HEALTH TIME
BREAST CANCER
Breast Cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide.
Breast cancer is newly diagnosed in 1.1 million women each year. It causes
more than 410 000 deaths annually, which represents approximately 1.6
% of all deaths among women. In some European countries 1 of 16 women
get breast cancer, in the United States it is estimated that 1 of 6 women
get breast cancer some time during their lifetime. Breast cancer incidence
is highest in North America and Northern Europe, and lowest in Asia and
Africa. It has been shown that if a woman moves from Asia to North America,
her risk of having breast cancer increases. Most women diagnosed with
breast cancer are above age 50. In the Western part of the world screening
with mammography for breast cancer is offered. In Norway the recommendation
is testing every other year from age 50 to age 69.
Among risk factors are age and gender. Breast cancer occurs 100 times
more often in women than men. Early menarche and late menopause are among
the risk factors, due to longer lifetime hormonal exposure. The younger
a woman is at giving birth, the lower her breast cancer risk is. Other
risk factors may be moderate alcohol intake, smoking and obesity at menopause.
Postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy increases the risk of getting
breast cancer. A family history of breast cancer is reported among 15-20%
of the women with breast cancer. Only 5-6 % percent of all breast cancers
are related to inherited genetic mutations such as BRCA1, BRCA2 and others.
Physical activity is known to be protective against breast cancer.
The typical symptom of breast cancer is a hard, non-tender lump in the
breast. However the lump can be tender, there might only be changes in
the skin, a feeling of fullness and so forth. Some breast cancers are
discovered by the mammography screening only. After having a clinical
examination by a physician the next step in further investigating the
changes above is a mammography or/and ultrasound of the breast or/and
MRI. If there are found anything suspicious on the imaging studies mentioned
above the next step is to have a tissue sample taken, commonly with a
technique called FNAC, abbreviation for fine needle aspiration cytology.
Sometimes FNAC is not enough and an open biopsy, where more tissue is
gathered, might be done. All this is done in order to decide what is
the approriate treatment which may include surgery and/or radiation therapy
and/or chemo therapy and/or anti-hormonal treatment.
Breast cancer can spread through the lymphatic system and blood to lymph
nodes, liver, lung, brain and skeleton. The survival rate of breast cancer
depends on whether the disease has spread or not.
If you have any more questions with regards to this topic, please feel
free to send me an E-mail!
Dr. Marianne
MARIANNE
EFSKIND Occupation: intern in public health and family medicine in Vik. |
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mamizeits Dr. Marianne
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Dear Dr. Marianne,
I heard on the radio the other day
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