It is the uncontrolled multiplication of malignant epithelial cells in the mammary ducts. Breast cancer is considered a clonal type disease since these cells (the result of a somatic mutation) are grouped together forming a tumor, which can be felt as a kind of lump in the breasts, this lump is considered mild at the beginning, but as time passes it can spread to other neighboring tissues and consequently to different parts of the body, increasing its severity and danger.
In the initial stages of this pathology, there are generally no symptoms, which is why it is important to constantly check the breasts, in order to detect cancer in time. With the passage of time and the growth of this, symptoms may appear, including the appearance of one or more lumps in the armpits, with irregular edges and painless to the touch, excretions from the nipple with blood and a colorsimilar to pus and the breasts of the nipples may turn red. In the case of men, breast lump and breast pain may occur. In more advanced cases, symptoms include skin ulcers, weight loss, swollen lymph nodes in the armpits, skull pain, and breast discomfort.
The causes that can generate the appearance of breast cancer are not known, however experts in the field have taken on the task of identifying the factors that increase the risk of developing it.
- The main factor is age, because as people get older, the chances of developing cancer increase.
- Consumption in excess of alcoholic beverages.
- Genetics can be influential, those with a family history may be more likely to present it and even more so if the relative is the mother or father, sister and child.
- Reproductive factors such as the delayed onset of menopause and the use of hormonal therapies after the onset of it. When the menstrual cycle occurs at an early age and not having given birth are other factors that increase the risk of developing breast cancer.
The treatment that is applied will depend on different elements (stage of the cancer and its size, metastasis and the type of cancer cells) and the intervention of different specialists (surgeon oncologist, among others) is needed.
In the initial stage, treatments begin with radiotherapies and surgeries, currently there is a type of neoadjuvant treatment that can facilitate the permanence of the breast.
The surgery performed in these cases can be of two types, conservative and mastectomy, through the latter the specialist doctor is responsible for removing the entire breast. Unlike mastectomy, in conservative surgery the specialist only removes the tumor and a small part of the unaffected tissue, this allows the breast to be preserved, but requires radiotherapy treatments to thereby eliminate all the malignant cells that may stay.
Radiation therapy is applied in order to prevent malignant cells from growing and spreading, destroying them entirely. The therapy can be adjuvant, which is used to kill cancer cells that remain after surgery. While palliative therapy is applied in order to alleviate bone or lymph node involvement factors.
The systemic therapy is another option, applied intravenously or orally and affects the entire body, its objective is to prevent relapse of disease and death of the patient, among the most common are chemotherapy, targeted therapies and hormone therapy.
