The incidence of breast cancer continues to increase, and it has become the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. According to a recent global oncology statistics report published online by the American Journal of CA, breast cancer accounts for 23% of all female cancer cases and 14% of all cancer deaths. “Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Recently, global oncology statistics published online in the CA Journal show that breast cancer accounts for 23% of all female cancer cases and 14% of cancer deaths. What factors are related to breast cancer? Breast cancer is closely related to ovarian function, heredity, marriage and breastfeeding. You should be careful of breast cancer if you have the following conditions: menarche before the age of 13 or have not stopped menstruating until the age of 50; not having children or not breastfeeding; family history of breast cancer; having breast cancer on one side of the body; receiving radiation to the breast for many times; long-term use of estrogen-containing medicines, health care products, food, beverages, skincare, beauty care, and breast augmentation products; and people who have high pressure at work, irregular life, and traumatized and depressed moods. Clinical manifestations of breast cancer If you find painless lumps, irregular shape, unclear boundary, skin dimpling, orange peel-like changes, nipple dimpling or abnormal secretion, all of them should be suspected to be breast cancer, please go to breast specialist for examination immediately. What are the diagnostic methods of breast cancer? Breast examination includes palpation, ultrasound, molybdenum target, MRI and so on. Patients often ask which one is more accurate, breast ultrasound or mammogram. Both of them have their own advantages and limitations: Generally speaking, young women or those with dense breasts should consider breast ultrasound first, while middle-aged women should consider a combination of ultrasound and mammogram for screening. How to Prevent Breast Cancer Breast cancer prevention first seeks balanced nutrition, avoid excessive grease, high fat, high sugar, tobacco and alcohol intake, eat more fruits and vegetables, soy products, fish, onions, garlic and other foods; limit the intake of estrogen; do not eat health care products; maintain optimistic mood; regular physical exercise, avoid obesity; avoid unnecessary radiation exposure. How to detect breast cancer at an early stage It is recommended that before the age of 35, patients should go to a breast specialist for examination once every 1-2 years, with clinical palpation and breast ultrasound as the mainstay; once a year between the age of 35-45, with palpation and ultrasound as the mainstay, and molybdenum target every two years during this period; and once a year after the age of 45, with a combination of palpation, ultrasound and molybdenum target. In the clinic, it is often encountered that after patients feel the breast lumps by themselves, they often delay for quite a long time before seeking medical treatment, which leads to poor treatment effect. In fact, 80% of the patients with early detection of breast cancer, such as patients with stage I, can survive for more than ten years. Early detection of breast cancer is one of the main measures to improve the survival rate of breast cancer patients, not only the cure rate is high, but also “breast-conserving” surgery can be done, and all kinds of postoperative adjuvant treatments can be reduced, which not only saves the medical cost, but also can have a higher quality of life. What are the treatment methods of breast cancer? At present, the treatment of breast cancer is based on surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, endocrine therapy, molecular targeted therapy and other methods combined with comprehensive treatment, and now more and more emphasis on systematic and individualized overall treatment plan, including surgical methods, which should be researched and negotiated by surgical, pathology, radiotherapy and medical oncology experts. From a professional point of view, it is recommended that patients go to a breast specialist, because a specially trained doctor’s understanding of the concept, level of treatment, treatment experience, and efficacy are much higher than those of general practitioners. Although some departments are also engaged in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, they can only use a tenth or a few tenths of their energy and time to do this, whereas breast specialists use 100 percent of their time to diagnose and treat breast diseases, and the difference in the amount of input and the effect is self-evident. In short, raising alertness, early diagnosis and early treatment is the only way to protect women’s health.