CANCER - BREASTCANCER

UNDERSTANDING BREAST CANCER

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with breast cancer, it's important to understand some basics: What is breast cancer and how does it happen?

In this section, you can learn about how breast cancer develops, how many people get breast cancer, and what factors can increase risk for getting breast cancer. You also can learn more about signs and symptoms to watch for and how to manage any fears you may have about breast cancer.

What is Breast Cancer ?????

Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth of breast cells. To better understand breast cancer, it helps to understand how any cancer can develop.

Cancer occurs as a result of mutations, or abnormal changes, in the genes responsible for regulating the growth of cells and keeping them healthy. The genes are in each cell’s nucleus, which acts as the “control room” of each cell. Normally, the cells in our bodies replace themselves through an orderly process of cell growth: healthy new cells take over as old ones die out. But over time, mutations can “turn on” certain genes and “turn off” others in a cell. That changed cell gains the ability to keep dividing without control or order, producing more cells just like it and forming a tumor.

A tumor can be benign (not dangerous to health) or malignant (has the potential to be dangerous). Benign tumors are not considered cancerous: their cells are close to normal in appearance, they grow slowly, and they do not invade nearby tissues or spread to other parts of the body. Malignant tumors are cancerous. Left unchecked, malignant cells eventually can spread beyond the original tumor to other parts of the body.

The term “breast cancer” refers to a malignant tumor that has developed from cells in the breast. Usually breast cancer either begins in the cells of the lobules, which are the milk-producing glands, or the ducts, the passages that drain milk from the lobules to the nipple. Less commonly, breast cancer can begin in the stromal tissues, which include the fatty and fibrous connective tissues of the breast.

Breast Anatomy

• Larger Version

Over time, cancer cells can invade nearby healthy breast tissue and make their way into the underarm lymph nodes, small organs that filter out foreign substances in the body. If cancer cells get into the lymph nodes, they then have a pathway into other parts of the body. The breast cancer’s stage refers to how far the cancer cells have spread beyond the original tumor (seeStages of Breast Cancer tablefor more information).

Breast cancer is always caused by a genetic abnormality (a “mistake” in the genetic material). However, only 5-10% of cancers are due to an abnormality inherited from your mother or father. About 90% of breast cancers are due to genetic abnormalities that happen as a result of the aging process and the “wear and tear” of life in general.

There are steps every person can take to help the body stay as healthy as possible and lower risk of breast cancer or a breast cancer recurrence (such as maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, limiting alcohol, and exercising regularly). Learn what you can do to manage breast cancer risk factors. Always remember, breast cancer is never anyone's fault. Feeling guilty, or telling yourself that breast cancer happened because of something you or anyone else did, is not productive.

Symptoms of Breast Cancer

Initially, breast cancer may not cause any symptoms. A lump may be too small for you to feel or to cause any unusual changes you can notice on your own. Often, an abnormal area turns up on a screening mammogram (x-ray of the breast), which leads to further testing.

In some cases, however, the first sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass in the breast that you or your doctor can feel. A lump that is painless, hard, and has uneven edges is more likely to be cancer. But sometimes cancers can be tender, soft, and rounded. So it's important to have anything unusual checked by your doctor.

According to the American Cancer Society, any of the following unusual changes in the breast can be a symptom of breast cancer :

• swelling of all or part of the breast
• skin irritation or dimpling
• breast pain
• nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
• redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
• a nipple discharge other than breast milk
• a lump in the underarm area

These changes also can be signs of less serious conditions that are not cancerous, such as an infection or a cyst. It’s important to get any breast changes checked out promptly by a doctor.

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc/index.jsp?gclid=CPTbiNK_mq4CFcN56wodgwIAIA

TREATMENT OPINION FOR BREAT CANCER

Treatment for Breast Cancer 

The surgical (lumpectomy or mastectomy) option is often the initial treatment to remove the tumour, without removing the entire breast where possible. If the cancer has spread to the surrounding tissues and lymph nodes, it might be necessary to do a mastectomy.

This is usually followed up by chemo- or radiotherapy. These therapies work towards killing off any remaining cancer cells. Another option for some women with early stage breast cancer, is hormone therapy. This may help reduce the chance of recurrence.

Lumpectomy
A lumpectomy is surgery to remove a small area of breast tissue that is cancerous.This surgery is carried out only in early breast cancer, if the area of tissue to be removed is relatively small. Women who choose a lumpectomy will require radiation therapy to destroy any cancer cells that may remain in the area.

Mastectomy
A mastectomy is the surgical removal of the entire breast that is done in order to remove a malignant tumour in cases of invasive breast cancer, with or without removing the lymph nodes in the armpit. Sometimes, if more tissue needs to be removed, a lumpectomy may be disfiguring and a mastectomy may be recommended instead.

Following a mastectomy, a woman may choose to wear a breast prosthesis or may opt to undergo breast reconstruction, which can be done at the same time as the mastectomy or later.

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PICTURES OF BREAST CANCER

	Pictures of Breast Self-Exam See diagrams of Breast Self-Examination.			Pictures of Diagnosis See pictures of MRIs, Mammograms, Ultrasounds, and PET Scans.
	Pictures of Types of Breast Cancer See pictures of Non–Invasive and Invasive tumors, and more.			Pictures of Breast Anatomy See diagrams of Breast Self Examination.
	Pictures of Treatment See pictures of Mastectomy, Radiation Therapy, Chemotherapy, and more.			Pictures of Breast Reconstruction See pictures of TRAM Flap, Tissue Expanders, Latissimus Dorsi Flap Reconstruction, and more.

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