Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Conditions:

Few things are as terrifying as thinking you might have breast cancer, but thanks to advances in testing and treatment, breast cancer is less deadly than ever. The good news is that breast cancer rates are dropping, and treatment is less toxic and disfiguring than it once was.October is known as a Breast Cancer Awarness month.

Breast Cancer Symptoms:

Early breast cancer usually doesn't cause pain. In fact, when breast cancer first develops, there may be no symptoms at all. But as the cancer grows, it may cause changes that you should watch for:

• A lump or thickening in or near the breast or in the underarm area.
• A change in the size or shape of the breast.
• Nipple discharge or tenderness, or the nipple pulled back (inverted) into the breast.
• Ridges or pitting of the breast, making the skin look like the skin of an orange.
• A change in the look or feel of the skin of the breast, areola or nipple such as warmth, swelling, redness or scaliness.
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Diagnosis:

If cancer is found in your breast, your doctor will assess the stage or extent of the disease. Staging is an effort to determine if the cancer has spread and, if so, to what parts of the body. Your doctor may use blood and imaging tests to learn the stage of the disease. Treatment decisions depend on these findings. Read Staging: Specific Patterns of Breast Cancer to learn more about the staging system.

• The first step is usually a physical exam by a doctor or nurse practitioner. Mammography and ultrasound may be part of the exam. On the basis of these evaluations, the decision may be made to perform a tissue biopsy.

• Imaging is used to diagnose breast cancer and to evaluate the stage and extent of disease. Three types of imaging are used mammography, ultrasonography and breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Based on these exams, your doctor may recommend further tests or therapy, or determine that not treatment is necessary.

Treatment

Treatments for breast cancer include surgery as well as radiation, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy. These treatments are either local or systemic. Local treatments, such as surgery and radiation therapy, remove, destroy or control cancer cells in specific areas. Systemic treatments, such as chemotherapy and hormonal therapy, destroy or control cancer throughout the body. Depending on your condition, you may receive one treatment or a combination at the same time or in succession.
Here are some procedures.

Surgery:

Surgery is a common treatment for cancer. Several procedures may be used, from lumpectomy to breast reconstruction Lumpectomy In this procedure, a surgeon removes the cancer and some normal tissue around it.

Radiation :

Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy rays or particles to treat disease. It works by killing tumor cells or inhibiting their growth and division. Years of study by radiation oncologists have led to the widespread use of effective, tolerable doses of radiation. It is used to treat early stage breast cancer along with surgery. It may be used in more advanced breast cancer to control the disease or to treat symptoms such as pain.