About Breast Cancer

What Is Breast Cancer?

Before discussing breast cancer, it's important to be familiar with the anatomy of the breast.
The normal breast consists of milk-producing glands that are connected to the surface of the
skin at the nipple by narrow ducts. The glands and ducts are supported by connective tissue
made up of fat and fibrous material. Blood vessels, nerves, and channels to the lymph nodes
make up most of the rest of the breast tissue. The breast - all the things just mentioned - sit
under the skin but on top of the chest muscles. As in all forms of cancer, the abnormal tissue
that makes up breast cancer is the patient's own cells that have multiplied uncontrollably.
Those cells may also travel to locations in the body where they are not normally needed,
which means the cancer is malignant.

Breast cancer develops in the breast tissue, primarily in the milk ducts (ductal carcinoma) or
glands (lobular carcinoma). The cancer is still called and treated as breast cancer even if it is
first discovered after traveling to other areas of the body such as the lungs, liver, brain or
bones. In those cases, the cancer is referred to as metastatic or advanced breast cancer.

Breast cancer usually begins with the formation of a small, confined tumor (lump) and then
spreads through channels to the lymph nodes or through the blood stream to other organs.
The tumor may also grow and invade tissue around the breast, such as the skin or chest
wall. Different types of breast cancer grow and spread at different rates - some take years
to spread beyond the breast while other move quickly. Some lumps are benign (not
cancerous). The only safe way to distinguish between a benign lump and cancer is to have
the tissue examined by a doctor.

Men can get breast cancer, too, but they account for less than one-half of one percent of all
cases. Among women, breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading
cause of cancer deaths behind lung cancer.

If eight women were to live to be at least 85, one of them would be expected to develop the
disease at some point during her life. Two-thirds of women with breast cancer are over 50,
and most of the rest are between 39 and 49.

Breast cancer is treatable if detected early. Localized tumors can usually be treated
successfully before the cancer spreads; and in nine in 10 cases, the woman will live at least
another five years. Improved screening procedures and treatment options mean that women
with breast cancer can survive more than five years after initial diagnosis, and half will
survive more than 10 years. Once the cancer begins to spread, getting rid of it completely is
impossible, although treatment can often control the disease for a few years.

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What causes breast cancer?

Although the precise causes of breast cancer are unclear, we know what the main risk
factors are. Still, most women considered at high risk for breast cancer do not get it, while
many who do have no known risk factors. Among the most significant factors are advancing
age and a family history of breast cancer. Risk increases slightly for a woman who has had a
benign breast lump and increases significantly for a woman who has previously had cancer
of the breast or the ovaries.

A woman whose mother, sister, or daughter has had breast cancer is two to three times
more likely to develop the disease, particularly if more than one first-degree relative has
been affected. Researchers have identified two genes responsible for some instances of
familial breast cancer - called BRCA1 and BRCA2. About one woman in 200 carries it. Having
the gene predisposes a woman to breast cancer but does not ensure that she will get it.
Generally, women over 50 are more likely to get breast cancer than younger women, and
African-American women are more likely than Caucasians to get breast cancer before
menopause.

A link between breast cancer and hormones is clear. Research indicates that the greater a
woman's exposure to the hormone estrogen, the more susceptible she is to breast cancer.
Estrogen tells cells to divide; the more the cells divide, the more likely they are to be
abnormal in some way, possibly becoming cancerous.

A woman's exposure to estrogen and progesterone rises and falls during her lifetime,
influenced by the age she starts and stops menstruating, the average length of her
menstrual cycle, and her age at first childbirth. A woman's risk for breast cancer is increased
if she starts menstruating before age 12, has her first child after 30, stops menstruating
after 55, or has a menstrual cycle shorter or longer than the average 26-29 days. Current
information indicates that the hormones in birth control pills do not increase breast cancer
risk. Studies indicate that taking hormone replacement therapy after menopause increases
risk, especially when taken for more than 5 years. Heavy doses of radiation therapy is also
a factor. Studies have shown that exposure to mammography before age 50 may increase
your risk of breast cancer. .

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