Breast Cancer | HealthInfi

Overview

Breast cancer is a malignant tumor (a collection of cancer cells) arising from the cells of the breast. Although breast cancer predominantly occurs in women, it can also affect men. This article deals with breast cancer in women.

What are the statistics on male breast cancer?

Breast cancer is rare in men (approximately 2,400 new cases diagnosed per year in the U.S.) but

typically has a significantly worse outcome. This is partially related to the often late diagnosis of male breast cancer, when the cancer has already spread.

Symptoms are similar to the symptoms in women, with the most common symptom being a lump or change in skin of the breast tissue or nipple discharge. Although it can occur at any age, male breast cancer usually occurs in men over 60 years of age.

What causes breast cancer?

There are many risk factors that increase the chance of developing breast cancer. Although we know some of these risk factors, we don’t know the cause of breast cancer or how these factors cause the development of a cancer cell.

We know that normal breast cells become cancerous because of mutations in the DNA, and although some of these are inherited, most DNA changes related to breast cells are acquired during one’s life.

Proto-oncogenes help cells grow. If these cells mutate, they can increase growth of  cells without any control. Such mutations are referred to as oncogenes. Such uncontrolled cell growth can lead to cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, other than skin cancer, and the second deadliest cancer in U.S. women; lung cancer is the deadliest. Approximately 207,090 cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2010, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). Though an estimated 39,840 women will die from breast cancer, there are more than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States, according to the ACS.

Fortunately, the number of deaths caused by breast cancer has declined significantly in recent years, with the largest decreases in younger women—both Caucasian and African American. These decreases are probably the result of earlier detection and improved treatment.

In 2003, The National Cancer Institute found a significant drop in the rate of hormone-dependent breast cancers among women, the most common breast cancer. In a study published in late 2006, researchers speculated that the drop was directly related to the fact that millions of women stopped taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in 2002 after a major government study found the treatment slightly increased a woman’s risk for breast cancer, heart disease and stroke. The researchers suggested that stopping the treatment slowed the growth of very tiny cancers into larger tumors that could be detected because they didn’t have the additional estrogen required to fuel their growth.

Breast cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancerous) cells are found in breast tissues. Each breast has 15 to 20 sections called lobes, which have many smaller sections called lobules. The lobes and lobules are connected by thin tubes called ducts.Read More