Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the United States. (Other than skin cancer). This year, more than 215,000 women nationwide will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die from the disease. Each year, about 1,300 men in this country learn they have breast cancer.

The Breasts
The breasts are glands that can make milk. Each breast sits on chest muscles that cover the ribs. Each breast is divided into sections called lobes. Lobes contain many smaller lobules. Lobules contain groups of tiny glands that can produce milk. Milk flows from the lobules through thin tubes called ducts to the nipple. Fat fills the spaces between the lobules and ducts.

The breasts also contain lymph vessels, which carry a clear fluid called lymph. The lymph vessels lead to small, round organs called lymph nodes. Groups of lymph nodes are found near the breast under the arm, above the collarbone, in the chest behind the breastbone, and in many other parts of the body. The lymph nodes trap bacteria, cancer cells, or other harmful substances that may be in the lymphatic system.

Understanding Cancer
Cancer begins in cells, the building blocks that make up tissues. Tissues make up the organs of the body. Normally, cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old, they die, and new cells take their place. Sometimes this orderly process goes wrong. New cells form when the body does not need them, and old cells do not die when they should. These extra cells can form a mass of tissue called a growth or tumor.

Not all tumors are cancerous. Tumors can be benign or malignant:
Benign tumors are not cancerous.
Usually, benign tumors can be removed, and they seldom grow back.
Cells from benign tumors do not spread to tissues around them or to other parts of the body.
Malignant tumors are cancerous.
Malignant tumors generally are more serious than benign tumors. They may be life-threatening.
Malignant tumors often can be removed, but they can grow back.
Cells from malignant tumors can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs.

Cancer cells can break away from a malignant tumor and enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system. That is how cancer cells spread from the original cancer (primary tumor) to form new tumors in other organs. The spread of cancer is called metastasis. When breast cancer cells enter the lymphatic system, they may be found in lymph nodes near the breast.

The cancer cells also may travel to other organs through the lymphatic system or bloodstream. When cancer spreads (metastasizes), the new tumor has the same kind of abnormal cells and the same name as the primary tumor. For example, if breast cancer spreads to the bone, the cancer cells in the bone are breast cancer cells. The disease is metastatic breast cancer, not bone cancer. It is treated as breast cancer, not as bone cancer. Doctors sometimes call the new tumor "distant" or metastatic disease.

 

Breast Cancer: Who is at Risk?

No one knows the exact causes of breast cancer. Physicians can seldom explain why one woman gets breast cancer and another does not. We do know that bumping, bruising, or touching the breast does not cause breast cancer. Cancer is not contagious.

Research has shown that women with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop breast cancer. A risk factor is anything that increases a person's chance of developing a disease.

Studies have found the following risk factors for breast cancer:

Age: The chance of getting breast cancer goes up as a woman gets older. A woman over age 60 is at greatest risk. This disease is very uncommon before menopause, but it does occur in women younger than thirty.

Personal history of breast cancer: A woman who has had breast cancer in one breast has an increased risk of getting this disease in her other breast.

Family history: A woman's risk of breast cancer is higher if her mother, sister, or daughter had breast cancer, especially at a young age (before age 40). Having other relatives with breast cancer on either her mother's or her father's side of the family may also increase a woman's risk.

Reproductive and menstrual history: The older a woman is when she has her first child, the greater her chance of breast cancer.

Women who began menstruation (had their first menstrual period) at an early age (before age 12), went through menopause late (after age 55), or never had children also are at an increased risk.

Women who take menopausal hormone therapy (either estrogen alone or estrogen plus progestin) for 5 or more years after menopause also appear to have an increased chance of developing breast cancer.

Race: Breast cancer occurs more often in white women than Hispanic, Asian, or African American women.

Alcoholic beverages: Some studies suggest that the more alcoholic beverages a woman drinks, the greater her risk of breast cancer.

A woman who thinks she may be at risk of breast cancer should discuss this concern with her health care provider. The health care provider may suggest ways to reduce the risk and can plan an appropriate schedule for checkups.

Breast cancer can bring more stress to your life, find out more for help.

Learn how to do a breast self-exam and do it monthly.

Breast cancer can bring on a whole new set of stressors, find out how to learn to adjust and when to seek help.

Read about breast cancer and breast cancer screening.
It can save your life or your mother's life or someone else's.

Helping Someone Diagnosed With Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer and What You Eat

Risks of Breast Cancer and Second Hand Smoke

Some Fast Cancer Facts

Some Web Resources:

Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation

American Cancer Society - Breast Cancer Awareness

Breast Cancer Advisors.org

Screening for breast cancer and self-exam - >