Breast cancer in the middle stage

Everyone has cancer cells in their body. Normal cancer cells are beneficial to the human body, but if cancer cells become diseased, they will develop into malignant tumors. Malignant tumors are fatal to people. Malignant tumor patients are divided into three stages: early, middle and late. The earlier a patient is treated, the higher the chance of being cured. Let’s learn how to treat mid-stage breast cancer?

Early breast cancer is the early stage of breast cancer and has the same causes as breast cancer.

The cause of breast cancer is not yet fully understood. Studies have found that women with high risk factors for breast cancer are more likely to develop breast cancer. The so-called high-risk factors refer to various risk factors related to the incidence of breast cancer, and the risk factors that most breast cancer patients have are called high-risk factors for breast cancer. The age-specific incidence rate of breast cancer in women is at a lower level in the 0-24 age group, gradually increases after the age of 25, reaches a peak at the age of 50-54, and gradually decreases after the age of 55. Family history of breast cancer is a risk factor for breast cancer. The so-called family history refers to the presence of breast cancer in first-degree relatives (mother, daughter, sister). In recent years, it has been found that breast density is also a risk factor for breast cancer. Other risk factors for breast cancer include early menarche (<12 years old) and late menopause (>55 years old); being unmarried, childless, having children late in life, and not breastfeeding; not promptly diagnosing and treating benign breast diseases; having atypical breast hyperplasia confirmed by a hospital biopsy (biopsy); having the chest exposed to high doses of radiation for some reason; long-term use of exogenous estrogen; postmenopausal obesity; long-term excessive drinking; and carrying mutated genes associated with breast cancer. What needs to be explained is that European and American countries have done a lot of research on breast cancer susceptibility genes. The currently known ones include BRCA-1, BRCA-2, p53, PTEN, etc. Breast cancer related to these gene mutations is called hereditary breast cancer, which accounts for 5% to 10% of all breast cancers. Women with several of the above high-risk factors do not necessarily suffer from breast cancer. It can only be said that their risk of breast cancer is higher than that of normal people. The incidence of breast cancer in Chinese women is still low.

Clinical manifestations

In the early stages of breast cancer, a lump can be felt in the breast, which is usually not accompanied by pain. Some patients also experience breast tenderness, or even bilateral breast tenderness, which is not related to the menstrual cycle and is caused by endocrine disorders and has nothing to do with the lumps felt. There are also some early breast cancers where no lumps can be felt during physical examination and the tumors are discovered through imaging examinations (breast ultrasound, X-ray, and magnetic resonance imaging). The first symptom of some early breast cancers is nipple discharge, which is mostly bloody from a single hole. The "dimple sign" may appear in early breast cancer. The so-called "dimple sign" is a small depression in the breast skin, like a dimple. The cause is that the Cooper ligament connecting the breast skin and the deep pectoral muscle fascia is invaded by breast cancer and shortened and loses its elasticity, pulling the skin in the corresponding area to form dimple-like skin depressions. If breast cancer is located in or close to the nipple, it can cause nipple retraction. When the tumor is far away from the nipple and the large ducts in the breast are invaded and shortened, the nipple may also retract or rise. Breast eczematoid cancer, also known as breast Paget's disease, some of which are also early breast cancers, are manifested by nipple skin itching, erosion, ulceration, scabbing, desquamation, accompanied by burning pain, and even nipple retraction. In the early stage of breast cancer, metastatic lymph nodes cannot be felt in the axilla. If hard lymph nodes are felt in the axilla and adhere to the skin, or if multiple lymph nodes are fused and fixed to each other, it is no longer early stage breast cancer.

examine

In the breast clinic, after learning about the medical history, the doctor will first conduct a physical examination and examine both breasts; imaging examinations will also be combined, including breast X-ray (breast mammography), color ultrasound, and, if necessary, breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Mammography is the main method of breast cancer screening recommended internationally in recent years. It can detect breast cancer that cannot be felt during clinical examination. It is usually used for women over 40 years old. The breasts of women in this age group are not sensitive to radiation, and the radiation damage is less, and the breast density is relatively low, so abnormal signs can be easily detected on mammary X-rays. Breast color ultrasound does no harm to the human body and is ideal for young women and those with dense breasts. Magnetic resonance imaging can detect small multifocal and multicentric lesions and can be regarded as an imaging examination method for early diagnosis. The final diagnosis will be based on cytology or pathological histology. A biopsy will be performed based on abnormalities found during clinical examination. Either a puncture or surgical method can be used. Once cancer cells are found, treatment should be initiated immediately. If the patient has nipple discharge, some examination methods for nipple discharge can also be carried out, such as ductoscopy, ductalography, and discharge cytology smear to look for cancer cells.