Best Cancer Hospital Mumbai Chennai Bangalore Delhi Hyderabad in India

Breast Cancer generally starts off in the inner lining of the milk ducts or in the lobule that supply them with milk. Symptoms include a lump in the breast, armpit, changes in breast shape and size, changes in the nipple, skin ulcers etc. The malignant tumor that causes breast cancer can very easily spread to other parts of the body, thus causing even more harm.

Breast Cancer is one of the most fatal diseases in women, accounting for innumerable number of casualties worldwide every year, with the problem being accentuated by the fact that women often ignore the initial symptoms of breast cancer. This ignorance lessens the chance of curing breast cancer manifold.

Types of Breast Cancer

• Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) – it is a non invasive breast cancer in which the abnormal cells have been contained in the lining of the breast milk duct
• Invasive ductal carcinoma – In this type of breast cancer, the aforementioned abnormal cells have already invaded the surrounding tissues
• Triple negative breast cancer – In this kind of cancer, the tumor cells have been found to be negative for progesterone and estrogen receptors
• Metastatic breast cancer – This means that cancer has spread beyond the breasts, in lungs, bones etc.
• Breast cancer during pregnancy

Diagnosis of Breast Cancer

The diagnosis of breast cancer can be done through,

• Mammogram
• Ultrasound
• MRI
• Biopsy

Breast Cancer is a kind of cancer that develops from breast cells.

Breast Cancer usually starts off in the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply them with milk. A malignant tumor can spread to other parts of the body. A breast cancer that started off in the lobules is known as lobular carcinoma, while one that developed from the ducts is called ductal carcinoma.
The vast majority of Breast Cancer cases occur in females. Breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in females worldwide. It accounts for 21% of all female cancers and 25% of invasive cancers in women. 19.3 % of all cancer deaths worldwide, including both males and females, are from breast cancer.

Breast Cancer rates are much higher in developed nations compared to developing ones. There are several reasons for this,Which include: female sex, obesity, lack of physical exercise, drinking alcohol, hormone replacement therapy during menopause, ionizing radiation, early age at first menstruation, having children late or not at all, older age, and family history.  breast cancer is more common in elderly women;.

Symptoms

• A lump in a breast
• A pain in the armpits or breast that does not seem to be related to the woman’s menstrual period
• Pitting or redness of the skin of the breast; like the skin of an orange
• A rash around (or on) one of the nipples
• A swelling (lump) in one of the armpits
• An area of thickened tissue in a breast

One of the nipples has a discharge; sometimes it may contain blood
The nipple changes in appearance; it may become sunken or inverted
The size or the shape of the breast changes
The nipple-skin or breast-skin may have started to peel, scale or flake.

Breast Cancer Treatment

Breast cancer is usually treated with surgery, which may be followed by chemotherapy or radiation therapy, or both. A multidisciplinary approach is preferable. Hormone receptor-positive cancers are often treated with hormone-blocking therapy over courses of several years. Monoclonal antibodies, or other immune-modulating treatments, may be administered in certain cases of metastatic and other advanced stages of breast cancer.

Surgery

Surgery involves the physical removal of the tumor, typically along with some of the surrounding tissue. One or more lymph nodes may be biopsied during the surgery; increasingly the lymph node sampling is performed by a sentinel lymph node biopsy.

Standard surgeries include:

Lumpectomy – surgically removing the tumor and a small margin of healthy tissue around it. In breast cancer, this is often called breast-sparing surgery. This type of surgery may be recommended if the tumor is small and the surgeon believes it will be easy to separate from the tissue around it.

Mastectomy – surgically removing the breast. Simple mastectomy involves removing the lobules, ducts, fatty tissue, nipple, areola, and some skin. Radical mastectomy means also removing muscle of the chest wall and the lymph nodes in the armpit.

Sentinel node biopsy – one lymph node is surgically removed. If the breast cancer has reached a lymph node it can spread further through the lymphatic system into other parts of the body.

Axillary lymph node dissection – if the sentinel node was found to have cancer cells, the surgeon may recommend removing several nymph nodes in the armpit.

Breast reconstruction surgery – a series of surgical procedures aimed at recreating a breast so that it looks as much as possible like the other breast. This procedure may be carried out at the same time as a mastectomy. The surgeon may use a breast implant, or tissue from another part of the patient’s body.

Once the tumor has been removed, if the patient desires, breast reconstruction surgery, a type of plastic surgery, may then be performed to improve the aesthetic appearance of the treated site. Alternatively, women use breast prostheses to simulate a breast under clothing, or choose a flat chest. Nipple/areola prostheses can be used at any time following the mastectomy.

Medication

Drugs used after and in addition to surgery are called adjuvant therapy. Chemotherapy or other types of therapy prior to surgery are called neoadjuvant therapy. Aspirin may reduce mortality from breast cancer.[111]There are currently three main groups of medications used for adjuvant breast cancer treatment: hormone-blocking agents, chemotherapy, and monoclonal antibodies.

Hormone blocking therapy

Some breast cancers require estrogen to continue growing. They can be identified by the presence of estrogen receptors (ER+) and progesterone receptors (PR+) on their surface (sometimes referred to together as hormone receptors). These ER+ cancers can be treated with drugs that either block the receptors, e.g.

Tamoxifen – prevents estrogen from binding to ER-positive cancer cells. Side effects may include changes in periods, hot flashes, weight gain, headaches, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and aching joints.

Aromatase inhibitors – this type of medication may be offered to women who have been through the menopause. It blocks aromatase. Aromatase helps estrogen production after the menopause. Before the menopause, a woman’s ovaries produce estrogen. Examples of aromatase inhibitors include letrozole, exemestane, and anastrozole. Side effects may include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, skin rashes, headaches, bone pain, aching joints, loss of libido, sweats, and hot flashes.

Ovarian ablation or suppression – pre-menopausal women produce estrogen in their ovaries. Ovarian ablation or suppression stop the ovaries from producing estrogen. Ablation is done either through surgery or radiation therapy – the woman’s ovaries will never work again, and she will enter the menopause early.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is predominantly used for cases of breast cancer in stages 2–4, and is particularly beneficial in estrogen receptor-negative (ER-) disease. The chemotherapy medications are administered in combinations, usually for periods of 3–6 months. One of the most common regimens, known as “AC”, combines cyclophosphamide with doxorubicin. Sometimes a taxane drug, such as docetaxel (Taxotere), is added, and the regime is then known as “CAT”. Another common treatment is cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil (or “CMF”). Most chemotherapy medications work by destroying fast-growing and/or fast-replicating cancer cells, either by causing DNA damage upon replication or by other mechanisms. However, the medications also damage fast-growing normal cells, which may cause serious side effects. Damage to the heart muscle is the most dangerous complication of doxorubicin, for example.

Radiation

Internal radiotherapy for breast cancer
Radiotherapy is given after surgery to the region of the tumor bed and regional lymph nodes, to destroy microscopic tumor cells that may have escaped surgery. It may also have a beneficial effect on tumor microenvironment. Radiation therapy can be delivered as external beam radiotherapy or as brachytherapy (internal radiotherapy). Conventionally radiotherapy is given after the operation for breast cancer. Radiation can also be given at the time of operation on the breast cancer- intraoperatively.

Radiation therapy types include: 

• Breast radiation therapy – after a lumpectomy, radiation is administered to the remaining breast tissue
• Chest wall radiation therapy – this is applied after a mastectomy
• Breast boost – a high-dose of radiation therapy is applied to where the tumor was surgically removed. The appearance of the breast may be altered, especially if the patient’s breasts are large.
• Lymph nodes radiation therapy – the radiation is aimed at the axilla (armpit) and surrounding area to destroy cancer cells that have reached the lymph

nodes

Breast brachytherapy – the  patients with early-stage breast cancer in the milk ducts which has not spread, seem to benefit from undergoing breast brachytherapy with a strut-based applicator..

Biological treatment

Trastuzumab (Herceptin) – this monoclonal antibody targets and destroys cancer cells that are HER2-positive. Some breast cancer cells produce large amounts of HER2 (growth factor receptor 2); Herceptin targets this protein. Possible side effects may include skin rashes, headaches, and/or heart damage.

Lapatinib (Tykerb) – this drug targets the HER2 protein. It is also used for the treatment of advanced metastatic breast cancer. Tykerb is used on patients who did not respond well to Herceptin. Side effects include painful hands, painful feet, skin rashes, mouth sores, extreme tiredness, diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea.

Bevacizumab (Avastin) – stops the cancer cells from attracting new blood vessels, effectively causing the tumor to be starved of nutrients and oxygen. Side effects may include congestive heart failure, hypertension (high blood pressure), kidney damage, heart damage, blood clots, headaches, mouth sores..

We at Alphine Life are associated with top hospitals and surgeons. You may contact us by  sending us your medical reports and asking for a quote. Please be assured of best and low cost treatment from world class hospitals and Doctors