AWARENESS

What Is Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is a disease in
which cells in the breast grow
out of control. There are
different kinds of breast
cancer. The kind of breast
cancer depends on which
cells in the breast turn into
cancer
How does it begin?

Breast cancer can begin in different

parts of the breast. A breast is made
up of three main parts: lobules,
ducts, and connective tissue. The
connective tissue (which consists of
fibrous and fatty tissue) surrounds
and holds everything together. Most
breast cancers begin in the ducts or
lobules.
 Causes of
Breast Cancer
 Family history and genetics.
If you have parents, siblings, children
or other close relatives who’ve been
diagnosed with breast cancer, you’re
more likely to develop the disease at
some point in your life. About 5%
to
10% of breast cancers are due to single
abnormal genes that are passed down
from parents to children, and that can
be discovered by genetic testing.

 Smoking

There’s growing evidence that

smoking slightly increases the risk of
breast cancer. The risk is higher in
women with a significant family
history of breast cancer.The younger a
woman is when she begins smoking,
the higher her risk. The increased risk
remains for at least 20 years after
stopping smoking.
 Age and breast cancer risk

Getting older is the most significant

risk for developing breast cancer.
Most breast cancers (80%) occur in
women over the age of 50. And the
older you are, the higher your risk.All
women who are 50 to 70 years of age
should be screened for breast cancer
every 3 years as part of the NHS Breast
80%
Screening Programme.
 Dense breast tissue

Your breasts are made up of thousands of tiny glands that produce milk.
This glandular tissue contains a higher concentration of breast cells than
other breast tissue, making it denser. This increases the risk of breast
cancer. The denser the breast, the greater the risk. Younger women tend to
have denser breasts. As you get older, the amount of glandular tissue in
your breasts decreases and is replaced by fat, so your breasts become less
dense.

 Symptoms
of

Breast Cancer
 BREAST LUMP
A breast lump is a growth of tissue that
develops within your breast. A breast
lump will feel like a distinct mass that's
noticeably more solid than the rest of
your breast tissue. A breast lump is a
localized swelling, protuberance, bulge,
or bump in the breast that feels different
from the breast tissue around it or the
breast tissue in the same area of the other
breast.
Changes to the
skin’s texture
Breast cancer can cause changes
and inflammation in skin cells
that can lead to texture changes.
Examples of these texture changes
include scaly skin around the
nipple and areola, as though the
skin is sunburned or extremely
dry, and skin thickening in any
part of the breast.
 Nipple Discharge

A person may observe discharge from

the nipple, which can be thin or thick
and range in color from clear to
milky to yellow, green, or red. It is
normal for people who are
breastfeeding to have a milky
discharge from the nipples, but it is
advisable to contact a doctor about
any other nipple discharge.
 Lymph Node Changes
Lymph nodes are small, rounded collections of immune system tissue that
capture potentially harmful cells. If a cancer cell leaves the breast, the first
place it typically travels to is the underarm lymph node region on the same
side as the affected breast. This can lead to swelling in this area. In addition
to swollen lymph nodes in the armpit, a person may notice them around the
collarbone. They usually feel like small, firm, swollen lumps and may be
tender to the touch.
 Dimpling
Skin dimpling can sometimes be a
sign of inflammatory breast
cancer, an aggressive type of
breast cancer. Cancer cells can
cause a buildup of lymph fluid in
the breast that leads to swelling as
well as dimpling or pitted skin.
This form of cancer results in the
blockage of lymph vessels in the
skin.
 Swelling
Selling is one of the symptoms of
Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Inflammatory
breast cancer is a rare type of breast cancer
that develops rapidly, making the affected
breast red, swollen and tender. Inflammatory
breast cancer occurs when cancer cells block
the lymphatic vessels in skin covering the
breast. Breast cancer can cause the entire
breast or an area of the breast to swell. There
may not be a distinct lump after this swelling,
but the breast can be different in size than the
other breast.
 TREATMENTS
For
BREAST CANCER
 The main treatments
for breast cancer
Radiotherapy
Chemotherapy
Hormone therapy
Targeted therapy

The type or combination of treatments one has will depend

on how the cancer was diagnosed and the stage it's at. Breast
cancer diagnosed at routine screening may be at an early
stage, but breast cancer diagnosed when you have symptoms
may be at a later stage and require a different treatment.
 Reconstruction
Breast reconstruction is surgery to make
a new breast shape that looks as much
as possible like your other
breast.Reconstruction can be done at the
same time as a mastectomy , or it can be
done later . It can be done either by
inserting a breast implant or by using
tissue from another part of your body to
create a new breast.
 Radiotherapy:

Radiotherapy uses controlled doses of radiation to kill cancer cells. It's usually given
after surgery and chemotherapy to kill any remaining cancer cells.
If you need radiotherapy, your treatment will begin about a month after your surgery
or chemotherapy to give your body a chance to recover.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy involves using anti-cancer medicine to
kill cancer cells. It's usually used after surgery to
destroy any cancer cells that have not been removed.
Several different medicines are used in
chemotherapy. The choice of medicine and the
combination will depend on the type of breast cancer
you have and how far it has spread. The medicines
are usually given through a drip straight into a vein.
In some cases, you may be given tablets that you can
take at home.
 Hormone Treatment
Some breast cancers are stimulated to grow by the hormones oestrogen or
progesterone, which are found naturally in our body. Hormone therapy lowers
the levels of oestrogen or progesterone hormones in your body or stops their
effects. Hormone therapy may be used as the only treatment for breast cancer if
your general health prevents you having surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
In most cases, you'll need to take hormone therapy for 5 years or more after
having surgery. If the type of breast cancer you have is not sensitive to
hormones, hormone therapy will have no effect.

 Targeted Therapies:
Targeted therapies are medicines that change the way cells
work and help to stop cancer from growing and spreading.
Some targeted therapies are given through a drip into a vein.
Others come as tablets. Side effects of targeted therapies
include:

shivering and feeling unwell

diarrhoea
feeling and being sick
headache
cough
skin rash
Tamoxifen
Is the most commonly used medication for Breast
Cancer. It is an antiestrogen. It blocks the action of
estrogen, which can stop cancer that grows in
response to estrogen. It is a tablet you take once or
twice a day.

Everolimus
It is a targeted therapy. It interferes with signals telling
cancer cells to grow and divide. This stops cancer cells from
multiplying. It also decreases the blood supply to cancer. It
comes as a tablet and a dissolvable tablet you take once a day.
Prevention of breast cancer
Research shows that lifestyle changes can
decrease the risk of breast cancer, even in
women at high risk. To lower your risk:
If you're concerned about developing breast
cancer, you might be wondering if there
are steps you can take to help prevent
breast cancer. Some risk factors, such as
family history, can't be changed. However,
there are lifestyle changes you can make to
lower your risk.
 Maintain a healthy weight.
If your weight is healthy, work to maintain that weight. If you need to lose
weight, ask your doctor about healthy strategies to accomplish this. Reduce
the number of calories you eat each day and slowly increase the amount of
exercise. Having more fat tissue can increase your chance of getting breast
cancer by raising estrogen levels. Also, women who are overweight tend to
have higher levels of insulin, another hormone. Higher insulin levels have
also been linked to some cancers, including breast cancer.
Be physically active
By being physically active you can reduce
your risk of breast cancer by around 20%.
Physical activity also reduces the risk of
breast cancer recurrence and mortality
following a breast cancer diagnosis. It's
thought that physical activity regulates
hormones including estrogen and insulin,
which can fuel breast cancer growth. Being
active also generally improves the capacity of
the immune system to protect you from
cancer.
Limitations of alcohol
The more alcohol you drink, the greater your
risk of developing breast cancer. The general
recommendation — based on research on the
effect of alcohol on breast cancer risk — is to
limit yourself to no more than one drink a
day, as even small amounts increase risk.
Alcohol can raise estrogen levels in the body,
which may explain some of the increased
riskAlcohol also may increase breast cancer
risk by damaging DNA in cells.
 Breast-feed
Breast-feeding might play a role in breast cancer
prevention. .Most women who breastfeed
experience hormonal changes during lactation
that delay their menstrual periods. This reduces
a woman’s lifetime exposure to hormones like
estrogen, which can promote breast cancer cell
growth.In addition, during pregnancy and
breastfeeding, you shed breast tissue. “This
shedding can help remove cells with potential
DNA damage, thus helping to reduce your
chances of developing breast cancer,” Wohlford
says.
Stages of breast Cancer
 Staging helps describe how much
cancer is in your body. It’s determined
by several factors, including the size
and location of the tumor and whether
the cancer has spread to other areas of
your body. The basic breast cancer
stages are:
 Stage 0. The disease is non-invasive. This
means it hasn’t broken out of your breast
ducts.
Stage I. The cancer cells have spread to the
nearby breast tissue.
Stage II. The tumor is either smaller than 2
centimeters across and has spread to
underarm lymph nodes or larger than 5
centimeters across but hasn’t spread to
underarm lymph nodes. Tumors at this stage
can measure anywhere between 2 to 5
centimeters across, and may or may not affect
the nearby lymph nodes.
 Stage III. At this stage, the cancer has
spread beyond the point of origin. It may
have invaded nearby tissue and lymph
nodes, but it hasn’t spread to distant
organs. Stage III is usually referred to as
locally advanced breast cancer.
Stage IV. The cancer has spread to areas
away from your breast, such as your
bones, liver, lungs or brain. Stage IV
100%
breast cancer is also called metastatic
breast cancer.
Expectations and
Survival rate
Breast Cancer Survival Rates
The overall 5-year relative survival rate
for breast cancer is 90%. This means 90
out of 100 women are alive 5 years after
they’ve been diagnosed with breast
cancer. The 10-year breast cancer
relative survival rate is 84% (84 out of
100 women are alive after 10 years). The
invasive 15-year breast cancer relative
survival rate is 80% (80 out of 100
women are alive after 15 years
 TYPES OF
BREAST CANCER
11
 Ductal
WHAT IS IT?
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the presence of abnormal cells
inside a milk duct in the breast. DCIS is considered the earliest form
of breast cancer. DCIS is noninvasive, meaning it hasn't spread out of
the milk duct and has a low risk of becoming invasive.

HOW SERIOUS IS DUCTAL CARCINOMA IN SITU?

DCIS is non-invasive because it hasn't spread beyond the milk
ducts into other healthy tissue. DCIS isn't life-threatening, but
if you're diagnosed with DCIS, you have a higher-than-average
risk of developing invasive breast cancer later in life.
 WHAT IS IT?
Invasive Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), also known as
infiltrating ductal carcinoma, is a type of breast cancer

ductal
that starts in the milk ducts of the breast and moves into
nearby tissue. In time, IDC may spread (metastasize)
through the lymph nodes or bloodstream to other areas of
the body.

How serious is invasive ductal carcinoma?

Without prompt treatment, invasive ductal carcinoma can
spread to lymph nodes or blood vessels and metastasize
(spread) throughout the body. Identifying characteristics of
the tumor, such as whether or not the cells are sensitive to
certain hormones, can help your doctor choose the best
treatment.
 WHAT IS IT?
nflammatory Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare and
very aggressive disease in which cancer
cells block lymph vessels in the skin of the
breast. This type of breast cancer is called
“inflammatory” because the breast often
looks swollen and red, or inflamed.

HOW SERIOUS IS INFLAMMATORY?

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is
considered an aggressive cancer because it
grows quickly, is more likely to have spread at
the time it's found, and is more likely to come
back after treatment than other types of
breast cancer. The outlook is generally not as
good as it is for other types of breast cancer.
 WHAT IS IT
metastatic When breast cancer spreads to an area farther from
where it started to another part of the body,
doctors say that the cancer has “metastasized.”
They call the area of spread a “metastasis,” or use
the plural of “metastases” if the cancer has spread
to more than 1 area. The disease is called metastatic
breast cancer.

HOW SERIOUS IS METASTATIC ?

In most cases, metastatic cancer is not curable.
However, treatment can slow growth and ease many of
the associated symptoms. It's possible to live for
several years with some types of cancer, even after it
has metastasized. Some types of metastatic cancer
are potentially curable, including melanoma and colon
cancer.