What Is Breast Cancer?

INTRODUCTION



Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and the second leading cause

of cancerous death. The incident of breast cancer has been increasing steadily from   1: 20 in 1960 to 1: 8 in women today. The American Cancer Society estimates that 211,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed this year and 43,000 patients will die from disease. It is a disfiguring and life threatening disease. Moreover, many women do not even know until it is too late that they have breast cancer. Autopsy studies show that 2% of the population has undiagnosed breast cancer at the time of death. Also, the incidence of having cancer is low in the age of twenties but it gradually decreases with age. Therefore, breast cancer is an epidemic disease in women, unfortunately women are not aware of this fact. Although, it is more of a women’s disease but it can also occur in men, however, the risk in men is low. For   every 100 women, only 1 men can suffer from it.



                                                  WHAT IS BREAST CANCER ?

    The breast is a gland designed to make milk. Each breast has 15 to 20 overlapping sections called lobes. Within each lobe there are many smaller lobules, which end in dozens of tiny bulbs that can produce milk. The lobes, lobules, and bulbs are all linked by thin tubes called ducts.

Like all other parts of body, the cells in the breast are also controlled by genes. When the genes are in a good working order, they keep the cell growth under control. But when an ‘abnormality’ occurs in the genes due to certain factors, the cell growth becomes uncontrolled. This results in the formation of tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant, benign tumors are not cancerous whereas malignant are cancerous. These tumors occur either in ducts or lobules of the breasts. The cells in these cancerous tumors can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs of the body. Also, cancer cells can...