What Is Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer refers to cancers originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas. There are many different types of breast cancer, with different stages (spread), aggressiveness, and genetic makeup; survival varies greatly depending on those factors.[1] Computerized models are available to predict survival.[2] With best treatment and dependent on staging, 10-year disease-free survival varies from 98% to 10%. Treatment includes surgery, drugs (hormonal therapy and chemotherapy), and radiation.     Worldwide, breast cancer comprises 10.4% of all cancer incidence among women, making it the second most common type of non-skin cancer (after lung cancer) and the fifth most common cause of cancer death.[3] In 2004, breast cancer caused 519,000 deaths worldwide (7% of cancer deaths; almost 1% of all deaths).[4] Breast cancer is about 100 times more common in women than in men, although males tend to have poorer outcomes due to delays in diagnosis.[5][6][7][8]     Some breast cancers require the hormones estrogen and progesterone to grow, and have receptors for those hormones. After surgery those cancers are treated with drugs that interfere with those hormones, usually tamoxifen, and with drugs that shut off the production of estrogen in the ovaries or elsewhere; this may damage the ovaries and end fertility. After surgery, low-risk, hormone-sensitive breast cancers may be treated with hormone therapy and radiation alone. Breast cancers without hormone receptors, or which have spread to the lymph nodes in the armpits, or which express certain genetic characteristics, are higher-risk, and are treated more aggressively. One standard regimen, popular in the U.S., is cyclophosphamide plus doxorubicin (Adriamycin), known as CA; these drugs damage DNA in the cancer, but also in fast-growing normal cells where they cause serious side effects. Sometimes a taxane drug, such as docetaxel, is added, and the regime is then known as CAT; taxane attacks the microtubules in cancer cells. An equivalent treatment, popular in Europe, is cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil (CMF).[9] Monoclonal antibodies, such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), are used for cancer cells that have the HER2 mutation. Radiation is usually added to the surgical bed to control cancer cells that were missed by the surgery, which usually extends survival, although radiation exposure to the heart may cause damage and heart failure in the following years.[   

Breast cancer refers to the cancer that originates in the breast tissue. It is the fifth most common cause of cancer death. There are many risk factors of breast cancer, which include gender, age, lack of childbearing or breastfeeding, family history, hormonal imbalance, etc. Breast cancer is often detected by women who feel a lump in their breast that feels different from the breast tissue. According to the American Cancer Society, women over 40 years of age should get an yearly mammogram done to detect early signs of breast cancer as a mammogram can detect a tumor two years before you can feel a lump. Higher risk groups probably need to start mammography sooner.

Breast cancer is basically a cancer of the breast tissue. This cancer is very much common in females. It is considered the most fatal cancer after the lung cancer. Some of the various breast cancers are Ductal carcinoma 65-90 per cent, Lobular carcinoma 10 per cent, Inflammatory breast cancer, Medullary carcinoma 5 per cent, Colloid carcinoma 2 per cent, Papillary carcinoma 1 per cent and Metaplastic carcinoma.

The breast cancer treatment is basically done with the help of a surgery. It is done with the help of hormonal therapy (with tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor), chemotherapy, and/or radiotherapy. Some of the treatments include are Radiation Therapy, Chemotherapy, Hormone Therapy, and Immune Therapy.

Breast cancer starts when cells in the breast begin to grow out of control. These cells usually form a tumor that can often be seen on an x-ray or felt as a lump.

The tumor is malignant (cancerous) if the cells can grow into (invade) surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to distant areas of the body. Breast cancer occurs almost entirely in women, but men can get it, too.

Breast cancers can start from different parts of the breast. Most breast cancers begin in the ducts that carry milk to the nipple (ductal cancers). Some start in the glands that make breast milk (lobular cancers).There are also other types of breast cancer that are less common.