Breast cancer
Alternative names:
carcinoma of the breast
Symptoms:
+ - usually painless, firm to hard, with irregular borders - lump or mass in the armpit
- a change in the size or shape of the breast
- nipple discharge, abnormal
- usually bloody or clear-to-yellow fluid
- may look like pus (purulent)
- change in the color or feel of the skin of the breast, nipple, or areola
- dimpled, puckered, or scaly
- retraction, "orange peel" appearance
- redness
- accentuated veins on breast surface
- eventually (with late disease) skin ulceration
- change in appearance or sensation of the nipple
- pulled in (retraction), enlargement or itching
- breast discomfort on one side only
- breast enlargement on one side only
- bone pain
- weight loss
- swelling of arm
- breast pain
- breast development in males
Signs and tests:
An examination by the health care provider can confirm the presence of breast changes noted by the patient. The doctor can tell a lot about a lump by carefully feeling (palpation) the lump and the tissue around it. Benign lumps often feel different from cancerous ones.
- Mammography may help identify the breast mass.
- Ultrasonography can show whether the lump is solid or filled with fluid.
- Thermography may also help identify the mass.
- Needle aspiration or needle biopsy of the mass will either yield fluid indicating a cyst, or it will indicate a solid mass which may or may not be cancer.
- needle biopsy removes cells directly from the mass for evaluation (can be done in conjunction with the needle aspiration procedure). The material removed will be sent to a lab.
- Surgical biobsy removes a portion of the mass for further evaluation.
- incision biopsy involves surgical removal of a portion of the mass for evaluation.
- excision biopsy involves surgical removal of the entire mass for evaluation.
STAGES OF BREAST CANCER (from the American Joint Committee on Cancer): - 1.tumor less than 2 cm in diameter, nodes not involved, no distant metastasis
- 2.tumor less than 5 cm in diameter, nodes not fixed, no distant metastasis
- 3.tumor greater than 5 cm in diameter, invading the skin, or attached to the chest wall, or supraclavicular nodes noted, with no distant metastasis
- 4.tumor with distant metastasis
This disease may also alter the results of the following tests:
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