W.I.K.A.B.C Series - What is Breast Cancer?


Breast Cancer is a cancer of the breast.

That's it.

I guess the real question is - what is cancer? In lay terms, cancer is something that is growing where it doesn't belong. More accurately, cancer is a disease that causes 'bad' cells to multiply rapidly, invading the space of the good cells, and overpowering the 'soldiers' that our bodies are normally equipped to fight disease with.

Image source: Google
One may say breast cancer is one of the better kinds of cancer because detection is more straightforward than with leukemia, for example, as in most cases, changes in breast tissue can be noticed.

As with most cancers, breast cancer is diagnosed based on how much the disease has grown/spread, from Stages 0 to 4(IV). Stage 0 is also known as DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ - which loosely means that the cancer is small, still in the original place where it occurred and hasn't spread); Stage IV refers to cancers that are large and have metastasized (spread). Now, this diagnostic staging isn't black and white, there are many other factors involved, like whether or not the cancer appears to be invasive. For example, the diagnosis may be DCIS but appear invasive.

Of course, all of these will be considered when a decision is to be made about treatment. In essence, one may feel that a mastectomy is too serious for a DCIS diagnosis, until it is said to 'appear invasive'.

The most effective way to detect breast cancer is breast examination. We will explore that in the next post.

Thank you.



____________________________
Disclaimer: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. The things written here are based on my research and experience. The most important person to listen to if you are worried about breast cancer is your doctor or cancer specialist. You can do your own research as well - Google has a plethora of information. I wish you the very best. (W.I.K.A.B.C. - What I Know About Breast Cancer).

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