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INTRODUCTION Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and the second leading cause of cancerous death. The incident of breast cancer has been increasing steadily from 1: 20 in 1960 to 1: 8 in women today. The American Cancer Society estimates that 211, 000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed this year and 43, 000 patients will die from disease. It is a disfiguring and life threatening disease. Moreover, many women do not even know until it is too late that they have breast cancer.
Autopsy studies show that 2 % of the population has undiagnosed breast cancer at the time of death. Also, the incidence of having cancer is low in the age of twenties but it gradually decreases with age. Therefore, breast cancer is an epidemic disease in women, unfortunately women are not aware of this fact. Although, it is more of a womens disease but it can also occur in men, however, the risk in men is low.
For every 100 women, only 1 men can suffer from it. WHAT IS BREAST CANCER? The breast is a gland designed to make milk. Each breast has 15 to 20 overlapping sections called lobes. Within each lobe there are many smaller lobules, which end in dozens of tiny bulbs that can produce milk. The lobes, lobules, and bulbs are all linked by thin tubes called ducts.
Like all other parts of body, the cells in the breast are also controlled by genes. When the genes are in a good working order, they keep the cell growth under control. But when an abnormality occurs in the genes due to certain factors, the cell growth becomes uncontrolled. This results in the formation of tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant, benign tumors are not cancerous whereas malignant are cancerous. These tumors occur either in ducts or lobules of the breasts.
The cells in these cancerous tumors can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs of the body. Also, cancer cells can break away from tumor and enter the bloodstream. That is how breast cancer spreads to other body parts such as the brain, the bones and the liver. Therefore, breast cancer is caused by uncontrolled growth of breast cells due to genetic reasons and thus forms malignant or cancerous tumors that can even spread to other body tissues.
TYPES OF BREAST CANCER Breast cancer can be divided into many types but one of the most common types is Infiltrating ductal cancer or Invasive ductal carcinoma which occurs in ducts of the breasts. Almost 80 % of breast cancers are of this type. The other type is Infiltrating locular cancer or Invasive locular carcinoma which occurs in lobules of the breast and is 10 - 15 % common. Both of these are also called in situ when they do not spread from the breast to other parts. The other type of breast cancer that is less common is, Inflammatory carcinoma. Besides that, when cancer spreads from breast to other parts, then it is called Metastasis.
The most common metastasize is into lymph nodes under the arm or above the collarbone on the same side as the cancer. Other common sites of breast cancer metastasis are the brain, the bones and the liver. Invasive Ductal Cancer Invasive Lobular Cancer CAUSES / RISK FACTORS Risk factors for breast cancer can be divided into those that one cannot change and those that can be changed. The factors that increase the risk of breast cancer and cannot be changed are being a woman, that is why breast cancer is often known as womens disease as it doesnt occurs in men often. Another risk factor is getting older assist of breast cancer increases with age, In fact, 50 percent of breast cancer occurs in women over the age of forty five and is uncommon in twenties.
Family history of breast cancer, that is having a mother sister or daughter with breast cancer doubles the risk of getting cancer. This happens due to genetic mutations as a woman can inherit the abnormal gene form their parent having cancer. BRCA 1 is and abnormal gene, which, when inherited can increase the risk to almost 85 %. The highest risk to a woman is also when she is closely related to a breast cancer sufferer and above it, the sufferer is young at age. In addition to that, having a previous history of breast cancer, that is if it was treated before, then it can also occur again. The factors include, getting period early (before age of 12) and having menopause late (after 50 years).
The other factors that can add to risk but are under control include smoking, imbalanced diet (rich in saturated fats), less activity and no exercising, drinking more then two glasses of alcohol per day, estrogen replacement therapy that is increase in intake of estrogen for several reasons and being overweight. These risk factors, if added with natural factors can double the risk of developing cancer. Also, late or pregnancy can add to the risk. A woman who has her first child around the age of 30 has about the same lifetime risk of developing cancer as a women who never has given birth. Therefore, there are certain causes of breast cancer that are natural and others which are often in control of a woman. SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS Unfortunately, the early stages of breast cancer may not have any proper symptoms that are why it cannot be easily detected without medical tests.
However, as the cancerous tumor grows in size, it can produce a variety of symptoms. These include some signs that a woman can see for herself. They can be lump or thickening in the breast or underarm, change in size or shape of the breast, nipple discharge or nipple turning inward, redness or scaling of the skin or nipple and ridges or pitting of the breast skin. These are some symptoms that can give early signs of cancer. DIAGNOSIS OF BREAST CANCER As breast cancer is not easily detectable at the early stages, so if any of the above symptoms are noticed, then diagnosis is important. The diagnosis of breast cancer usually comprises several steps, including examination of the breast, mammography, possibly ultrasonography, and finally biopsy.
A complete breast examination includes visual inspection and careful palpation (feeling) of the breasts, the armpits, and the areas around the collarbone. The other diagnose includes Mammography, mammograms are x-rays of the breast that may help define the nature of a lump. Usually, it is possible to tell from the mammogram whether a lump in the breast is cancer or not, but no test is 100 % reliable. Mammograms are thought to miss as many as 10 - 15 % of breast cancers.
Also, Ultrasound of the breast may be done in addition to the mammogram. Ultrasound waves create a "picture" of the inside of the breast. It can demonstrate whether a mass is filled with fluid (cystic) or solid as cancers are solid. However, the only way to diagnose breast cancer with certainty is biopsy. Biopsy means to take a very small piece of tissue from the body for examination and testing. The different techniques of biopsy include; Fine-needle aspiration (consists of placing a needle into the breast and sucking out some cells), Core-needle biopsy (is performed with a special needle that takes a small piece of tissue), Surgical biopsy (is done by making an incision in the breast and removing the piece of tissue).
If the cells are detected as cancerous, then the additional tissues around the breasts, specially the ones having risk to develop tumor, are also checked. Therefore, all these ways of diagnosis are important for the detection and complete description of b...
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Research essay sample on Risk Of Developing Breast Cancer
