What You Should Know About Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a common malignant tumor in women, and its incidence has been increasing in recent years. Here’s what you should know about breast cancer: 1. Morbidity 1. Genetic factors: If there are breast cancer patients in the family, especially first-degree relatives (mothers, sisters, etc.), then the individual’s risk of breast cancer will increase. 2. Hormonal factors: Long-term exposure to high levels of estrogen, such as early menarche, late menopause, no fertility, no breast-feeding, will increase the risk of morbidity of breast cancer. 3. Lifestyle: Bad lifestyle such as high-fat diet, lack of exercise, staying up late for a long time, smoking and alcoholism may also be related to the occurrence of breast cancer. 2. Symptoms 1. Breast lump: This is the most common symptom of breast cancer, usually painless, single lump, hard texture, irregular edge, surface is not smooth. 2. Breast skin changes: dimple sign (skin depression), orange peel-like changes (skin like orange peel), etc. 3. Nipple changes: nipple retraction, depression, nipple discharge (bloody, serous or watery), etc. 4. Axillary lymph node enlargement: In the early stage, ipsilateral axillary lymph node enlargement may occur, which is hard and movable. With the progress of the disease, lymph nodes can be fused and fixed. 3. Diagnostic methods 1. Breast ultrasound: breast masses can be found and their nature can be preliminarily judged. 2. Mammography: The detection rate of early breast cancer is higher, especially for the display of calcification. 3. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): It has high accuracy in the diagnosis of breast lesions, especially in the diagnosis of some difficult cases. 4. Pathological examination: It is the gold standard for the diagnosis of breast cancer. Pathological examination is usually carried out by puncture biopsy or surgical resection of the mass. 4. Treatment 1. Surgical treatment: including radical mastectomy, breast-conserving surgery, etc., according to the patient’s condition and individual conditions to choose the appropriate surgical method. 2. Radiotherapy: High-energy radiation is used to kill cancer cells, which can be used for postoperative adjuvant therapy or treatment of locally advanced breast cancer. 3. Chemotherapy: By using chemotherapy drugs to kill cancer cells, it can be used for preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy or treatment of advanced breast cancer. 4. Endocrine therapy: For hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients, endocrine therapy drugs can be used to inhibit the role of estrogen, thereby inhibiting the growth of cancer cells. 5. Targeted therapy: Targeted drugs are used for specific molecular targets. For example, targeted drugs such as trastuzumab can be used for HER2-positive breast cancer patients. 5. Preventive measure 1. Regular breast examination: It is recommended that women should have breast ultrasound examination and breast molybdenum target examination once a year from the age of 40. Women with family history of breast cancer can start the examination in advance. 2. Maintain a healthy lifestyle: eat a balanced diet, eat more vegetables and fruits, reduce the intake of high-fat, high-calorie food; moderate exercise, maintain a healthy weight; avoid staying up late, ensure adequate sleep; quit smoking and limit alcohol. 3. Self-examination: conduct breast self-examination once a month, and seek medical treatment in time if any abnormality is found. 4. Active treatment of breast diseases: such as breast hyperplasia, breast fibroma and other benign breast diseases, timely treatment can reduce the morbidity risk of breast cancer. In a word, it is of great significance to understand the relevant knowledge of breast cancer, conduct regular breast examinations and maintain a healthy lifestyle for the prevention and early detection of breast cancer.