Breast Cancer is one kind of cancer disease which generally develops in the breast tissues and later at its advanced stages it starts to spread around the chest wall, skin, and to lymph nodes. Around the world, Breast Cancer is the fifth most common cancer disease to kill people every year and second most common deadly disease only among women after lung Cancer and skin cancer.

 There happens to have a myth that mainly women in developing countries are facing this fatal disease more than the underdeveloped countries. But recent studies show that women of underdeveloped or non-developed countries are mostly agitated by Breast Cancer due to lack of awareness and proper treatment. Statistical report depicts that 1 out of 8 women is prone to have breast cancer in their whole lifetime and American Women are the main victim of it. So to cure Breast Cancer, you must know what Breast Cancer actually is and what its symptoms are.

What is Breast Cancer?

First, you need to know what is cancer? Cancer causes due to the uncontrolled cell division, abnormal cell growth and the tendency of cancerous cell spreading through the body. At first, it starts as a benign tumor or as a lump, which shows unregulated growth of the cell. Eventually, if the tumor becomes malignant, it starts to attack the nearby tissues and spread around the body parts, which causes cancer.

Now, in case of Breast Cancer the unregulated growth of cells of breast tissues forms a lump or a benign tumor in the breast. If cancerous cells start to spread around other body parts through the lymphatic system, it’s called malignant tumor or breast cancer.

Symptoms of Breast Cancer:

Cancer generally shows no symptoms in the body in its beginning stage. So it becomes nearly impossible to understand or diagnose it in the very first stage. But, if it can be diagnosed in the first stage, then there is a great possibility to cure it through proper treatments. So, we should be careful about this, because if any symptom related to cancer can make you aware of it, your life can be saved.

The most commonly hallmarked symptom of breast cancer is the presence of a lump in the breast. It is the very first symptom which women can understand by touching or lightly pressing their breast inwardly. Next, the most diagnosable symptom is thick breast tissues which can make some changes in breast’s shape like one breast can seem bigger than the other one. Other than this, changes in breast’s skin, pain in the affected breast, bloody or muddy nipple discharge, change in the position of nipple, allergy or cracked skin around the nippular area, swollen form near the affected area or under the armpit etc.

Causes of Breast Cancer:

Unfortunately, it’s still not understood why and when breast cancer is formed in the body. It’s the cancer of breast glands which produce milk and connect the nipples to the lobules. The most probable cause of Breast Cancer is the genetic mutation of DNA of breast cells. The actual reason for genetic mutation is still unknown, though heredity, lifestyle choices, wrong choices of inners, age, or pollution can trigger the chances of having Breast Cancer.

Probable age and gender:

Cancer can happen to anybody and in any time in their lifespan. It’s an unpredictable disease which maintains no rhythm. There is a myth that only women possess breast cancer. It’s very safe to know that anybody who has breast tissues, can have breast cancer. Most commonly, women possess Breast Cancer more than men, but that doesn’t mean that a man can’t have Breast Cancer.

Risks of Breast Cancer:

Heredity:

Heredity plays a big role when it comes to cancer. A woman who has a blood-relative with breast cancer is most prone to have cancer in her lifetime. Around 10 to 15 percent of breast cancer cases happen because of heredity or faulty BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Studies show that women who have these faulty genes, chances of having breast cancer increases up to 50 to 60 percent.

Hormonal changes:

Estrogen hormone outpouring is also a great risk factor in case of Breast Cancer. Researchers show that women who had early periods and late menopause, that is women who have long time estrogen exposure in their body, can grow breast cancer more rapidly than the others. Estrogen is the breast enhancing hormone, so any kind of hormonal therapy, shots, injections, contraceptive pills etc. can increase the chances of having Breast Cancer.

Age of pregnancy:

As a matter of fact, a mostly ignored topic can also accumulate Breast Cancer in women’s body. Your age of conceiving can also trigger your chances of having Breast Cancer. It’s stated by doctors that women who conceive after the age of 30, possess higher risks of Breast Cancer than the women who conceive before age 30. Again women who have no children are also under the risk zone.

Lifestyle choices:

It’s a proven fact that alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking can trigger up the chances of having cancer. So women who take more than 2 or three drinks per day and usually smokes every day, are under the risks zone. Also, women who have obesity, had a miscarriage, got radiation therapy before, having menopausal symptoms, and wear the wrong type of undergarments which blocks the blood flow in the breast, can possess the risk of having Breast Cancer.

Diagnosis:

Mostly Breast Cancer is diagnosed by biopsy or microscopic analysis of the affected area of the breast. Other lab exams, like Mammography and Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC), and MRI etc. are enough to diagnose a breast lump as cancer or not.

Stages of Breast Cancer:

Depending on the TNM system, breast cancer is categorized into four stages, where TNM stands for Tumour, Lymph Nodes, and the metastasized condition of the breast.

The primary or zero stage means the cancer is diagnosed at the beginning condition and it has not spread yet. Stage 1A is where cancer has started to spread, it has attacked the breast tissues, the lump or tumor is malignant and it’s small but large enough to notice. Stage 1B is where a very small amount of cancerous cells have started to spread through the lymph nodes. Stage IIA depicts the tumor is still small and cancerous cell may or may not have spread and stage IIB depicts that the tumor is now bigger than the previous size and you can see some symptoms like nipple discharge, skin change, larger breast etc. In the third stage, cancer is considered as the advanced stage. IIIA stage denotes the cancerous cells are spreading rapidly and found in more than eight lymph nodes. IIIB means the tumor is large enough to attack the chest wall and the skin of the breast. IIIC means more than ten lymph nodes got affected and it’s spreading rapidly. The fourth or at the Metastatic stage cancer is considered as the last stage where cancerous cells are found to attack the surrounding areas like lungs, bones, liver, and brain etc. and it’s beyond recovery now.

Type of breast cancer:

Depending on different stages and position of the tumor, Breast Cancer can be sorted into different types. Those are Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) which is also renamed as the primary or zero stage of Breast Cancer. The most common Breast Cancer comes under the Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) type, in which cancer affects the chest wall, and spreads from the ductal area to the different body parts. When the cancer is formed into lobules, it’s called Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC) and it’s the future form of Lobular Carcinoma in Situ (LCIS). When the breast cancer mainly affects the skin of the breast and makes it swollen, itchy, red, and also cracked skinned then it’s called Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) and when it mainly affects the nippular area or the areola then it’s called Paget disease. There are two very rare Breast Cancers called Metaplastic and Angiosarcoma cancer, which are very rapid growing, hard to diagnose and even harder to treat.

Treatment:

Depending on the Breast Cancer’s type, stage, responses to the treatment, the age of patient, and other medical conditions, cancer treatments are given. There are medicines, hormonal shots, surgery, radiation therapy and also chemotherapy to treat Breast Cancer. Lumpectomy or Mastectomy can be done to remove a definite portion or to remove the entire breast and related lymph nodes. Radiation therapy can be given to decrease tumor and destroy the cancerous cells. Chemotherapy is also effective in cases of advanced stages or after the surgery. There are some definite side effects of chemo which can worsen the health even more.

It can’t be assured that after treatment the cancer patient will be totally cured or not. Treatment can lower the growth of the cancerous cell. Also, the patient’s response to the treatment is very important. Depending on the stages of Breast Cancer, the cure rate changes. The higher the number of cancer stage, the higher the risk. So remember to be careful about your health and consult with your doctor at the earliest convenience to avoid the painful journey of Breast Cancer.