How frequent do we find the breast cancer?

Although it has not yet been discovered as to how long it actually takes to develop the breast cancer but it is a slow process and is fairly common in women. As per the recent statistics the American oncologists receive more than 212,000 patients suffering from breast cancer every year. The statistics reveals that the population of the breast cancer patients has touched 20,500 in Canada, 41,000 in United Kingdom and 13,000 in Australia.

Who are at the risk of breast cancer?

The women are highly exposed to the risk of developing the breast cancer, although men can also develop breast cancers – however rarely, accounting for only 1% of the overall breast cancer cases all around the globe. The women above 50 years of age are more prone to developing breast cancer, although there actually is no specific age for developing the condition.

The habit of taking the contraceptive pills increases the chances of developing breast cancer in women. Some of the other common causes of breast cancer in women are heavy drinking, obesity, and taking hormone replacement therapy. Breast cancer also run in the families and may also be inherited from the close relatives.

In what ways does the breast cancer run in the family?

With one or more close relatives (who are within the blood relation such as mother, or grandmother or sister) magnifies the risk of developing the breast cancer a several times as compared to the ladies with the family members without any history or symptoms of breast cancer. In most of the cases the general women carry the faulty version of the BRCA breast cancer genes, which in turn magnifies the risks f the breast cancer by at least 50% to 80 %.

Delving deep into the family histories of 100 women with breast cancer, it would be found that as many as 80 % of those women do not have a relation between the chances of occurring the breast cancer and the family history. It has hence been established that the hereditary factors do not play any significant role in breast cancer.

Is there any relation between the occurrences breast cancer and the use of deodorants?

Since several years there has been a consistent rumor over the Internet and other general media, that the use of the underarm deodorant enhances the chances of the occurrences the breast cancer. One or two esteemed daily had also taken part in spreading the rumor and the articles, thereby, mentioned that the theory had been pillared by the research works.

As a matter of fact the researchers have not yet received any good evidence to support the idea. On the contrary, the studies have shown that there exist no basic differences in the use of the underarm deodorants by the healthy women and by the patients with breast cancer.

What are the different types of breast cancers?

The types of the breast cancer are in fact several and have been named differently for different features of each type of the condition. As a matter of fact there are two distinctive areas in the breast where the cancer actually starts to form: the lobules (the tissues that produces milk) and the ducts (the pathway through which the milk is carried to the nipple).

The different types breast cancers are as follows:

Ductal Carcinoma in situ being an early stage of cancer in the milk duct, is an easily curable condition. It can be detected by the dint of the mammograms.

Invasive Ductal Carcinoma is also known as the Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma. This is in fact the most common type of cancer that accounts for 70 % of the overall breast cancer population of the world. This is a condition where the cancer had actually started in the milk duct but has spread beyond the duct.

Lobular carcinoma in situ is basically a pre-cancerous condition where the women do not suffer from what is known as breast cancer but are at the risk of developing the breast cancer. Precautionary measures are to be taken to prevent the patient from actual breast cancer.

Invasive lobular carcinoma or Infiltrating Lobular Carcinoma is second most common type of breast cancer that actually accounts for 10% of the overall breast cancer patients all round the globe. It gets started in the terminal ducts of the milk producing glands of the breast. The Invasive lobular carcinoma is difficult to diagnose because they do not always form a lump and sometimes cannot be detected on the mammograms.

What are the different symptoms of the breast cancer?

The breast cancer is commonly found in the women falling under the age group 50 to 64, which is why the mammography is offered every three years in United Kingdom to all women falling under this age group. Mammography detects the breast cancer at the very early stage when it is easier for the doctors to treat them.

The researches have been carried out to show that women taking part if the process of screening, are likely to have their breast cancers detected at the very early stage and they are usually cured easily. This has mitigated the ratio of death due to breast cancer.

Another effective method of screening for the breast cancers is to feel the any lump in the breast. The other symptoms, however, are as follows:

• The shape and size of the affected breast will change

• The skin of the affected breast would be dimpled

• The nipple of the breast affected by the breast caner would get inverted

• There will be swelling of lump like structure in the armpit.

How is the breast cancer diagnosed?

The widely used method for the diagnosis of the breast cancer is taking a biopsy. This is a method of taking the sample of tissue for the examination. In this method, a hollow needle is pushed into the lump of the breast and the tiny sample of the tissue is captured for testing under the microscope. It is the shape and appearance of the cells of the tissue sample that gives an indication if the lump is benign. In case of majority of the population suffering from the breast cancer, the lump is benign and are usually detected at the very nascent stage.

What is the benefit of the early detection?

The early detection is highly significant. This is due to the fact that nearly 85% of the total population suffering from breast cancer is curable if detected earlier. If it is diagnosed in the advanced stage the cure rate falls considerable. It is, hence, advisable to visit the doctor as soon as you feel any lump in the breast.

What are the treatments and curable measure for the breast cancers?

It is the best if detected earlier, as the early detection mitigates the risk of falling cure rate. The best treatment is surgery. The conservative surgery is one of the most effective and modern methods where the shape and the appearance of the breast are restored intact.

In the very early stage the doctors prefer the removal of only the lump and the small area of tissue around it, while if the condition is found to have been developed further, much more tissue is removed and it is replaced with muscle to rebuild the breast and get the actually shape and appearance.

The surgeon may also prefer to cut into the armpit to check for any spread, as the cancer cells usually get spread to the lymph node in the armpit during the first phase.

However there may be a short coarse of chemotherapy or radiotherapy, depending on the type of tumor and to what degree has it been developed. In the majority of the cases the patients are given a long coarse of hormone therapy in order to steer clear of the chances of the cancer recurring.

The treatment for breast cancer has improved to a great extent during the last couple of decades. In the early 1970's, only a half of all women diagnosed with breast cancer could manage to survive for five years at the most, while during the present era over three-fourth of the total population diagnosed with breast cancer survive for that long and most of them will live for much longer span of time – assumes the doctors.