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Breast Cancer
Overview of Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers that affect females. Around 35,000 women develop the disease in the UK alone each and every year. Breast cancer can also affect men however male breast cancer accounts for less than 1 in every 100 cases. A cancerous tumor may first develop in the breast lobules i.e. the structures that produce milk, but then remain undiagnosed until the cancer becomes metastatic breast cancer and starts to affect other organs such as the lungs and the liver.
Fortunately breast cancer awareness is growing by the year and more and more women are checking themselves regularly for physical signs of breast cancer. They also know the symptoms of breast cancer and so they know what to watch out for. This means that many more cases are being diagnosed early and treatment is therefore a lot more effective.
Risk Factors of Breast Cancer
The risk of developing breast cancer doubles with every 10 years however the disease is most commonly diagnosed in women over the age of 50. The exact breast cancer causes remain a mystery however some risk factors have been identified, many of which indicate that the female hormone oestrogen is an important factor in the development of the disease.
Women who begin their periods early and have a late menopause are at increased risk of developing the disease, as are women who never give birth and so never breast feed. It is thought that breast feeding provides some form of protection from breast cancer in later life. Other risk factors include:
- Taking the oral contraceptive pill for over 10 years without a significant break.
- Having HRT following the menopause for more than ten years.
- An abnormal gene that tends to run in families and makes the females more susceptible to the disease.
Signs and Symptoms of Breast Cancer
Unfortunately breast cancer symptoms are not very common in the disease’s early stages. When they do occur they generally only affect one breast and include the following:
- A lump in the breast which is usually painless and may be situated deep in the breast tissue or just under the skin.
- Dimpling of the skin in the area of the lump or alternatively swelling of the skin (inflammatory breast cancer) with an ‘orange peel’ appearance.
- Inversion of the nipple.
- A blood stained nipple discharge.
Occasionally the lump is so deep in the breast tissue that it can’t initially be felt and so the condition has progressed to one of the later breast cancer stages by the time it is diagnosed.
Treatment for Breast Cancer
The extent of the cancerous growth within the breast, whether it has progressed and spread to secondary sites in the body and whether it is one of the types of breast cancer that is sensitive to oestrogen are the main considerations when choosing an appropriate form of breast cancer treatment. The different forms of breast cancer treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy and a combination of these.
Counselling often helps women to come to terms with their illness and a number of complimentary therapies are available to promote an overall sense of well-being throughout the course of treatment.
Continued breast cancer research has provided women with statistics and facts that make understanding this highly prevalent disease easier so that cases are diagnosed earlier and the rate of survival is higher than ever.
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