When breast cells get mutations and start to divide and proliferate, breast cancer results. A breast bulge, discolouration, changes in texture, or other symptoms may be the first thing people notice.
Cancer that arises in breast cells is known as breast cancer. Usually, the cancer develops in the breast’s ducts or lobules.
The glands that create milk are called lobules, and the passageways that carry the milk from the glands to the nipple are called ducts. Additionally, cancer may develop in your breast’s fatty or fibrous connective tissue.
Unchecked cancer cells can spread to the lymph nodes behind the arms and frequently infiltrate other healthy breast tissue. The cancer has a route to spread to other bodily parts once it has entered the lymph nodes.
Males have breast tissue, just like females, but they typically have less of it. Although it is far less common, breast cancer can also strike men.
Find out more about the symptoms, diagnosis, and potential treatments for breast cancer.
Breast cancer risk factors
Your risk of developing breast cancer is increased by a number of risk factors. Having any of these, though, does not guarantee that you will get the illness.
You can alter the following risk factors: Reliable Source:
Lack of exercise: People who don’t exercise frequently have an increased chance of developing cancer.
Hormone treatment: A person’s chance of developing breast cancer is increased if they have taken or are now taking postmenopausal estrogen and progesterone drugs to cope with menopause symptoms.
Use of alcohol: Alcohol increases your risk.
You cannot alter the following risk factors:
Risk that is inherited: You are more likely to get breast cancer if a close female family, such your mother, sister, or grandmother, has had the disease.
Possessing thick breast tissue: Dense breast tissue makes mammograms hard to read. It also increases your risk of breast cancer.
Having never conceived: People who have never been pregnant or carried a pregnancy to full term are more likely to develop breast cancer.
Age: As you become older, your chance of getting breast cancer rises. The majority of invasive breast cancers occur in adults over 55.
Genetics: Breast cancer is more common in those with mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes than in those without. Your risk may be impacted by further gene mutations.
Breast cancer symptoms and indicators
In its early stages, breast cancer may not show any symptoms. Often, a tumor is too small to be felt, but a mammogram may still show an abnormality. If a tumor is felt, the first sign is typically a new lump in the breast that wasn’t there before, though not all lumps are cancer. The most common breast cancer symptoms include:
Breast pain
discolored and pitted skin on your breast
swelling in all or part of your breast
a nipple discharge other than breast milk
bloody discharge from your nipple peeling scaling
flaking of skin on your nipple or breast, an abrupt
unexplained change in the size or shape of your breast
an inverted nipple, changes to the appearance of the skin on your breasts
or a lump or swelling under your arm
It is not always the case that you have breast cancer if you have any of these symptoms. For example, breast pain or a breast lump may be the result of a benign cyst; however, if you discover a lump in your breast or experience other symptoms, consult a physician for additional testing and evaluation.
Finding breast cancer
A doctor will perform a comprehensive physical examination in addition to a breast exam to assess if your symptoms are due to breast cancer or a benign breast ailment.
To learn more about the cause of your symptoms, they might also ask for one or more diagnostic tests.
These consist of:
biopsy of the breast
Your doctor may do a test known as a breast biopsy if they suspect breast cancer based on results from tests like an ultrasound or mammography.
In this test, a tissue sample is taken from the suspicious area and examined in a laboratory.
If the sample tests positive for cancer, the lab can analyze it further to identify the type of breast cancer.
The Healthline Find Care service allows you to search for local physicians if you do not currently have a primary care physician.
Imaging examinations
A mammography is the most popular imaging test used to view beneath the surface of your breast. In order to screen for breast cancer, many women over 40 get yearly mammograms.
A doctor will also ask for a mammogram if they think you could have a tumor or worrisome area.
A doctor can order more testing, such a breast ultrasound, if your mammography shows an abnormal spot. This technique creates an image of the tissues deep within your breast using sound waves. Your doctor can use an ultrasound to differentiate between a benign cyst and a solid growth, like a tumor.
Breast cancer types
The two primary classifications of breast cancer are invasive and noninvasive, and there are several varieties of the disease. Breast cancer in situ is another name for noninvasive breast cancer.
Noninvasive cancer has not expanded from the initial tissue, whereas invasive cancer has spread from the breast ducts or glands to other areas of the breast.
Invasive breast cancer types
Nipple,or paget disease: As it spreads, this kind of breast cancer starts in the nipple’s ducts and eventually spreads to the skin and areola.
Breast cancer that is inflammatory (IBC): IBC is an uncommon but deadly kind of breast cancer. IBC accounts for only 1% to 5% of all occurrences of breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. It prevents the lymph vessels in the breast from draining correctly by blocking the lymph nodes close to the breasts.
IDC, or invasive ductal carcinoma: Breast cancer of the IDC type is the most prevalent. It first infiltrates the milk ducts of your breast before spreading to neighboring breast tissue. Other surrounding organs and tissue may be affected once the breast cancer has progressed to the tissue outside your milk ducts.
Breast cancer noninvasive types
LCIS, or lobular carcinoma in situ: LCIS is a type of breast cancer that develops in the milk-producing glands; unlike DCIS, the cancer cells have not spread to the surrounding tissue.
DCIS, or ductal carcinoma in situ: DCIS is a cancer that is not invasive. The cancer cells in DCIS are limited to your breast’s ducts and have not spread to the surrounding breast tissue.
Treatment for breast cancer
Your breast cancer’s stage, how far it has invaded (if it has), and how big the tumor has grown all play a large part in determining what kind of treatment you’ll need.
To start, a doctor will determine your cancer’s size, stage, and grade. Your cancer’s grade describes how likely it is to grow and spread. After that, you can discuss your treatment options.
Surgery is the most common treatment for breast cancer. Many people have additional treatments, such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy, radiation, or hormone therapy.
Radiation treatment
High-powered radiation beams are used in radiation therapy to target and destroy cancer cells. External beam radiation is used in the majority of radiation treatments. This method makes use of a sizable machine outside the body.
Doctors may now irradiate cancer from inside the body thanks to advancements in cancer treatment. Brachytherapy is the term for this (Trusted Source).
Surgeons insert radioactive seeds, or pellets, close to the tumor site within the body to perform brachytherapy. The seeds function to kill cancer cells while they are there for a brief time.
Hormone treatment
Your doctor might start you on hormone therapy if your breast cancer is hormone-sensitive. Two female hormones that can promote the formation of breast cancer tumors are estrogen and progesterone.
Hormone treatment works by inhibiting your body’s synthesis of these hormones or by blocking the hormone receptors on the cancer cells. Your cancer’s growth may be slowed or even stopped by taking this action.
Preventing breast cancer
Even though you have little control over some risk factors, you may reduce your chance of acquiring breast cancer by leading a healthy lifestyle, obtaining frequent tests, and implementing any preventative steps your doctor suggests.
Screening for breast cancer
Regular mammograms can lessen the likelihood that breast cancer will go unnoticed, but they cannot prevent it.
For people with an average risk of developing breast cancer, the American Cancer Society Trusted Source offers the following general recommendations:
Ages 40 to 44 years: An annual optional mammography
Ages 45 to 54 years: An annual mammography
Ages 55 years and older: can decide whether to switch to every other year or continue getting mammograms every year.