Breast Cancer

BREAST CANCER

By Taylor Murphy and Nicholas Cinciotta.

What is breast cancer?

Breast cancer is a type of cancer that starts in the tissues of the breast. There are 2 types of breast cancer:

•Ductal carcinoma – the most common type of breast cancer, which starts in the tubes that move milk from the breast to the nipple.

•Lobular carcinoma – starts in the part of the breast that produces milk (lobules).

What causes breast cancer?

There are preventable risk factors as well as non-preventable risk factors associated with breast cancer.

Preventable:

•Alcohol use – drinking more than 1-2 glasses a day.

•Childbirth – for women who have never had children or who had them after the age of 30. Multiple pregnancies or earlier pregnancy reduces the risk of breast cancer.

•Diethylstilbestrol (DES) – women who have taken this to prevent miscarriages have an increased risk after age 40.

Non-Preventable:

•Age & Gender – risk increases with age, women are more likely to get breast cancer than men.

•Family History – if you have a close relative who has had breast, uterine, ovarian, or colon cancer.

•Genes – gene defects found in the BRCA1 & BRCA2 genes.

•Menstrual cycle – who got their periods before age 12, or have undergone menopause after age 55.

Breast implants DO NOT increase chances for breast cancer.

What can breast cancer do to the body?

Breast cancer has many effects on the body and not everyone with the disease experiences them all.

•Lumps on the breasts – these can cause bloody or clear discharge from the nipples.

•Skin and shape of the breasts & nipples can become distorted – indentations on the skin, irritation.

•Contour and size of the breasts can change.

•Breasts can become sore.

With breast cancer, the cells grow quickly and travel to other parts of the body via the lymph nodes, in a process called metastasizing. These cancer cells traveling in the lymph node system causes them to spread to other parts of the body such as the...