BREAST CANCER _ BENIGN TUMOR OR MALIGNANT TUMOR?
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women worldwide and it usually appears after menopause. In fact, up to 10% of women have a lifetime risk of developing breast cancer.
Men can also get breast cancer, but it’s rare, with less than 1% of breast cancer cases overall.
According to statistics, during the past three decades, the number of people with breast cancer has continuously increased. This can be explained in a number of ways, including with the problems of unhealthy lifestyles, unsafe foods and perhaps also with advances in screening, diagnosis and treatment that more cases are detected than in the past. On the contrary, thanks to advances in screening, diagnosis and treatment along with scientific advances in medical science, mortality rates are also continuously decreasing, survival rates and survival times are prolonged. treatment is also constantly increasing.
Table of Contents
STRUCTURE OF A TYPICAL BREAST
To better understand breast cancer, first of all, let’s have a brief overview of the structure of a typical woman’s breast.
Breasts are made up of many components: fat, glands, and ducts.
In it, glands are arranged in lobules. Glands that make milk flow into the ducts and then go to the nipple.
The breast tissue here is always affected by the female hormones estrogen and progesterone. These hormones can fluctuate, increase or decrease depending on each period in a woman’s life such as puberty, pregnancy, lactation, menopause, etc.
BREAST CANCER CELLS
Having cancer means that there are abnormal cells present. These cells are called abnormal, which means they grow and spread out of the body’s control.
Cancer cells can stay in the breast or spread to other organs if they have spread through the blood and lymph vessels.
In fact, the progression of breast cancer often takes months or even years.
BREAST CANCER SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
If you have breast cancer, you may often notice some unusual signs and symptoms, such as:
There is a palpable breast lump. This tumor can be rigidly fixed or loosely mobile. This is the most common symptom for both men and women if they have breast cancer.
However, I also want to be clear, not every lump in the breast means breast cancer. In fact, most of the detected breast lumps are not cancerous.
- There is fluid coming out of the nipple. This liquid is relatively diverse in texture as well as color. Fluid is secreted spontaneously and is also easily detected.
- Inverted nipple, which means that the nipple is inverted deeply.
The skin on the breast changes from color to texture. An area of skin may thicken or harden, peel, and may be unusually hot and red. - The udder may also be deformed, lose its natural shape, the udder surface may be concave, rough.
Please note that there are also a number of other factors that can also affect breast tissue and change the shape of the breast such as: pregnancy, menstrual cycle, breast cysts, infection, etc. not necessarily breast cancer.
TYPES OF BREAST CANCER
So, what types of breast cancer are there?
There are many different forms of breast cancer, and each has its own treatment. However, in fact, people often divide breast cancer into two main types:
- Non-invasive or in situ cancer, affecting only the milk ducts.
- Invasive cancer, which has spread around.
Note that in fact, invasive cancer does not necessarily have metastasized, but it may just invade surrounding tissues. But of course, when cancer cells have entered the blood and lymph vessels and localized to other organs, it is metastatic cancer.
Non-invasive cancer :
First, let’s talk about non-invasive cancer :
This is called carcinoma in situ or ductal carcinoma in situ. This is the most common non-invasive breast cancer in women.
Carcinoma in situ is a form of cancer that has only just begun to form. As the name suggests, it forms inside the milk ducts of the breast and it is not contagious.
This type of cancer is diagnosed more often since the wider use of mammography techniques.
Fortunately, if breast cancer is detected at this stage in time, its treatment leads to a cure in most cases.
If left untreated, that carcinoma in situ may not settle but will continue to grow and may then become an invasive cancer and spread outside the milk ducts.
Invasive cancer :
And, now, let’s take a look at the second form of cancer – invasive cancer :
In the invasive form of cancer, there are also several specific types that differ in their point of origin as follows :
- Epithelial cancer. This is a type of cancer where cancer cells form in the milk ducts. These cancer cells then grow to an out-of-control stage, where they pass through the walls of the milk ducts and invade surrounding tissues or into the blood and lymph vessels and spread everywhere.
- Lobular carcinoma. In this case, the cancer cells appear in the lobules, then cross the wall of the lobules and invade the surrounding tissues.
- Inflammatory carcinoma. This is a rare type of cancer characterized mainly by the breast that may become red, swollen, and hot. Breast skin may also appear cellulite. This type of cancer progresses faster and is more difficult to treat.
- There may also be some other rarer types of carcinoma such as ductal, medullary, papillary, mucinous, etc., with differences mainly based on the type of cell affected.
SOME BREAST CANCER-LIKE CONDITIONS
Please pay attention to some cases that are easily confused with breast cancer :
- Lobular Carcinoma In Situ (LCIS) :
This is just a condition in which cells inside some lobules or milk glands of the breast grow abnormally. without becoming cancerous.
However, it is also an important risk factor for breast cancer that should be closely monitored. - Case of Paget’s disease of the nipple:
This is a rare cancer that appears as psoriasis-like red patches or eczema on the nipple and areola and even causes a small sore on the nipple that won’t heal.
So, hopefully through this little and very brief information, you can also understand a little more about breast cancer and also help you visualize a bit about a very big and challenging medical problem. It will also give you a sense of self-monitoring and self-care, especially as you get older and especially if you’re a woman about to or have entered menopause.
Please remember, all of the things mentioned above are only suggestions, to help you increase your sense of self-care and be able to detect unusual warning signs of illness early.
All examination, diagnosis and conclusion of disease, whether benign or malignant and how it is treated, must be carried out in qualified medical facilities.
You can also see Video on Youtube, 6:00 Montreal 25 Nov 2022 _ Life V Channel
VIKUDO