Breast cancer diagnosis

Written by Ivan Jurchenko on March 21th 2009

at 20:30 pm

by www.medmodern.com

Breast cancer is the most usual cancer diagnosed in women in North America, and it is second only to lung cancer as a cause of death from cancer in women. When diagnosed early, breast cancer can be treated primarily using surgery, radiation, and systemic therapy (chemotherapy or hormonal therapy). Early detection is key in the medicine of breast cancer. The design of screening for this disease is to identify pre-invasive disease or invasive disease earlier dissemination (through the lymphatics or
blood). There are steps you can accept to detect breast cancer early when it is most treatable.

The best path to find breast lumps is to do 3 things :

• Examine your breasts yourself each thirty days.
• Have regular mammograms (as a rule each 1-2 years starting around age 40).
• Have your physician check your breasts.

Doing each and every of these things gives you the highest possibility to find cancer as early
as you can. However keep in mind that there is no affirmation that simple breast self-examination is an effective means of screening for breast cancer.
X-ray mammography is the most perceptive technique for detecting breast cancer and is also the most specific . Mammography is most perceptive once involution of the
breast tissue has occurred (i.e. once the menopause has taken place).
Many small tumours can be seen on a mammogram before they can be felt by a woman or her health expert. Mammograms do not prevent breast cancer or reduce a woman's risk of developing cancer. But, regular mammograms can decrease a woman's risk of dying from breast cancer by detecting a cancer when it is more simply .
Breast ultrasound , helpful for focal abnormalities, is as well useful in
detecting impalpable lesions. Telediaphanography (infrared scanning
of the breast tissue) has both low sensitivity and specificity.Magnetic
resonance imaging with dynamic intravenous contrast is a very perceptive
procedure but variable specificity has been reported.
Depending on the results of the mammograms and/or ultrasounds, your doctors may recommend that you get a biopsy. A biopsy is the exclusive way to know for sure if you have cancer, because it allows your doctors to get cells that can be examined under a microscope. There are different types of biopsies ; they differ on how much tissue is removed. Some biopsies use a very fine needle, while others use thicker needles or even have need of a small surgical action to remove more tissue. Your team of doctors will choose which form of biopsy you need depending on your particular breast mass. Once the tissue is removed, a physician known as a pathologist will review the specimen. The pathologist can tell if is the cells are cancerous or not, If the tumor does represent cancer, the pathologist will characterize it by what type of tissue it arose from, how abnormal it looks (known as the grade), whether or not it is invading nearby tissues, and whether or not the full lump was removed during surgery. 

Source : http://www.medmodern.com