What Does Breast Cancer Look Like?

By Jessica Hashimoto

Do you ever feel like you know just enough about breast cancer to be dangerous? Let's see if we can fill in some of the gaps with the latest info from breast cancer experts. So what does breast cancer look like?

Breast cancer is the most lethal form of cancer for women in the world. An estimated 1 million cases will be identified this year, and about 500,000 new and existing patients will die from the disease. Breast cancer incidence among women of European descent in the Western world is several times higher than that among Chinese or Japanese women in Asia. The gradual elimination of this difference over several generations among Asian migrants in Western countries implies that genetic factors are not responsible for the ecological contrasts [2]. Breast cancer is 100 times more common in women than in men. Most cases of male breast cancer are detected in men between the ages of 60 and 70, although the condition can develop in men of any age.

Mammograms can be uncomfortable. But they don't take very long. Mammograms offer a similar kind of sleight-of-hand trick (or sleight-of-breast, as the case may be) by actually generating the very disease they claim to find. If so many women hadn't already been harmed by mammography, the whole thing would be quite hysterical.

You can see that there's practical value in learning more about breast cancer. Can you think of ways to apply what's been covered so far?

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American women behind lung cancer. The lifetime risk of any particular woman getting breast cancer is about 1 in 8 although the lifetime risk of dying from breast cancer is much lower at 1 in 28. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women worldwide. For whatever reason, the number of cases has increased in the last 30 years. Breast cancer is hormone-dependent. Temperature can alter hormone function.

Women with one of these defects have up to an 80% chance of getting breast cancer sometime during their life. Women with a family history are definitely at greater risk, but 75% of women who get breast cancer have no family history of the disease. Regardless of your family history, if a thermogram is abnormal you run a future risk of breast cancer that is 10 times higher than a first order family history of the disease.

Women with higher breast density are at increased risk of developing breast cancer. Breast density can be assessed by mammography. Women in their 40s are 60% more likely to experience false positives from mammograms, leading to unnecessary follow-up tests and anxiety. While these risks may seem relatively minor, early screening also increases the odds that a woman will be treated for cancer that never would have sickened her - and unnecessary cancer treatment is a much more serious proposition than a biopsy. Women who unfortunately have cancer before age 40 have been and would continue to receive mammograms due to other findings or history. The disease itself comes in so many forms that certainly there is not one perfect way to treat it or cure it.

Knowing enough to answer the question "what does breast cancer look like" helps to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you've just learned about breast cancer, you should have nothing to worry about. - 30292

About the Author:

Sign Up for our Free Newsletter

Enter email address here