The incidence of breast cancer skyrockets after the age of 31 for women. The high incidence age is between 36 – 60 years old, accounting for 80.51% of all breast cancer patients. The highest incidence age group is between 41-45 years old, followed by between 56-60 years old. The incidence of breast cancer continues to be younger, and there is still a peak incidence after menopause. Recent studies have shown that breast cancer has become the number one malignant tumor threatening women’s health in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
How to detect breast cancer early?
1. Regular monthly breast self-examination is very important.
Pre-menopausal women: the best time to check is 9-11 days after the onset of menstruation each month.
Post-menopausal women: you can choose any day of the month
2. Early symptoms of breast cancer.
Lumps in the breast, hard and not smooth
Lumps are mostly one.
Overflowing nipples.
Significant enlargement, redness and swelling of the breast. Rapid progression of changes.
Nipple shrinkage and nipple position retraction.
3.Late stage symptoms of breast cancer.
Nipple retraction and orange peel-like changes of breast skin.
Epidermal erosion and eczema-like changes at the nipple or areola.
Enlarged lymph nodes in the armpit, sometimes a feeling of squeezing objects in the armpit can be felt.
The breast may break down locally to form an ulcer, and there may be swollen supraclavicular lymph nodes, bone pain, back pain, abdominal distention, anemia and wasting.
How to diagnose breast cancer?
It is very important to visit a breast specialist in a regular hospital.
Ultrasound, mammogram and MRI of breast can be used as auxiliary examinations, but the final diagnosis of breast cancer still depends on pathological diagnosis. Many studies have shown that puncture biopsy does not increase the chance of tumor spread and metastasis.
The treatment options for breast cancer are
1.Surgical excision
It aims to remove the primary tumor and regional lymph nodes, reduce the tumor load in the body, and play a greater role in postoperative adjuvant therapy.
2.Chemotherapy
The application of chemotherapy drugs to treat tumors can be divided into the following according to the stage of treatment
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (preoperative chemotherapy) preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy can shrink the local tumor, inhibit the potential metastasis of the whole body and increase the chance of breast-conserving treatment.
Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy: to remove microfocal metastases that are not visible to the naked eye after surgery and to reduce the probability of recurrence and metastasis.
Rescuing chemotherapy after recurrence and metastasis: except for anthracyclines, there is no clear maximum tolerated dose of other drugs. As long as the lesion does not deteriorate, try to increase the number of doses and prolong the duration of dosing.
3.Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy for breast cancer is to destroy the tumor that may remain in surgery or the tumor tissue that cannot be removed by radiation, and reduce the tumor load in the body.
4.Endocrine therapy
About 50% or more of Chinese women with breast cancer are estrogen receptor (ER) or/and progesterone receptor (PR) positive, and this type of breast cancer is dependent on estrogen for growth. Blocking or removing estrogen can inhibit tumor growth. The efficacy is definitely clear, the side effects are mild and easily tolerated, and it can be taken for a long time to effectively prolong the survival time.
5.Bio-targeted therapy
Bio-targeted therapy is a new type of drug treatment by blocking the overexpression of some malignant genes or receptors specific to tumor cells, which is carried out by antibodies or small molecule drugs.