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Breast cancer
is cancer that originates in the breast tissue. It’s most commonly found in the inner lining of the milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. If found early, and with treatment, 10-year survival can be up to 98%. Many people with breast cancer have seen treatment through to a complete cure. Some breast cancers are sensitive to hormones such as estrogen and/or progesterone, so treatment may include blocking the effects of these hormones in the target tissues. These have better prognosis and require less aggressive treatment than hormone negative cancers. Breast cancers without hormone receptors, or which have spread to the lymph nodes in the armpits, or which express certain genetic characteristics, are higher-risk, and are treated more aggressively.
The first symptom of breast cancer is usually a lump that feels different from the rest of the breast tissue. The earliest breast cancer lumps are detected by a mammogram, but more than 80% are discovered when a woman feels a lump. Lumps in the armpits can also indicate breast cancer. Other breast cancer symptoms include changes in breast size or shape, skin dimpling, nipple inversion, spontaneous single-nipple discharge, and sometimes pain, although pain alone is usually not a reliable breast cancer symptom. Although, breast cancer is thought of as a “women’s disease,” and is more common in women, men can also develop breast cancer. Breast cancer is about 100 times more common in women than in men, although males tend to have poorer outcomes due to delays in diagnosis.
Risk factors for breast cancer include:
Personal history of breast cancer: A woman who had breast cancer in one breast has an increased risk of getting cancer in her other breast.
Family history of breast cancer. If one’s mother, sister, or daughter had breast cancer, the risk becomes more significant, and also if at least two close relatives had breast or ovarian cancer. The risk is higher if a family member developed breast cancer before age 40.
Atypical hyperplasia and lobular carcinoma found in benign breast conditions such as fibrocystic breast changes are correlated with an increased breast cancer risk.
Certain lifestyle factors may increase a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer, such as never having had children and obesity. A National Cancer Institute study of 72,000 women found that those who had a normal body mass index at age 20 and gained weight as they aged had nearly double the risk of developing breast cancer after menopause in comparison to women maintained their weight. The average 60 year-old woman's risk of developing breast cancer by age 65 is about 2 percent; her lifetime risk is 13 percent.
Treatment for breast cancer includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and certain drugs (hormonal therapy.)
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