Breast cancer

1. Introduction
Breast Cancer, growth of malignant cells affecting, initially, the breast.
As with other forms of cancer, it begins when the DNA in cells is altered, resulting in abnormal, uncontrolled cell growth. The cells continue to proliferate until they form a tumour. Breast cancer spreads when cells escape from the tumour and travel via the blood or lymphatic system to other parts and organs, such as the spine or lung, where they begin to multiply, forming other tumours, in the process known as metastasis.

2. Symptom
Breast cancer symptoms include an unusual lump, or change in the size or shape of the breast; puckering or dimpling of the skin of the breast; drawing back of the nipple; swelling of the upper arm, or in the armpit, or just above the breast; or pain or discomfort (although pain is only rarely a symptom of breast cancer). Only 1 in 40 women who reports any of these symptoms to a doctor is found to have cancer.

3. Treatment
A Early Breast Cancer
Breast conservation therapy is suitable for about 80 per cent of cancers and involves removing the lump (lumpectomy) and the lymph glands under the arm (the first site breast cancer spreads to), followed by radiotherapy. Research has shown that this newer method is as effective as mastectomy (surgical removal of the breast), which still tends to be the main treatment for early breast cancer.

Women may also be offered other treatments afterwards. Prescribing the hormone-blocking drug tamoxifen for post-menopausal women, and offering ovarian ablation (stopping the ovaries from producing oestrogen) to younger women would save 1,000 extra lives a year in the United Kingdom. Ovarian ablation can be done by removing the ovaries, irradiating them, or prescribing certain drugs.

B Advanced Breast Cancer
Treatment of advanced breast cancer, that is, cancer which has spread, is usually aimed at giving the patient a manageable quality of life with the disease kept under control, rather than a cure. Conventional treatments include drugs which cut oestrogen levels, and various chemotherapy combinations. Some women have bone metastases that cause pain and fractures. They may be treated with a new drug, APD, which helps to alleviate symptoms.