Breast Cancer: Causes and Treatment

Commonly breast cancer is caused by the uncontrollable growth of breast tissues forming a tumor. This tumor may be
benign or malignant. It is mainly seen in women. As per GLOBOCON 2018 around 20 lakh people suffered with breast
cancer in world where as in India it is more than 1.5 lakh. The actual reason of breast cancer is not clear till date. As per a study breast cancer is majorly seen in women and it is mainly caused due to change in hormone, lifestyle and environment. The other reasons of breast cancer are old age, past history, early menarche, late menopause, family history, use of oral contraceptives, long term use of hormonal therapy, radiation therapy of chest, alcoholism and
obesity after menopause etc.

Sign and symptoms: The warning signals of breast cancer are lump in breast or armpit, swelling in breast, redness or discoloration of skin in breast or nearby areas of nipple, retraction of nipple with pain, blood or white discharge from
nipple other than milk, change in shape and size of breast, pain in any parts of breast etc. For early diagnosis and treatment self breast examination and mammography should be done.

Screening of breast cancer-The main aim of screening is to diagnose breast cancer before symptoms. When there is no
symptoms then by screening the breast cancer can be diagnosed. As per ASCO guidelines optional mammography is advised for women at age of 40, for the age group of 45-54 annual mammography and for the women at the age of more than 54 mammography is advised in every two year. Also at advanced stage MRI and X- RAY can be done.
Women having family history should do annual x ray and MRI.

Treatment-The treatment procedures of breast cancer includes surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy etc. Side effects of treatment-During treatment like surgery, pain in treated organ, weakness of arm muscles, tightness of breast skin and lymphoma are seen. In radiation therapy,
sensitive skin and pain in breast might happen and it gets cured as the therapy completed. And side effects of chemotherapy includes vomiting, tiredness, nerve damage, oral pain, diarrohea, constipation anaemia etc. To manage the side effects nutritional therapy, palliative therapy and rehabilition therapy are recommended by oncologists.

Breast conserving surgery- this is a procedure of surgery to remove the infected parts of the breast only. It depends on the size and site of the tumor. This is getting more popular now a days. After all types of breast conserving surgery, radiotherapy is advised. Role of radiotherapy in breast cancer- radiotherapy is done to the breast cancer patients by external beam radiation which includes IMRT[intensity modulated radiation therapy],IGRT[image guided radiation therapy], tomo therapy and stereotactic radio surgery. Radiation therapy is mainly done after removal of breast lump or breast by surgery. The procedures continues for 4-6 weeks with 5 days a week schedule. It is used along with other therapies. Also it depends on medical history, clinical conditions of the patient. Now a days 3 dimensional confirmal radiotherapy [3D CRT], IMRT and IGRT are used as the latest treatment procedures having aim to reduce the doses and side effects in patients ,providing right dose to tumor cells with well tolerability.

By Dr. Susanta Paikray

The Writer is a Medical
Oncologist, Panda Cancer
Hospital

About Post Author