Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer:

Breast cancer is a cancer that starts in the cells of the breast. Worldwide, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer and the fifth most common cause of cancer death. The phenomenon partly blamed on modern lifestyles in the Western world. Incidences of breast cancer in men are approximately 100 times less common than in women.

Pathology:

—  The most common pathologic types of breast cancer are invasive ductal carcinoma, malignant cancer in the breast's ducts, and invasive lobular carcinoma, malignant cancer in the breast's lobule.

—  Grade of tumor - The histological grade of a tumor is determined by a pathologist under a microscope.

—   Protein & gene expression status - Currently, all breast cancers should be tested for expression, or detectable effect, of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and HER2/neu proteins. These tests are usually done by immuno histochemistry and are presented in a pathologist's report.

Signs and Symptoms:

—  The first symptom, or subjective sign, of breast cancer is typically a lump that feels different than the surrounding breast tissue.

—  changes in breast size or shape, skin dimpling, nipple inversion, or spontaneous single-nipple discharge

—  . symptoms may include tingling, itching, increased sensitivity, burning, and pain. There may also be discharge from the nipple

Diagnosis:

•       Breast cancer is diagnosed by the examination of surgically removed breast tissue

•       Blood tumor marker testing is not routinely performed for the screening of breast cancer, and has poor performance characteristics for this purpose.