Breast cancer - causes, symptoms, treatment

Breast cancer is one of the most common oncological pathologies among women. Breast cancer refers to malignant tumors that affect the glandular tissues of the mammary glands.

Breast Cancer - Risk Factors

Possible factors for the development of breast cancer can be such factors:

• Late delivery (after 30);
• Early menstruation;
• Late menopause;
• Smoking;
• Abuse of alcoholic beverages;
• Mechanical injuries of mammary glands;
• Genetic predisposition.

The presence of such diseases as hypertension, atherosclerosis, obesity, diabetes, can also contribute to the formation and development of tumors in the chest. Another possible factor, many scientists call the absence of a woman in the anamnesis of childbirth and pregnancy.

Breast Cancer - Symptoms

The main symptoms of breast cancer, in which you need to beat the alarm and seek professional medical care, are:

• Tumor formation or compaction in the area of both or one breast;
• The presence of erosion, scales, expressions, crusts in the area of areola and nipples;
• The occurrence of deformities, edema, a decrease or increase in the breast for no reason;
• Non-lactation or pregnancy-related allocation of any kind from the nipples;
• Increased supraclavicular and axillary lymph nodes.

If you identify at least one of the signs, you need to urgently go to the doctor and undergo a survey.

Diagnosis of breast cancer

Diagnosis of breast cancer involves the following procedures:

Consultation and examination at the gynecologist, oncologist, mammologist and other specialists, depending on the type of therapy and the characteristics of the organism. It is also necessary to have a mammogram combined with an X-ray. When mammography is performed, the breast is examined using a mammogram apparatus, which gives a complete picture of the disease.

Also can be performed during examination and doktografiya, which investigates milk ducts. They introduce a special solution that fills the lumen of the duct and makes it possible to see it on the roentgenogram.

Ultrasound examination is conducted to determine the structural structure of the seals that cause suspicion in the doctor. In cases where the compaction structure has not been identified by ultrasound, a biopsy is recommended.

Biopsy is a study that allows you to establish an accurate diagnosis. The procedure for a biopsy looks like this: the skin on the chest is pierced in the compaction area, then the tissue is taken and the detailed examination is performed under the microscope.

Also, for breast cancer, such procedures as CT, MRI, PET-CT can be used. These procedures determine the exact size of the tumor and the secondary foci in the body.

Breast Cancer Treatment

Treatment of any cancer and its effectiveness depend on the stage, type of disease, age, the presence of concomitant pathologies, as well as the general condition and well-being of the patient. Basically, with breast cancer, therapeutic measures such as surgery, hormonal therapy, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are being undertaken.

The most effective method of treating breast cancer is still operative intervention. It can be combined with chemotherapy or radiotherapy before or after surgery. In general, such operations, in particular when conducting them abroad, for example, in the treatment of breast cancer in Israel, are aimed at preserving the organ (partial removal of the breast, which is affected by the tumor). But in especially severe cases, complete removal of the breast with nearby lymph nodes is carried out.

Radiation therapy is recommended mainly after surgery. It is an irradiation technique, under the influence of which cancer cells die.

Chemotherapy - the use of chemotherapeutic drugs that contribute to the destruction of the tumor and neutralize the process of its proliferation. This method is effective in conjunction with radiotherapy or surgery.

Hormonal therapy for breast cancer appoints with the hormone-positive form of the tumor or with its relapse. Hormonal preparations stop the effect of estrogen on cancer cells and can be recommended after radiation therapy, surgery or chemotherapy.