subject: Breast Cancer Surgery Options - Understanding Your Breast Cancer [print this page] Breast Cancer Surgery Options - Understanding Your Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer
Overview
Many breast cancers are sensitive to the hormone estrogen. This means that estrogen causes the breast cancer tumor to grow. Such cancer is called estrogen receptor positive cancer or ER positive cancer.
Some women have what's called HER2-positive breast cancer. HER2 refers to a gene that helps cells grow, divide, and repair themselves. When cells have too many copies of this gene, cells - including cancer cells - grow faster. Experts think that women with HER2-positive breast cancer have a more aggressive disease and a higher risk of recurrence than those who do not have this type.
No one knows the exact causes of breast cancer. Doctors often cannot explain why one woman develops breast cancer and another does not. They do know that bumping, bruising, or touching the breast does not cause cancer. And breast cancer is not contagious. You cannot "catch" it from another person.
Research has shown that women with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop breast cancer.
A risk factor is something that may increase the 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. Most cases of breast cancer occur in women over 60. This disease is not common before menopause.
* Personal history of breast cancer: - A woman who had breast cancer in one breast has an increased risk of getting cancer in her other breast.
* Family history: - A woman's risk of breast cancer is higher if her mother, sister, or daughter had breast cancer. The risk is higher if her family member got breast cancer before age 40.
Having other relatives with breast cancer (in either her mother's or father's family) may also increase a woman's risk.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
Clinical breast exam : - Your health care provider feels each breast for lumps and looks for other problems. If you have a lump, your doctor will feel its size, shape, and texture. Your doctor will also check to see if it moves easily. Benign lumps often feel different from cancerous ones. Lumps that are soft, smooth, round, and movable are likely to be benign. A hard, oddly shaped lump that feels firmly attached within the breast is more likely to be cancer.
Diagnostic mammogram : - Diagnostic mammograms are x-ray pictures of the breast. They take clearer, more detailed images of areas that look abnormal on a screening mammogram. Doctors use them to learn more about unusual breast changes, such as a lump, pain, thickening, nipple discharge, or change in breast size or shape. Diagnostic mammograms may focus on a specific area of the breast. They may involve special techniques and more views than screening mammograms.
Ultrasound : - An ultrasound device sends out sound waves that people cannot hear. The waves bounce off tissues. A computer uses the echoes to create a picture. Your doctor can view these pictures on a monitor. The pictures may show whether a lump is solid or filled with fluid. A cyst is a fluid-filled sac. Cysts are not cancer. But a solid mass may be cancer. After the test, your doctor can store the pictures on video or print them out. This exam may be used along with a mammogram.
Surgery for Breast Cancer Treatment
How is surgery used in breast cancer treatment?
Surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible is the primary treatment for breast cancer. Today, women have many surgical options and choices. The type of surgery performed depends upon: -
* the size and location of the breast lump or tumor
* the type and stage of the breast cancer (If the cancer has spread within the breast or has spread outside of the breast to the lymph nodes, or to other parts of the body.)
* the size of the breast
* the woman's preference There are several types of breast surgery. Your physician can explain the benefits and risks of each type, in addition to answering any questions or concerns you may have prior to surgery.
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