Breast cancer (Breast cancer, breast cancer)

Definition and causes

There was discovered around. 3700 cases of breast cancer per year in Denmark. About every 10 woman hit by the disease in their lifetime, making it the most common cancer in women. There are several types of breast cancer with different development speed.

The cause of the disease is not clear, but it seems now clear that there is a hereditary component. So now offered to some women who have cases of brytkræft in the family, a genetic testing, which analyzed the mutations in the BRCA gene, which is linked to breast cancer. Thus, there may be as much as 80% risk of developing breast cancer if a woman has defects in its genes.

Cancer cells occur in most cases in kirtelvævet (the milk-forming tissues), but they can also be deleted from lymphoid tissue or tissue Volume in the chest. If cancer cells are detected late, they can grow into the surrounding tissue, for example. chest muscles, or out through the skin and nipple. The cells can spread through lymfekarrene, especially to lymph nodes in the armpit (which emphasizes the importance of brand after this also, when you look at his chest). Finally, they can spread by blood to

There are a number of factors that increase risk of breast cancer. Some are hereditary, and some can even do something about. There is an increased risk of:

Former breast cancer.
Fibroadenomatose (benign growth of kirtelvæv).
Obesity.
Early onset of menstruation (early menarche).
Late menopause (cessation of menstruation).
Sen. birth of first child.
Get childbirth.
Long-term (> 5 years) hormone replacement therapy after menopause.
Women who early on are starting to smoke are at increased risk for breast cancer.

Symptoms of breast cancer

Most women who get breast cancer, has turned to the doctor because they have felt a lump in the breast. Subsequently, the diagnosis was established by a tripeltest and examination of tissue in the microscope.

Some also discovers superficial changes in the breast, for example indtræk lecture in the skin, swelling or inflammation of the skin, eczema around the nipple, a wound that will not whole blood or secretions from the nipple.

It is important to emphasize that pain and tenderness in the breast is not in itself evidence of breast cancer.

Precautions and diagnosis of breast cancer

The symptoms that are listed above can give suspected breast cancer, and doctors can choose to have studied the chest by a detailed tripelstest. The diagnosis of breast cancer by an examination of breast tissue under a microscope. This breast tissue can be retrieved as a biopsy, or it can be an entire node, which is operated out of the chest.

Some women who have one or more cases of breast cancer in the family, may in consultation with the doctor getting into a genetic testing. This will determine if the woman has a flaw in the BRCA gene, and she therefore has significantly increased. In such cases, there are some women who choose to have both breasts removed, despite the at the time of the survey are healthy.

Such a decision must always be considered carefully, in consultation with a doctor and also like family. The woman here is facing a difficult choice, which on the one hand, is a potentially fatal disease, and on the other hand, loses her breasts, which can be very debilitating for a woman. That said, that one can reconstruct a relatively natural-looking breast by plastikkurirgi.

Treatment of breast cancer

The treatment of breast cancer are divided into surgical, medical and radiotherapy.

The surgical treatment consists of a partial or total removal of the breast, followed by a reconstruction of it, and the removal of lymph nodes in the armpit, as it typically is where breast cancer spreads to. See the article "Brystoperation".

Medical treatment of breast cancer based on chemotherapy and in some cases, treatment with hormones. Some types of breast cancer are sensitive to estrogen, and among women, where biopsies have shown that cancer cells are sensitive to this, it is used in treatment.

Radiation therapy for breast and surrounding tissue used in breast-keeping operations.

Chemotherapy is also used for patients who belong to a group of patients who are at greater risk of developing relapse or metastasis.

Preventing breast cancer

Preventing breast cancer is to minimize the number of risk factors you have influence, as described above. In addition, the woman's own awareness of the need to examine the breasts regularly a factor that may reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Select and complications

Breast cancer is serious anduntreatedis the so-called "median survival of 3 years. This means that half of the women who are diagnosed with breast cancer but not treated, is alive after 3 years. Average survival is nevertheless higher than 3 years, which means that there are some that are untreated can live very long. We must always remember that statistics can not predict an individual's prognosis.

The survival rates in women who are being treated, is generally good. The prognosis depends on the stage of breast cancer, ie. size and appearance of the Gordian knot, and his appearance in the microscope, and whether the cells are sensitive to estrogen. In addition, the prognosis depends on whether the cells are grown into the surrounding tissue, nearby lymph nodes or whether it has spread to other organs (metastasis).

Thus, women with breast cancer type, which places them in a low-risk, achieve nearly the same survival as a background population.

This article is formed on the Health Guide on 18.09.06