What diseases are easily confused with breast tuberculosis?

  The earliest manifestation of breast cancer is the appearance of a single, painless, progressive lump in the affected breast, most commonly located in the outer upper quadrant, followed by the nipple areola and inner upper quadrant. The lumps are often found unintentionally (such as bathing and dressing) and a few patients may have varying degrees of tenderness or irritation and nipple overflow. The lumps grow rapidly and invade the surrounding tissues, causing changes in breast shape and a series of signs such as: skin depression on the surface of the tumor; cancerous tumors adjacent to the nipple may draw the nipple toward the cancer; larger tumors such as nipple invagination may shrink the entire breast tissue. The lump protrudes significantly and the cancer continues to grow to form the so-called “orange peel-like” changes, which are all important signs of breast cancer.  In advanced stage of breast cancer, skin invasion can lead to hard skin nodes or even skin ulcers. Cancer invading deeper can invade the pectoral fascia and pectoral muscle, resulting in the lump being fixed in the chest wall and not easily pushed. In case of distant metastasis of breast cancer to the lung, a few patients may experience chest pain, shortness of breath, pleural fluid, etc.; in case of vertebral metastasis, severe pain or even paraplegia; in case of liver metastasis, jaundice and hepatomegaly may occur.