Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth of breast cells. To better understand breast cancer, it helps to understand how any cancer can develop.
Cancer occurs as a result of mutations, or abnormal changes, in the genes responsible for regulating the growth of cells and keeping them healthy. The genes are in each cell’s nucleus, which acts as the “control room? of each cell. Normally, the cells in our bodies replace themselves through an orderly process of cell growth: healthy new cells take over as old ones die out. But over time, mutations can “turn on? certain genes and “turn off? others in a cell. That changed cell gains the ability to keep dividing without control or order, producing more cells just like it and forming a tumor.
Breast cancer is always caused by a genetic abnormality (a “mistake? in the genetic material). However, only 5-10% of cancers are due to an abnormality inherited from your mother or father. About 90% of breast cancers are due to genetic abnormalities that happen as a result of the aging process and the “wear and tear? of life in general.
Women of all age groups are at risk of developing breast cancer, but more commonly, women above 40 years of age.
Male patients may also suffer from breast cancer. As there is a general lack of awareness of male breast cancer on the part of the population at large, there may be a significant number of cases that go undiagnosed and untreated until it is too late.
However, with recent advances in breast cancer treatments, it has recently been reported by the American Cancer Society that the number of breast cancer patients still alive five years after diagnosis, a key milestone in cancer survival, has risen from 78% in 1985 to 88% in 2000, and newer treatments are sure to push this survival figure higher.
Symptoms
The first sign of breast cancer is often a painless lump. But early breast cancer is often found on a mammogram before a lump can be felt.
Other symptoms of breast cancer may not appear until the cancer is more advanced. These include:
- A thickening in the breast or armpit.
- A change in the size or shape of the breast.
- Changes in the skin of the breast, such as a dimple or skin that looks like an orange peel.
- A change in the nipple, such as scaling of the skin or a nipple that turns in.
- A green or bloody fluid that comes from the nipple.
- A change in the color or feel of the skin around the nipple (areola).
About 1% of breast cancer occurs in men. Although most men diagnosed with breast cancer are older than 65, the disease can appear in younger men. For this reason, any breast lump in an adult male is considered abnormal.
Inflammatory breast cancer is a specific type of breast cancer that involves the skin of the breast. It occurs when breast cancer cells form "nests" and block the lymphatic drainage from the skin of the breast. Symptoms include redness, tenderness, and warmth. Thickening of the skin of the breast (an orange-peel appearance), rapid breast enlargement, and ridging of the skin of the breast may also be present. Some women may also develop a lump in the breast. For more information, see the topic Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
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