What are the early symptoms of breast cancer?

  Breast lumps: 80% of breast cancer patients are first diagnosed with breast lumps. Breast lumps are often found unintentionally, mostly solitary, hard, with irregular edges and less smooth surface. Most breast cancers are painless lumps, only a few are accompanied by varying degrees of vague pain or stabbing pain.  Nipple overflow: If there is blood, plasma, milk or pus flowing from the nipple during the non-pregnancy period, or if there is still milk flowing after stopping breastfeeding for more than half a year, it is called nipple overflow. There are many causes of nipple overflow, and common diseases include intraductal papilloma, breast hyperplasia, ductal dilatation of the breast and breast cancer. Unilateral single-hole hemorrhagic overflow should be further examined, and more attention should be paid if accompanied by breast lumps.  The most common one is that the tumor invades the Cooper’s ligament which connects the breast skin and deep pectoral muscle fascia, causing it to shorten and lose its elasticity, pulling the skin in the corresponding area, resulting in “dimple sign”, i.e. a small dimple in the breast skin, like a small dimple. If the cancer cells block the lymphatic ducts, “orange peel-like changes” will appear, i.e. the skin of the breast will have many small dots and depressions, just like an orange peel. In advanced stage of breast cancer, the cancer cells infiltrate into the skin along the lymphatic ducts, glandular ducts or fibrous tissues and grow, forming scattered hard nodules in the skin around the main cancer focus, which is called “skin satellite nodules”.  4.Abnormal nipple and areola: Tumor located at or close to the deep nipple may cause nipple retraction. When the tumor is far from the nipple and the large ducts in the breast are invaded and shortened, it may also cause nipple retraction or elevation. Eczema-like carcinoma of the nipple, i.e. Paget’s disease of the breast, manifests as itching, erosion, rupture, crusting, flaking and burning pain of the nipple skin, resulting in nipple retraction.  5. Axillary lymph node enlargement: more than 1/3 of breast cancer patients admitted to hospitals have axillary lymph node metastasis. At the initial stage, the lymph nodes in the same side of the axilla may be enlarged, and the enlarged lymph nodes are hard, scattered and pushable. As the disease progresses, the lymph nodes will gradually fuse and adhere to the skin and surrounding tissues. In the advanced stage, metastatic lymph nodes can be felt in the supraclavicular and contralateral axillae.