- Basic
- Symptoms
- Diagnosis
- Treatments
Introduction to Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is a malignant tumor usually occurs in the epithelial tissue of the breast gland. It is one of the most common malignant tumors that severely impacts on women's physical and mental health and even threats to the life, while is rarely seen in male. The main symptoms of breast cancer are: breast lumps, breast pain, nipple discharge, nipple changes, skin changes and axillary lymph nodes swelling.
Causes of Breast Cancer
1. Marriage and children bearing: Risk rate of breast cancer in unmarried women is 2 times higher than the married.
2. Ionizing radiation: Breast gland is a tissue that quite sensitive to ionizing radiation and has a high carcinogenic activity.
3. Genetic factors: If one’s mother had suffered from breast cancer, the chance rate of herhis suffering from breast cancer is 9 times higher than ordinary people.
4. People with early menarche and late menopause: Early menarche and late menopause are two main risk factors of breast cancer.
5. Hormones: The stimulation of estrogen to breast gland's epithelial cell to hyperplasia is a substantial reason in causing breast cancer.
6. Depression and excessive tension: A long-term spiritual depression and unhappiness in early life are an important factors leading to cancer.
7. Bad eating habits: The incidence rates and mortality of breast cancer are strongly associated to per capita digestion amount of fat.
8. Unhealthy lifestyle: Female white-collars sit a long time in the office, their lack of exercise and seldom exposure to sunlight can easily lead to breast cancer.
Self-examination of Breast Cancer
1. Use your three fingers, except the thumb and little finger, to touch the breast in a wide range.
2. Have a stroked check from the outboard of the breast to the inner side in a horizontal direction.
3. Put your left hand into the armpit to see if there are any palpable lymph nodes. Seize the nipple to check for discharge.
4. Examine if there are skin ulceration, depression and nipple discharge from the front side to the lateral sides.
5. Hands up, watch if there are depressions in the breast and observe the shape of the breast from all angles.
Visual examination: Take off your shirt in front of a mirror for visual examination on both breasts; Arms down to inspect if there are any changes in the curved contours of both sides’ breast and whether they are at the same height; check if the breast, nipples and the areola skin exist any peeling and erosion, and any increase or retraction in the nipple.
Palpation: Take an orthostatic or supine position, put your left hand behind your head and check the left breast with your right hand. The fingers should close together and gradually move for a clockwise check from the above of the breast. And the checking should be taken according to an order: from the upper outboard to the lower outboard, then the upper part of the inside to the oxter.
General Symptoms of breast cancer
1. Breast cancer patients in early stage are not able to touch clear lumps, but often accompanied with local discomforts. This situation happens very often specially in women after menopause.
2. Early stage breast cancer patients can reach bean-size masses in their breast grand, which are hard and movable but with no significant pain, while a few patients might bear intermittent pain or pricking pain.
3. Change of the breast shape. Visible skin bulge can be seen in the mass region, local orange peel -like skin, edema, and even discoloration may appear in some cases.
4. Nipples in the center are associated with nipple retraction; breast skin is accompanied with mild depression, nipple erosion, nipple asymmetry, skin thickening, coarsening, and enlarged pores.
5. Axillary lymph nodes swelling. Swelling in ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes is most commonly seen, while swelling in the supraclavicular lymph nodes has fallen into the advance stage.
Early Symptoms of Breast Cancer
The symptoms that have been listed make up the majority of the early symptoms of breast cancer. The first thing that is often noticeable is the lump or mass in the breast. This is one of the major indicators of breast cancer which is found in the early stage. It is possible that a lump will form in the armpit area as well. Other skin and nipple related symptoms are also common in the development of the breast cancer also but they may not be so noticeable in the early stages. Keep in mind that the early symptoms of breast cancer may also be experienced as a result of other health problems so you should not assume the diagnosis based on these symptoms occurring.
It is a good idea for all women to do breast exams at least once a year. You can get this done by your doctor or attempt it on your own. Make sure that you know exactly what you are looking for. Early symptoms of breast cancer may go unnoticed but when examining the area they are relatively easy to Early. The lump should be noticeable and prominent from the surface of the skin. If there is any change in the texture and appearance of your breast skin or nipples then this should also be easy to notice. If you keep examining your breasts on a regular basis then it will be easier to identify when there has been any change to it.
Regular breast examination can help to detect early symptoms of breast cancer and achievebetter treatment results.
Symptoms of Breast Cancer in Women
Symptoms of breast cancer in women vary slightly . If you are a woman you may expect to experience breast lump and changes of the skin and nipples in your breast area. There may be other symptoms that could be experienced aside from this as well though. You can look for a full list of breast cancer symptoms but this has covered the majority of the common symptoms that are likely to be noticed by female patients with this type of cancer.
Symptoms of Breast Cancer in Men
There are some similarities in the symptoms of breast cancer in men and women but there are a few differences that are more likely to be noticed by male patients. In many cases In many cases, it is commonly to see firm patches under the nipple area of the skin. This may be a major symptom that is experienced by the male and different from females. It is possible that symptoms of breast cancer in men will include various types of changes to the skin and nipples as well. In most instances of breast cancer the symptoms are only usually noticed in a single nipple. Also, if the breast cancer has spread then you may experience other symptoms such as bone pain, weight loss, and general weakness.
The symptoms of breast cancer are mostly to do with the breast skin and nipples. If the cancer spreads then symptoms may be noticed throughout the body as well. When the cancer is in its early stages the symptoms are typically restricted to the breast area though.Even though these symptoms may not be able to find at the first look they are still relatively easy to be detected if you examine the area. Ultimately, there are numerous symptoms of breast cancer and it is important if you can get timely examinations and effective treatments. So, visit a doctor timely when any abnormal symptoms are found.
If you have any symptoms with unknown reason, please go to hospial for a further check-up as soon as possible. We are here to provide help, please click online consultation.
As proven by studies of Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou, the incidence rate of breast cancer accounts for 10% of all diseases of the whole body. It is the natural enemy threatening females’ health. However, many females have no idea about breast cancer. As a result, they fail to undergo timely treatment and miss the best treatment chance when admitted to hospital. Then, how to diagnose whether breast cancer has occurred? What are the diagnosis methods of breast cancer?
Diagnostic Methods of Breast Cancer
1. Ultrasound imaging examination: it can clearly reveal the form and boundary of breast tissues and whether there is mass in the breast, if any, its size, shape and texture (cystic or solid), etc. It provides comparatively reliable basis for the distinguishing between benign and malignant cancer. Ultrasound imaging examination has an 80%～85% accuracy to the diagnosis of breast cancer patients of 30 years old. The strong reflected sound caused by the surrounding infiltrated tissues, the damaged normal breast structure, the thickening or indentation of local breast skin above underlying mass, images of all these can be taken as important reference of breast cancer diagnosis. Ultrasound is harmless and can be reused.
2. Thermal imaging examination: it is a method to reveal the temperature distribution of body surface with images. As cancer cells proliferate fast and vessels increase, the temperature of cancer surface rises higher than that of surrounding normal tissues, with the differences of which, diagnosis can be done. However, this diagnosis method lacks of accurate imaging standard, and the thermal abnormal parts cannot correspond to the tumor. Therefore, the diagnostic accordance rate of the method is low. That’s why this method is used less and less in recent years.
3. CT scans: it can be used in determining the location of impalpable breast lesions before biopsy and staging breast cancer before treatment, as well as checking whether there are masses in the retromammary area, armpit and internal breast lymph nodes, and helping with treatment plan as well.
4. Cancer marker examination: during the cancerization process, a substance is produced and secreted by cancer cells. It directly releases components of cell tissues and exists in the cancer cells or body fluid of the parasitifer in the form of antigen, enzyme, hormone or metabolite. This kind of substance is called cancer marker, with which the examination methods include carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), iron protein, monoclonal antibody, and so on.
5. Biopsy: only after the diagnosis is confirmed can treatment for breast cancer be performed. Although there are plenty of examination methods for breast cancer nowadays, the result of biopsy is the only basis that can be used to confirm diagnosis.
a. Needle biopsy: it is simple, fast, safe and can replace some frozen tissue sections, with 80%～90% results proving negative. Needle biopsy can also be used in general survey of cancer prevention. If the clinical diagnosis proves malignant but cytological diagnosis proves benign or with suspected cancer, surgical biopsy will be demanded to confirm the diagnosis.
b. Incisional biopsy: as it can stimulate cancer diffusion, it is usually not recommended, but only used to determine the pathologic types of advanced cancer.
c. Excisional biopsy: when a malignant cancer is suspected, excisional biopsy is performed to remove the tumor and surrounding certain extending tissues for further diagnosis. It is usually request to completely excise from at least 1cm to the margin of the tumor.
How to self-diagnose breast cancer?
1. Self-exam when bathing
When bathing, soap your breast at first to make it sliding when checking. Put one of your hands behind your head, with fingers of another hand closed and straighten, carefully check every part of your breast with your finger pulps in spiral manner to see whether there are masses in your breasts. Alternate your hands when checking your two breasts.
2. Checking before a mirror
Stand in front of a mirror with your hands down to see whether the outlook of your breasts is normal and whether there is indentation of your nipples and shrinking or humps of the breast skin. Slightly nip your nipples to see whether there is discharge and check your armpit to see whether there are swollen lymph nodes. At last, hold high your hands above your head and repeat the examination again.
When Diagnosing Breast Cancer, Distinguish Breast Cancer from Below Diseases
1. Fibroadenoma of breast: it is commonly seen among young females. The tumors are mainly round or oval, with clear boundary, active but slow developing. For women above 40, you should exclude malignant breast cancer before hastily diagnose as breast fibroadenoma.
2. Cystic hyperplasia of breast: it is most seen among young females too, with the characteristics of periodical breast swelling pain and breast lumps in accordance with menstrual cycle.
3. Plasma cell mastitis: it is an aseptic inflammation of breast tissues, 60% of which appear as acute inflammation in clinic. Big lumps will show orange-like skin on the breast surface. 40% of patients have chronic inflammation at the very beginning, which appear with lumps around the nipple, unclear boundary, skin adhesion and nipple indentation can be seen.
4. Breast nodules: it is a chronic inflammation of breast tissues caused by tubercle bacillus and usually occurs among young females. It has long course of disease and develop slowly. Locally, it appears with internal breast masses, which are hard and tough, and some parts of which feel cystic. Sometimes it is not clear in the boundary, with limited activity and possibly non-periodic pain.
Due to great pressure of work, which affects the level of internal secretion, all kinds of breast diseases emerge and get closer and closer to people. Here, experts from Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou suggest that female friends should go to hospital regularly for routine physical examinations every year.
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumor, whose disease rate makes up 10% of various malignant tumor, threatening female’s health severely. The attack of breast cancer leads to females’ losing confidence for life and work, and bringing a challenge for a family. How to conquer breast cancer becomes the main issue for the patient and their family. Experts from Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou point out that the immunotherapy brings a hope of health for breast cancer patients when the happiness arrives.
Traditional Therapies for Breast Cancer
Traditional therapies for breast cancer are operation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. For early-stage breast cancer patients, operation is the major method since it can kill cancer cells and relieve patient’s illness. But operation has its own limitations. Firstly, it is not the best choice for terminal breast cancer patients or weaker patients because it needs to remove some normally-function tissues during excision of cancer cells; secondly, operation cannot remove micro tumors and has the risk of recurrence and metastasis after operation. Thus, follow-up after operation should not be ignored.
Radiotherapy is not only the main method to treat breast carcinoma, but also one of the methods of local therapy. Compared with operation treatment, radiotherapy is less affected by anatomy factor and patient’s physical status; however, its therapeutic efficacy can be affected by the biological effect of ray. Tumor can’t be killed completely by current radiotherapy facilities, which leads to less curative effectiveness when radiotherapy is compared with operation treatment. Usually biological immunotherapy is performed with radiotherapy to reduce the side effects and complications which may result in partial loss of function.
Like radiotherapy, chemotherapy is a systemic treatment which has strong side effects. Chemotherapy can suppress the hematopoietic system of bone marrow, as a result, the WBC and platelet will decrease. Clinically, biological immunotherapy can make up the disadvantages of chemotherapy by reducing the damage to hematopoietic system.
Biological immunotherapy is not only the latest technology of tumor treatment which is much better than surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but also the most mature and widely used technology for tumor biological treatment. It can kill tumor cells directly, prevent recurrence and metastases, and improve immunity and living standards. Bio-immunotherapy is that cultivating immunologic cells (DC-CIK) which have good recognition for tumor cells to kill and inhibit vitro by collecting patient’s blood, and then transfuse back to patient to improve patient’s immunity and inhibit growth of tumor cells.
Meanwhile，composite applications of biological immunotherapy tech, modern surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy have powerful complementary effect, which can not only eliminate minimal remaining lesions and precaution recurrence and metastasis of tumors, but what’s more, uniquely recover and reconstruct the immune system.
At present, biological immunotherapy, with non-trauma, non-side effect and good effect, has been extremely welcomed by tumor patients, which is thought to be not only the most active and promising treatment method among all of the therapy patterns for breast cancer, but effective way to extend living period.
Interventional therapy is a mini-invasive therapy performed under the guidance of medical imaging equipments. With a 1-2 millimeter incision, paracentesis could be performed with the lead of medical imaging equipment. Then a special tube, catheter or other sophisticated apparatus are introduced into human body to treat the lesion, so as to cut off the cancer’s blood supply. Compared with the traditional breast cancer treatment, interventional therapy has the advantages of few pains, high efficacy and few toxic side effects, which greatly reduces breast cancer patient’s pain.
For middle and advanced breast cancer, Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou applies the Cryotherapy. Cryotherapy destroys cancer cells by the circle treatment of cold to hot, with the advantage of not causing harm to other normal issues. The temperature of frozen tumor tissue can reach 120℃ below zero in a dozen of seconds when the argon gas is quickly released trough needle point, then the temperature rises to 40℃ when Helium is released through needle point. The circle treatment of cold to hot totally destroys the tumor, or cuts off the tumor blood and kills cancer cells.
The cryotherapy not only lowers the risk and complications of operation, but also has no limitations of anesthesia. Experts can effectively monitor the whole process and efficacy. Cryotherpy yet has successfully treated numerous breast cancer patients and became the first choice of breast cancer patients.
If you have any questions, please contact us via online consultation, email or phone call. If you find our website useful, please follow our FaceBook and YouTube, health information will be updated regularly.
