Goodhealthnyou - : Causes of Breast Cancer, Types of Breast Cancer, Diagnosis of Breast Cancer, Prevention of Breast Cancer, treatment for Breast Cancer.

Breast cancer is cancer arising in breast tissue which is simply a group of abnormal cells that have abnormal growth patterns.

Breast cancer is the one of the commonest malignancies afflicting women. It is currently estimated that one in 14 of all female children born will develop breast cancer in their lifetime.

Many women who develop breast cancer have no risk factors other than age and sex.

Gender: It is the biggest risk because breast cancer occurs mostly in women.

Age: The risk of breast cancer increases with age. The average woman at age 30 years has one chance in 280 of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years. This chance increases to one in 70 for a woman aged 40 years, and to one in 40 at age 50 years.

Race: White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than African American women in the U.S.
Genetic Causes

Family history is a known risk factor for breast cancer. In familial breast cancers, a molecular change in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 play a major role in the onset of the disease.

Hormonal Causes

Hormonal influences play a role in the development of breast cancer.
Women who start their periods at an early age (11 or younger) or experience a late menopause (55 or older) have a slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer. Conversely, being older at the time of the first menstrual period and early menopause tend to protect one from breast cancer.

Having a child before age 30 years may provide some protection, and having no children may increase the risk for developing breast cancer.

Lifestyle and Dietary Causes

High fat intake: Breast cancer seems to occur more frequently in those with high dietary intake of fat, and being overweight or obese is also a known risk factor for breast cancer, particularly in postmenopausal women.

Alcohol consumption: The use of alcohol is also an established risk factor for the development of breast cancer. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed.

Exercise: Doing regular exercise may reduce a woman's risk of developing breast cancer.

Environmental Causes

Radiation treatment increases the likelihood of developing breast cancer but only after a long delay. For example, women who received radiation therapy to the upper body for treatment of Hodgkin's disease before 30 years of age have a significantly higher rate of breast cancer than the general population.

Breast cancer is mainly of two types:

Ductal carcinoma- occurs in milk ducts

Lobular carcinoma - occurs in the milk secreting breast lobules

Categorically breast cancer can also be divided into following types:

In-situ breast cancer - cancer cells remains confined within their place of origin and do not attack surrounding breast tissue.

Invasive or metastatic breast cancer - cancer cells break free of their place of origin, and spread to different parts of the body.

Like all cancer types, breast cancer also progresses through different stages. Breast cancer stages are based on the size of the breast lump or tumor, whether the cancer is in-situ type or malignant, and whether the cancer has spread beyond the breast tissue.

Breast cancer though difficult to prevent because of their molecular cause of origin but can be achieved through small effective changes made to lifestyle:

Restricted alcohol consumption
Maintaining a healthy body weight
Inclusion of limited fat in diet
Regular exercise
Avoiding unnecessary consumption of antibiotics
Reverting to organic food free of pesticides

Besides, long-term hormone therapy may also undermine breast cancer. But screening is the best way to prevent breast cancer

Screening

The prognosis of breast cancer is closely related to the stage of disease at the time of diagnosis, therefore screening for breast cancer is extremely important. The following two methods serve as the foundation in screening for breast cancer.

Mammography: Mammography is an x-ray examination of the breast which has the ability to detect a cancer in the breast when it is quite small, long before it may be felt by breast examination. Eighty-five to 90% of all breast cancers are detectable by mammography. Currently, it is recommended that a woman should have a baseline mammogram between the ages of 35 and 40 years, every other year between 40 and 50 years of age and yearly after 50 years of age.

Breast self examination: A percentage of breast cancers cannot be seen on mammography and it is extremely important for a woman to perform Breast Self Examinations.

Other diagnostic tests and procedures

Ultrasound: An ultrasound is a test that uses sound waves to visualize structures inside the body. It is often used to distinguish between cysts and solid tumors in the breast.

Biopsy: It is a procedure which involves removal of a piece of tissue to analyze under the microscope. Biopsy still remains the only confirmatory test for breast cancer. If an area of the breast is suspicious for a cancer, a biopsy is usually performed to confirm the diagnosis

Surgery: Surgery is the mainstay of therapy for breast cancer. The choice of which type of surgery is based on a number of factors, including the size and location of the tumor, the type of tumor and the person's overall health and personal wishes.

Radiation: Radiation therapy is used to kill tumor cells if there are any left after surgery.

Surgery followed by radiation

Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy consists of the administration of medications that kills cancer cells or stop them from growing. In breast cancer, three different chemotherapy strategies may be used:

Adjuvant chemotherapy is given to people who have had curative treatment for their breast cancer, such as surgery and radiation. It is given to reduce the possibility that the cancer will return.

Presurgical chemotherapy is given to shrink a large tumor and/or to kill stray cancer cells. This increases the chances that surgery will get rid of the cancer completely.

Therapeutic chemotherapy is routinely administered to women with breast cancer that has spread beyond the confines of the breast or local area.

Hormonal Therapy: Hormonal therapy may be given because breast cancers (especially, those that have ample estrogen or progesterone receptors) are frequently sensitive to changes in hormones. It may be given to prevent recurrence of a tumor or for treatment of existing disease.