Detect Breast Cancer Early Dr. Shruti Bhatia #breastcancer #gynecology #facts #womenhealth #cancer

Brest cancer a silent Killer
(Courtesy Write up by WHO)
Breast cancer caused 670 000 deaths globally in 2022. Roughly half of all breast cancers occur in women with no specific risk factors other than sex and age. Breast cancer was the most common cancer in women in 157 countries out of 185 in 2022.
Breast cancer occurs in every country in the world.
Approximately 0.5–1% of breast cancers occur in men.
Overview Breast cancer is a disease in which abnormal breast cells grow out of control and form tumours. If left unchecked, the tumours can spread throughout the body and become fatal.
Breast cancer cells begin inside the milk ducts and/or the milk-producing lobules of the breast. The earliest form (in situ) is not life-threatening and can be detected in early stages. Cancer cells can spread into nearby breast tissue (invasion). This creates tumours that cause lumps or thickening.
Invasive cancers can spread to nearby lymph nodes or other organs (metastasize). Metastasis can be life-threatening and fatal.
Treatment is based on the person, the type of cancer and its spread. Treatment combines surgery, radiation therapy and medications.
Who is at risk? Female gender is the strongest breast cancer risk factor. Approximately 99% of breast cancers occur in women and 0.5–1% of breast cancers occur in men. The treatment of breast cancer in men follows the same principles of management as for women.
Signs and symptoms: Most people will not experience any symptoms when the cancer is still early hence the importance of early detection.Breast cancer can have combinations of symptoms, especially when it is more advanced. Symptoms of breast cancer can include: a breast lump or thickening, often without pain
change in size, shape or appearance of the breast
dimpling, redness, pitting or other changes in the skin
change in nipple appearance or the skin surrounding the nipple (areola)
abnormal or bloody fluid from the nipple.
People with an abnormal breast lump should seek medical care, even if the lump does not hurt.
Most breast lumps are not cancer. Breast lumps that are cancerous are more likely to be successfully treated when they are small and have not spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Treatment for breast cancer depends on the subtype of cancer and how much it has spread outside of the breast to lymph nodes (stages II or III) or to other parts of the body (stage IV).
Doctors combine treatments to minimize the chances of the cancer coming back (recurrence). These include: surgery to remove the breast tumour
radiation therapy to reduce recurrence risk in the breast and surrounding tissues
medications to kill cancer cells and prevent spread, including hormonal therapies, chemotherapy or targeted biological therapies.
Treatments for breast cancer are more effective and are better tolerated when started early and taken to completion. Surgery may remove just the cancerous tissue (called a lumpectomy) or the whole breast (mastectomy). Surgery may also remove lymph nodes to assess the cancer’s ability to spread.Radiation therapy treats residual microscopic cancers left behind in the breast tissue and/or lymph nodes and minimizes the chances of cancer recurring on the chest wall.
Medicines to treat breast cancers are selected based on the biological properties of the cancer as determined by special tests (tumour marker determination). The great majority of drugs used for breast cancer are already on the WHO Essential Medicines List (EML).

Lymph nodes are removed at the time of cancer surgery for invasive cancers. Complete removal of the lymph node bed under the arm (complete axillary dissection) in the past was thought to be necessary to prevent the spread of cancer. A smaller lymph node procedure called “sentinel node biopsy” is now preferred as it has fewer complications.

Medical treatments for breast cancers, which may be given before (“neoadjuvant”) or after (“adjuvant”) surgery, is based on the biological subtyping of the cancers. Certain subtypes of breast cancer are more aggressive than others such as triple negative (those that do not express estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) or HER-2 receptor). C
Radiotherapy plays a very important role in treating breast cancer. With early-stage breast cancers, radiation can prevent a woman having to undergo a mastectomy. With later stage cancers, radiotherapy can reduce cancer recurrence risk even when a mastectomy has been performed. For advanced stages of breast cancer, in some circumstances, radiation therapy may reduce the likelihood of dying of the disease.
The effectiveness of breast cancer therapies depends on the full course of treatment. Partial treatment is less likely to lead to a positive outcome.