Summary
Nowaday, Cancer is the most one that kill people in the world. Breast Cancer is the one that many women should be attention. So, we try to make this report to give a knowledge to you about Breast Cancer. This report we include information about Breast Cancer.
What is Breast Cancer
To better understand breast cancer, it helps to understand how any cancer can develop.
Cancer occurs as a result of mutations, or abnormal changes, in the genes responsible for regulating the growth of cells and keeping them healthy. The genes are in each cell’s nucleus, which acts as the “control room” of each cell. Normally, the cells in our bodies replace themselves through an orderly process of cell growth: healthy new cells take over as old ones die out. But over time, mutations can “turn on” certain genes and “turn off” others in a cell. That changed cell gains the ability to keep dividing without control or order, producing more cells just like it and forming a tumor.
A tumor can be benign (not dangerous to health) or malignant (has the potential to be dangerous). Benign tumors are not considered cancerous: their cells are close to normal in appearance, they grow slowly, and they do not invade nearby tissues or spread to other parts of the body. Malignant tumors are cancerous. Left unchecked, malignant cells eventually can spread beyond the original tumor to other parts of the body.
Stages of Breast Cancer
Stage 0
-Cancer cells remain inside the breast duct, without invasion into normal adjacent breast tissue.
Stage I
-Cancer is 2 centimeters or less and is confined to the breast (lymph nodes are clear).
Stage IIA
- No tumor can be found in the breast, but cancer cells are found in the axillary lymph nodes (the lymph nodes under the arm)
OR
the tumor measures 2 centimeters or smaller and has spread to the axillary lymph nodes
OR
the tumor is larger than 2 but no larger than 5 centimeters and has not spread to the axillary lymph nodes.
OR
the tumor measures 2 centimeters or smaller and has spread to the axillary lymph nodes
OR
the tumor is larger than 2 but no larger than 5 centimeters and has not spread to the axillary lymph nodes.
Stage IIB
- The tumor is larger than 2 but no larger than 5 centimeters and has spread to the axillary lymph nodes
OR
the tumor is larger than 5 centimeters but has not spread to the axillary lymph nodes.
OR
the tumor is larger than 5 centimeters but has not spread to the axillary lymph nodes.
Stage IIIA
- No tumor is found in the breast. Cancer is found in axillary lymph nodes that are sticking together or to other structures, or cancer may be found in lymph nodes near the breastbone
OR
the tumor is any size. Cancer has spread to the axillary lymph nodes, which are sticking together or to other structures, or cancer may be found in lymph nodes near the breastbone.
OR
the tumor is any size. Cancer has spread to the axillary lymph nodes, which are sticking together or to other structures, or cancer may be found in lymph nodes near the breastbone.
Stage IIIB
- The tumor may be any size and has spread to the chest wall and/or skin of the breast
AND may have spread to axillary lymph nodes that are clumped together or sticking to other structures, or cancer may have spread to lymph nodes near the breastbone.
Inflammatory breast cancer is considered at least stage IIIB.
AND may have spread to axillary lymph nodes that are clumped together or sticking to other structures, or cancer may have spread to lymph nodes near the breastbone.
Inflammatory breast cancer is considered at least stage IIIB.
Stage IIIC
- There may either be no sign of cancer in the breast or a tumor may be any size and may have spread to the chest wall and/or the skin of the breast
AND
the cancer has spread to lymph nodes either above or below the collarbone
AND
the cancer may have spread to axillary lymph nodes or to lymph nodes near the breastbone.
AND
the cancer has spread to lymph nodes either above or below the collarbone
AND
the cancer may have spread to axillary lymph nodes or to lymph nodes near the breastbone.
Stage IV
- The cancer has spread — or metastasized — to other parts of the body.
Breast Cancer Statistics
- About 1 in 8 women in the United States (between 12 and 13%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
- In 2010, an estimated 207,090 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 54,010 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.
- About 1,970 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in 2010. Less than 1% of all new breast cancer cases occur in men.
- From 1999 to 2006, breast cancer incidence rates in the U.S. decreased by about 2% per year. One theory is that this decrease was partially due to the reduced use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by women after the results of a large study called the Women’s Health Initiative were published in 2002. These results suggested a connection between HRT and increased breast cancer risk.
- About 39,840 women in the U.S. are expected to die in 2010 from breast cancer, though death rates have been decreasing since 1991. These decreases are thought to be the result of treatment advances, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.
- For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer.
- Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among U.S. women. More than 1 in 4 cancers in women (about 28%) are breast cancer.
- Compared to African American women, white women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer, but less likely to die of it. One possible reason is that African American women tend to have more aggressive tumors, although why this is the case is not known. Women of other ethnic backgrounds — Asian, Hispanic, and Native American — have a lower risk of developing and dying from breast cancer than white women and African American women.
- In 2010, there are more than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S.
- A woman’s risk of breast cancer approximately doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. About 20-30% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have a family history of breast cancer.
- About 70-80% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic abnormalities that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.
- The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are gender (being a woman) and age (growing older).
Breast Cancer Risk
Relative risk
Relative risk is a number or percentage that compares one group’s risk of developing breast cancer to another’s. This is the type of risk frequently reported by research studies, which often compare groups of women with different characteristics or behaviors to determine whether one group has a higher or lower risk of breast cancer than the other (either as a first-time diagnosis or recurrence).Understanding relative risk can help you answer an important question: If I make certain lifestyle choices or have certain treatments, how much will I increase or decrease my risk of developing breast cancer or having a recurrence?
Example of breast cancer risk going up
Many studies have shown that women who have two or more alcoholic drinks each day have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. (A drink is defined as 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor.) You may hear this relative risk described as a percentage or a number:- Compared to women who do not drink, women who have two or more drinks per day have a 25% higher risk of breast cancer. Put another way, they are 25% more likely to develop breast cancer over the course of a lifetime than nondrinkers are. This doesn’t mean that their lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is 25% — it means that their risk of getting breast cancer is 25% higher relative to people who don’t drink. This percentage is how you are likely to see relative risk reported by television, the Internet, and newspapers.
Example of breast cancer risk going down
Suppose you have had breast cancer and undergone lumpectomy (removal of the tumor itself and a margin of healthy surrounding tissue). The absolute risk of the breast cancer coming back in the same breast is about 25%. But if you have radiation therapy to the remaining breast tissue, you can reduce that risk by about 60%. To describe this relative risk decrease, your doctor might say:
- Compared to women who have lumpectomy alone, you have a 60% lower risk of developing breast
- Compared to women who do not have radiation therapy, your relative risk of developing breast cancer is .40 (1 – .60 = .40). Again, the number “1” is assigned to the baseline group, which is not taking the extra action to decrease the risk. The .60 is subtracted from 1 because it represents a decrease in risk. In other words, you have about 40% of the risk of developing breast cancer again in the same breast as they do.
So in this scenario, what difference does radiation therapy really make for you in terms of reducing the absolute risk of cancer recurrence in the same breast? To know that, you have to multiply the risk of recurrence without radiation (25%, or .25) by the relative risk of .40:
Symptoms of Breast Cancer
Initially, breast cancer may not cause any symptoms. A lump may be too small for you to feel or to cause any unusual changes you can notice on your own. Often, an abnormal area turns up on a screening mammogram (x-ray of the breast), which leads to further testing.
In some cases, however, the first sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass in the breast that you or your doctor can feel. A lump that is painless, hard, and has uneven edges is more likely to be cancer. But sometimes cancers can be tender, soft, and rounded. So it's important to have anything unusual checked by your doctor.
According to the American Cancer Society, any of the following unusual changes in the breast can be a symptom of breast cancer:
- swelling of all or part of the breast
- skin irritation or dimpling
- breast pain
- nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
- redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
- a nipple discharge other than breast milk
- a lump in the underarm area
These changes also can be signs of less serious conditions that are not cancerous, such as an infection or a cyst. It’s important to get any breast changes checked out promptly by a doctor.
Reference
Received 27 September 2010 from
Title : Breast Cancer Group - http://www.breastcancer.org
Brest Cancer Book - By Judie Fertig Panneton ( author )
Article about Breast Cancer - Di-Chun Magazine
