- Changes to the appearance of the skin on your breast.
Having any of these signs doesn’t necessarily mean you have breast cancer. However, contact your doctor if you notice any of the symptoms for further examination and testing.
Types of breast cancer
There are different types of breast cancer and often broken into two main categories.
1 Invasive cancer: These have spread or invaded the surrounding breast tissues. Subcategory of invasive cancer include
Invasive or infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC): This cancer starts in the milk ducts. It breaks through the wall of the ducts and invades the fatty tissue of the breast. It is the most common form, accounting for 80 percent of invasive cases.
Invasive lobular carcinoma(ILU): This cancer starts in the lobules but spreads to surrounding tissue or other parts of the body. It accounts for about 10 percent of invasive breast cancer.
2 Noninvasive breast cancer: These types haven’t spread past the duct or lobule where they started. Subcategory includes
Ductal carcinoma in situ ( DCIS): with DCIS, the cancer cells are confined to the ducts in your breast and haven’t invaded the surrounding breast tissue.
Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS): This is cancer that grows in the milk-producing gland of the breast. Like DCIS, the cancer cell hasn’t invaded the surrounding tissue.
Other less common types of cancer include
- Paget disease of the nipple: This cancer begins in the duct of the nipple, but as it grows, it begins to affect the skin and areola of the nipple.
- Phyllodes tumor: This type of cancer grows in the connective tissue of the breast.
- Angiosarcoma: This cancer grows on the blood vessels or lymph vessels in the breast.
- Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC): This is a rare but aggressive type of breast cancer. A report from National Cancer Institute(NCI) shows that IBC makes up only 1 to 5 percent of all breast cancer cases. Under this condition, lymph nodes near the breast are blocked by cells which make the lymph vessel not function well. IBC causes the breast to swell, look red, and feel warm.
Breast cancer stages
Breast-cancer has been divided into stages based on the size of the tumor and how much it has spread. To know the stage of breast cancer, doctors need to know
- If the cancer is invasive or noninvasive
- How large the tumor is
- If cancer has spread to nearby tissue.
Breast cancer has five main stages. That is stage 0 to 4
Stage 0 breast cancer
Stage 0 is DCIS:
Cancer cells in DCIS remain confined to the ducts in the breast and have not spread into nearby tissue.
Stage 1 breast cancer
Stage 1A:
The primary tumor is 2 centimeters (cm) wide or less. There is no impact on the lymph nodes.
Stage 1B:
Nearly all lymph nodes include breast cancer. Either there is no tumor in the breast, or the tumor is smaller than 2 cm.
Stage 2 breast cancer
Stage 2A:
The tumor is smaller than 2 cm and has spread to 1 to 3 nearby lymph nodes, or it’s between 2 and 5 cm and hasn’t spread to any lymph nodes.
Stage 2B:
The tumor is between 2 and 5 cm and has spread to 1 to 3 axillary (armpit) lymph nodes, or it’s larger than 5 cm and hasn’t spread to any lymph nodes.
Stage 3 breast cancer
Stage 3A:
Cancer has spread to 4 to 9 axillary lymph nodes or has enlarged the internal mammary lymph nodes. The primary tumor can be any size.
Tumors are greater than 5 cm. Cancer has spread to 1 to 3 axillary lymph nodes or any breastbone nodes.
Stage 3B:
A tumor has invaded the chest wall or skin and may or may not have invaded up to 9 lymph nodes.
Stage 3C:
In not less than 10 axillary lymph nodes, Cancer is present. Lymph nodes near the collarbone, or internal mammary nodes.
Stage 4 breast cancer (metastatic breast cancer)
Stage 4 breast-cancer can have a tumor of any size. Its cancer cells have spread to nearby and distant lymph nodes, as well as distant organs.
The examination that your doctor carried out will determine the stage of your breast cancer, which will affect your treatment.
Diagnosis of breast cancer
To know if your symptoms are caused by breast-cancer or a benign breast condition, a diagnostic test is required. This is to understand what is causing your symptoms, and these tests include
Mammogram: This is an imaging test that enables the doctor to see the surface area of the breast. If your doctor suspects any tumor or spot, additional tests may be required.
Ultrasound: A breast ultrasound uses sound waves to create a picture of the tissues deep in your breast. This helps your doctor distinguish between a solid mass such as a tumor and a benign cyst.
Treatment of breast cancer
The stage of breast-cancer, how the tumor is, and how far it has invaded all determine the kind of treatment you will need.
Surgery has been the most common treatment for breast cancer. Additional treatment includes chemotherapy, targeted therapy, radiation, or hormone therapy.
Breast cancer removal procedures include a variety of different forms of surgery as seen below:
- Lumpectomy: This involves the removal of the tumor and surrounding tissue, leaving the rest of the breast intact.
- Mastectomy: This involves the removal of the entire breast
- Sentinel node biopsy: This removes a few of the lymph nodes that receive drainage from the tumor.
Chemotherapy
This is a drug treatment used to destroy cancer cells. It is usually used along with other treatments like surgery, but some people may undergo chemotherapy on their own. In most cases, doctors give chemotherapy before surgery.
Hormone therapy
Hormone therapy works by blocking the body’s production of these hormones(estrogen and progesterone) or by blocking the hormone receptor on the cancer cells. This action can help slow possibly the growth of cancer.
What is the risk factor for breast cancer?
There are several risks factors that increase the chances of getting breast-cancer and some of them include
- Age: The risk of developing breast cancer increases as one ages. Most women above 55 years old are found with invasive breast cancer.
- Drinking Alcohol: Alcohol increases the chance of having breast cancer.
- Early Menstruation: Having menstruation before the age of 12 risks the chance of getting breast cancer.
- Late menopause starts: people who start menopause after the age of 55 years are likely prone to breast cancer.
Prevention of Breast cancer
There are various measures that can be taken to prevent breast cancer. Lifestyle factors such as maintaining a healthy diet and regular exercise. Having regular mammograms will help reduce the chance that breast-cancer will go undetected.
Conclusion
Regular self-breast-examination is ideal to help you know if there are any changes to your breast and this will help in preventing its occurrence.
