What is Breast Cancer?

 Breast cancer is the most common and highly invasive cancer in women, and is the second main cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.

Advances in screening and treatment of breast cancer have improved the survival rates of breast cancer patients. The chance of any woman dying from the breast cancer is around 1 in 37 or we can say 2.7 percent.

Awareness of its symptoms and the need for screening are important ways for reducing the risk of breast cancer.

Facts Related to Breast Cancer:

• It is the most common cancer among women across the world.
• Its symptoms are lump or thickening of the breast and sometimes changes to the skin or the nipple.
• Its risk factors are genetic and some lifestyle habits like alcohol consumption.
• Several treatments that are available for breast cancer such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Symptoms of Breast Cancer:

The first symptoms of breast cancer are usually the thickened tissue in the breast or a lump in the breast or in an armpit.

Its other symptoms include:

• Pain in the armpits or breast.
• Redness or pitting of the skin of the breast.
• Rashes around or on one of the nipples.
• Sunken or inverted nipple.
• Discharge from a nipple maybe containing blood.
• Changes in the shape and size of the breast.
• Flaking, peeling or scaling of the skin on the nipple or breast.

Stages of the Breast Cancer:

The disease is the based on stages depending upon the sizes of the tumor and has spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.

People Also Like: Is Night Shifts Raises Women’s Chances of Cancer?

There are basically stages from 0 to 4 and may be broken down into smaller stages.

Stage 0: The stage is also known as ductal carcinoma in which the cells are limited to within a duct and have not invaded surrounding tissues.

Stage 1: At the beginning of this stage, the tumor of the breast cancer is up to 2 centimeters across and it has not affected any lymph nodes.

Stage 2: In this stage, the tumor starts to spread to nearby nodes.

Stage 3: in this stage, the tumor starts increasing its size up to 5 centimeters and it may have spread to some of the lymph nodes.

Stage 4: In the last stage of cancer, it has spread to distant organs including bones, liver, brain, and lungs.

Breast Cancer Awareness:

For spreading the awareness regarding the breast cancer, October month is celebrated as the Breast Cancer Awareness Month in all across the world.

[People Also Read: Ovarian Cancer Passed on to Women by Their Fathers: Study Says]

There are several ways in for spreading awareness regarding breast cancer including;

• Regular checkup of breast health such as its size and shape.
• Sharing educational content on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
• Sharing stories of how you or your loved one have been affected by the diseases.