Breast Cancer

Definition

Breast cancer is the cancer affecting women. It may be occur at  any time after puberty. Mostly it will develop one in nine women breast cancer in her lifetime. But is most common after age 50. In the United States, about 1,500 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. According to the most recent data, mortality rates continue to decline in white women and, for the first time, are also declining in younger black women.

Causes of breast cancer

Breast cancer may be occur due to various causes. The cause of breast cancer isn't known, but its high incidence in women implicates estrogen. In addition, certain predisposing factors are clear. Women at highest risk such as those who have a family history of breast cancer, particularly first-degree relatives such as mother, sister, or maternal aunt. Various other factor of women at high risk such as those:

• Long menstrual cycles or began menses early or menopause late
• Have never been pregnant
• First pregnant after age 30
• Have had ovarian cancer, particularly at a young age

Women at lower risk include those who:

• Were pregnant before age 20
• Have had multiple pregnancies
• Native American or Asian descent.

If you have breast cancer, then it may affect various parts of the breast structures. But it occurs more commonly in the left breast than the right and more commonly in the outer upper quadrant.

Symptoms of breast cancer

• Lump or mass in the breast
• Change in symmetry or size of the breast
• Change in skin such as thickening, dimpling, edema, or ulceration
• Change in the nipple such as itching, burning, erosion, or retraction
• Pain
• Bone metastasis, and hypercalcemia
• Change in skin temperature, such as a warm, hot, or pink area unusual drainage or discharge, such as greenish black, white or creamy, serous, or bloody.
• Edema of the arm

Treatment of Breast cancer

• For the treatment of breast cancer, you should be use surgery, because it involves lumpectomy. A lumpectomy may be done on an outpatient basis and may be the only surgery needed, especially if the tumor is small
• You can also use the Chemotherapy, it involve various cytotoxic drug combinations, is used as either adjuvant or primary therapy, depending on several factors, such as  TNM staging and estrogen receptor status.
• Another treatment Tamoxifen, an estrogen antagonist, is the adjuvant treatment of choice for postmenopausal patients with positive estrogen receptor status.
• Primary radiation therapy before or after tumor removal is effective for small tumors in early stages with no evidence of distant metastasis; it's also used to prevent or treat local recurrence. Pre surgical radiation to the breast in inflammatory breast cancer helps make tumors more surgically manageable.