Background: The Pink Ribbon is the symbol of the Global Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, and every October is the Global Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
October 17, 2008 is “Global Breast Cancer Awareness Day”. According to statistics, about 1.2 million women worldwide suffer from breast cancer and 500,000 women die from breast cancer every year. The incidence and mortality rate of female such as cancer in China continues to rise at a rate of 2.4% per year. At present, breast cancer has become the malignant tumor with the highest incidence among women. How much do you know about breast cancer prevention and treatment? Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women. In recent years, its incidence rate has been increasing rapidly worldwide, and the age of onset is also on a younger trend. Although China is one of the countries with low incidence of breast cancer in the world, the incidence rate has been increasing significantly in recent years, especially in urban areas, such as Beijing and Shanghai, where the incidence rate has increased by 23% and 31% in ten years, which is close to the level of western countries with high incidence of breast cancer. Breast Cancer Danger Signs Breast mass is an early symptom of breast cancer, mostly an isolated, hard, unsmooth surface mass in the breast found unintentionally by the patient, which may be accompanied by breast pain. As the tumor increases in size, it may cause a localized bulge in the breast, resulting in an orange peel-like change and a “dimple sign”. Cancer cells adjacent to the nipple or areola may invade the milk ducts, causing the nipple to flatten, retract and sink. If there is nipple overflow, mainly bloody overflow, we should be highly alert to the occurrence of breast cancer and have it checked. Although the causes of breast cancer are not clear, in recent years, experts have found that poor lifestyle and environmental factors have become high risk factors for breast cancer, such as high intake of animal fat, high animal protein and low fiber food; abuse of birth control pills and use of cosmetic products with estrogen to achieve skin rejuvenation effect, all these factors can make the estrogen level in the body high for a long time, leading to The incidence of breast cancer is about 30% higher than that of the general population; some menopausal women take estrogen-containing drugs to prevent osteoporosis, which increases the risk of breast cancer while improving the adverse effects of menopause. Who does breast cancer “favor”? The most common age for breast cancer is 40-45 years old. The incidence of breast cancer is higher among women with the following factors.
1. Family history of breast cancer, especially if the mother or sister has had breast cancer, especially if the onset is before menopause, the risk is increased; 2. Menarche earlier than 12 years old or amenorrhea later than 52 years old; 3. Not pregnant at the age of 40 or older, or the first full-term birth after 35 years old; 4. Breast cancer on one side and increased risk on the other side; 5. Pathologically confirmed cystic hyperplasia, especially pathological histology with Those with active papillomatous structures; 6. Those with excessive X-ray exposure to the chest, in terms of dose of exposure, chest X-ray: chest X-ray = 10:1; 7. Those who have suffered from functional uterine bleeding or adenocarcinoma of the uterine body; 8. Those who are obese, especially those who are significantly obese after menopause or with diabetes mellitus. Self-discovery of breast cancer Early detection and early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is the key to get the best prognosis. Some data show that 95% of breast cancer can be cured if detected early. Since the breast tissue is located on the surface of the body, it is easy to detect abnormal changes through self-examination. Self-examination of the breast should be done about a week after menstruation, with bright light and full exposure of both breasts for comparison. The examination includes visual examination and palpation: the visual examination mainly includes whether the shape and size of both breasts are symmetrical, whether there is a limited bulge or depression, whether there is redness, edema and “orange peel” changes in the breast skin, whether both nipples are at the same level, and if there is a tumor above the nipple, the nipple can be drawn upward so that the height of both nipples is different. If there is a tumor above the nipple, the nipple can be pulled upward so that the two nipples are different in height. Recent nipple invagination also suggests the possibility of a mass; the body position when looking for more to take a sitting position, for breast hypertrophy sagging obvious, can be lying down, under the shoulder pillow, so that the chest augmentation, should use the palm surface of the finger rather than the fingertips to do palpation, do not use the fingers to pinch the breast tissue, otherwise it is easy to pinch the glandular tissue mistaken for a mass. A comprehensive examination of the upper outer breast (including the axillary tail), lower outer breast, lower inner breast, upper inner quadrant and the center should be done sequentially. The healthy side should be examined first, followed by the affected side. Treatment of breast cancer Comprehensive treatment of breast cancer includes: surgery, chemotherapy (including chemotherapy, endocrine therapy and herbal medicine), radiation therapy (including distant radiation therapy and brachytherapy), biological therapy (including breast cancer specific immunotherapy, breast cancer gene therapy and immunochemistry, immunoradiotherapy), etc. The 5-year survival rate for patients of different ages applying the combined treatment methods is 81% before the age of 45, 85% between the ages of 45-64 and 86% after the age of 65. In general, surgery should be chosen for early stage breast cancer, while chemotherapy and endocrine therapy are appropriate for late stage. Traditional breast cancer surgery is complete mastectomy plus axillary resection, which is not easily accepted by most patients due to the psychological impact of losing the breast to varying degrees, especially for young women. In recent years, breast-preserving surgery has been widely performed, which not only prolongs the survival period of breast cancer patients significantly, but also allows a significant proportion of breast cancer patients to preserve their breasts and armpits, thus preserving the beauty and self-confidence of female breast cancer patients. There is no causal relationship between mammary gland hyperplasia and breast cancer Mammary gland hyperplasia is the most common breast disease in women, and its incidence accounts for the first place of breast diseases. In recent years, the incidence of this disease is increasing year by year, and the age is getting younger and younger. According to the survey, about 70%-80% of women have different degrees of breast enlargement, mostly seen in women aged 25-45. Many women are particularly nervous about breast enlargement, worrying that it is a precursor of breast cancer, but in fact, it is not necessary. Mammary gland hyperplasia is mainly manifested as different degrees of hyperplasia of the breast duct epithelium with different degrees of expansion of small and medium-sized ducts. The clinical manifestations of mammary gland hyperplasia are localized thickening of the breast, lumps with unclear borders or multiple nodules of different sizes, vague pain or tingling, and occasional nipple overflow. There is no causal relationship between mammary gland hyperplasia and breast cancer, it is only one of the susceptibility factors, and most patients with mammary gland hyperplasia will be cured after menopause. Experts suggest five key points to prevent breast cancer: 1. to cultivate a positive, optimistic and open-minded personality; 2. to advocate marriage at the right age (after 23 years old), childbirth at the right age (24-30 years old), breastfeeding babies for 6 months; 3. to actively treat benign breast diseases and remove benign breast tumors, such as breast fibroids and intraductal papillomas, as early as possible; 4. to go to the hospital for regular breast examinations, especially for breast cancer. Especially for women over 40 years old, regardless of whether they have breast diseases or not, they should go to the hospital for regular checkups every 6 months to 1 year; women over 50 years old should have mammograms once a year; 5. A small number of breast hyperplasia can develop into atypical hyperplasia, and their moderate or severe atypical hyperplasia may be transformed into breast cancer. Women with breast hyperplasia should pay attention and have regular checkups if they have breast hyperplasia for a long time and the hyperplastic nodules are many and obvious to touch, and they are between 40 and 60 years old.