Overview:
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Cancer is itself a dangerous word and people always get scared after hearing this word. Basically, Cancer is a cell disorder in which, uncontrolled growth of cells takes place which results in the division of cells. The changes that cause the uncontrolled growth of cells are often called mutations.
Several kinds of Cancers can attack humans, most of which are life-threatening. Today, we are going to talk about one of the major and dangerous cancers “Breast Cancer”. Breast Cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in breast cells. Breast cancer usually forms in the lobules and the ducts of breasts.
Both ducts and lobules are the part of breasts that play a role in milk production and breastfeeding. Such glands which help in the milk production in breasts are called lobules. Those glands which bring milk to nipples are called ducts. Cancer can occur in connective and fibrous tissues of the breast.
Cancer could be developed in breast tissues and then can travel to other parts of the body by using lymph nodes, the primary path of cancer.
Types of Breast Cancer:
There are two main categories of breast cancer in which all types of cancer can be distinguished.
The two main categories of breast cancer are:
Invasive
Non-invasive
Invasive cancer starts developing from ducts and then travels to other parts of the body.
Non-Invasive cancer couldn’t spread from the original tissue. This cancer stays within milk ducts.
Knowing the type of cancer is really important because it will determine the treatment. You can see all types of breast cancer here.
Symptoms of breast cancer:
Breast cancer could be like a silent storm because initially, it does not cause any serious symptoms. The tumor can be so small that it couldn’t be felt.
Not all lumps are cancer, but if anyone feels an unusual lump in the breast, it could be a symptom of cancer. Breast cancer, itself has several types, each type can cause different symptoms. The most common symptoms of breast cancers are given below:
A breast lump or unusual thickening of tissues
Redness in your breast skin
Discharging of blood from nipples
Scaling of skin around your nipples
Breast Pain
Lumps underarm
Sudden change in the shape of your breast
Swelling in or around the breast
Don’t assume that you are a patient of breast cancer if you have any of the above symptoms, though, you should contact your doctor.
Causes of Breast Cancer:
Many factors and causes play a role to develop cancer in breasts. Some of them are given below:
Increasing Age:
The rate of breast cancer is more in older women than in younger women. If your age is above 40, you should be aware of breast cancer.
Obesity:
Obese women have a danger of developing breast cancer more than skinny ones. Being obese will not give you an advantage in this scenario.
Drinking Alcohol:
Women who go to parties and drink a lot of alcohol are more likely to develop breast cancer.
Exposure to radiations:
Receiving Ultraviolet radiations, gamma rays, or rays from radioactive elements can cause breast cancer.
Inherited Genes:
Some inherited genes can cause breast cancer(BRCA1 and BRCA2 are in particular).
Never experienced pregnancy:
Women who had never get pregnant have more chances of developing breast cancer than those who give birth to one or more children.
Having a history of breast cancer:
If you had experienced breast cancer in your past, it could develop again.
Stages of Breast Cancer:
Doctors have divided breast cancer into many stages. The stages are based on the spread of cancer and the size of tumors in the breast. Doctors consider many things to stage cancer by analyzing that whether the cancer is invasive or non-invasive, the size of tumors in the breast, how far cancer has been spread, involvement of lymph nodes.
After analyzing the above criteria, doctors have divided breast cancer into 5 major stages and those are given below:
Stage 1A:
The size of the tumor is less than 2 centimeters.
Stage 1B:
The tumor is smaller than 2cm and some lymph nodes have been found in the breast.
Stage 2A:
The size of tumors could be about 2cm and it could be spread to 2-3 nearby lymph nodes.
Stage 2B:
Tumor size is between 2-5cm and it could be spread to armpit lymph.
Stage3A:
The tumor can be of any size, cancer could be spread to 5-10 lymph nodes.
Stage3B:
The tumor could invade the chest wall.
Stage3C:
Cancer could be found in 10 or more axillary lymph nodes near the collarbone or neck.
Stage4:
In this stage, cancer could be of any type and could be spread in nearby or distant lymph nodes and organs.
To treat cancer, you should know its stage, and to know its stage, you should know your doctor.
How to diagnose breast cancer:
To examine that the symptoms appearing in your body are signs of breast cancer or not, doctors had to examine your body conditions. Doctors take many medical tests to determine cancer in people. Two of them are given below:
Mammography:
Mammography is the most used test to diagnose breast cancer. In this process, low-energy rays are used to examine breasts, this is like an imaging test. Mammography helps in early diagnoses of cancer. Many women in the US get mammography every year to avoid the danger of breast cancer.
MRI or ultrasound:
In MRI, strong magnetic fields are used to take images of tissues, which is helpful to diagnose cancer. MRI machine contains large powerful magnets which produce a large magnetic field.
An ultrasound is a method that uses sound waves to detect tumors in many parts of the body. By using ultrasound, Doctors can detect that whether the tumor is cancerous or not.
A biopsy is also used to diagnose breast cancer.
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Treatments of breast cancer:
Your treatment of breast cancer also depends on many factors including how far cancer has developed, how large, the tumors have grown, what is the stage of cancer.
After examining the things above, your doctor will choose a treatment, favorable to the condition. Several methods are used to treat breast cancer all over the world including surgery, radiation treatment, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy.
Mastectomy:
Mastectomy is a type of surgery in which the tumors are removed from the breast. Sometimes, the whole breast is removed during Mastectomy. In a double mastectomy, both breasts are removed.
Lumpectomy:
In this procedure, only tumors and some surrounding tissues are removed from the breast. It is also a type of surgery.
Node Biopsy:
This surgery is used to removes lymph nodes that are affected by the tumors. After testing cancer in the nodes, doctors will decide the need for the next surgery.
Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy:
Some people choose this surgery because they don’t want to spread cancer in the other healthy breast, unlike others.
Hormone Therapy:
If your cancer is also affecting your body’s hormones, your doctor may select a Hormone therapy. Some hormones can stimulate the growth of tumors. In hormone therapy, the receptors of some hormones are blocked. This can slow the rate of developing cancer.
Radiotherapy:
Like in many other health conditions, radiotherapy is also used to treat breast cancer. In this procedure, high beam radiations are used to break cancer cells in breasts. A large machine is used to produce strong radiation.
Breast cancer in males:
Like women, males also have some breast tissues in their chest, it is possible that a male could have developed breast cancer but this is much rarer. The rate of breast cancer in males is 100 times less than that of women. But if a male could develop breast cancer, it will be as dangerous for him as it is for women.
The survival rate of breast cancer:
As breast cancer is a life-threatening disease, it can death. Now, what is the survival rate?
The survival rate of breast cancer depends on a lot of factors. Some of them are given below:
Type of cancer
Stage of cancer
Diagnoses’ time
Age
Gender
Maybe race
According to research, the survival rate of breast cancer in black people is more than that of white people.
The survival rate of breast cancer is increasing because of the progress of the medical industry. According to ACS, the survival rate from 1975-2000 in women was 75%. From 2008-2014, the survival rate was 90%. Now, breast cancer’s survival rate is 27-99% depending on many factors.
This was the article, we briefly discussed terms related to breast cancer. The awareness of breast cancer is very low in many countries. A pink day or a pink ribbon is used to raise awareness of breast cancer.
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