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Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the second leading cancer amongst women in India. However, amongst the urban women it has the highest incidence. The average incidence rate caries from 22-28 per 100,000 women per year in urban settings to 6 per 100,000 women per year in rural areas.
Causes
Risk factors that can lead to breast cancer are
• Early age at menarche, late age at menopause, or first childbirth at a late age
• Fewer children and shorter duration of breast-feeding
• Family history of breast cancer increases the risk as follows:
(If a woman has a mother who has suffered from breast cancer her risk increases about 3 fold while having a sister with cancer, the risk increases by about 2-3 fold. About 5% of breast cancers are hereditary)
• Obesity is also now recognized as a predisposing factor
Signs & Symptoms
Generally lumps in the breasts do indicate some change, which warrants medical opinion. Most breast lumps aren’t cancerous. The most common sign of breast cancer:
• Lump or thickening in the breast. Often, the lump is painless
• A spontaneous clear or bloody discharge from your nipple, often associated with a breast lump
• Retraction or indentation of nipple
• A change in the size or contours of breast
• Any flattening or indentation of the skin over breast
• Redness or pitting of the skin over breast
• Mass below the arms
Diagnosis
The first test after physical evaluation may include
• X-ray of the breast known as ‘Mammography’
• This could be followed by biopsy and other imaging tests
Management
• The treatment plan would include surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy depending on the stage of the disease
Early detection can lead to curing of the disease.
