A, no painful breast lumps should be careful
At present, more and more women are concerned about breast health, but some women think that there is a lump on the breast but no pain or itch is not a problem, only to feel pain is a disease. In fact, this is wrong, not painful breast lumps, should be paid more attention to. Generally speaking, inflammatory breast lumps are often accompanied by severe breast pain and local inflammatory reactions such as redness, swelling, heat and pain; hyperplastic breast lumps are often accompanied by premenstrual breast swelling and pain, and after menstruation, the pain can be reduced and the lump can shrink. However, breast lumps in breast cancer usually have no obvious pain and discomfort in the early stage, so they are often very large once they are found, and only in the late stage when the local skin is ulcerated and infiltrated will pain appear. Fibroadenoma of the breast is also painless and often found unintentionally, but it is more common in young women and can be multiple, with regular round lumps, firm texture, clear borders and high mobility. Therefore, when you unintentionally find a painless breast lump, you should pay attention to it and go to a regular hospital as soon as possible.
What is the best test to determine the benignity or malignancy of a breast lump?
Doctors can determine the benignity and malignancy of breast lumps mainly by the following means: physical examination, mammography, mammography, puncture biopsy, MRI examination, surgical excision pathology examination.
1.Physical examination
The doctor’s physical examination is extremely important to determine the benignity and malignancy of breast lumps. An experienced doctor can make a more accurate diagnosis after examining the patient, in most cases without the aid of any tests. Or will provide you with a reliable path to further diagnosis to avoid extra costs or detours. So you should always look for a specialist from a regular source.
2.Ultrasonic examination
This test is simple and convenient, reasonably priced, and very good for determining cystic masses as well as the localization and measurement of the masses. An experienced ultrasonographer can also make a preliminary benign or malignant judgment of the mass.
3.Mammogram
It is very helpful for diagnosing breast lumps, but many hospitals have not yet carried out this test, and the cost of the test is relatively high. The level of the doctor reading the film is a very important factor, and the test is radioactive, so young patients should be cautious about performing this test;
4.Puncture biopsy
Puncture is to insert a fine needle into the lump and extract a small amount of tissue for cytological examination. Nowadays, hospitals basically perform puncture under B-ultrasound positioning, which is very accurate, with little damage and basically no adverse reaction, and can detect early cancer.
5.Surgical excisional disease examination
It is the most reliable diagnosis and is usually used only when other means are unable to diagnose.
6.MRI, which can understand the lump in three dimensions, has a certain diagnostic and therapeutic value for breast cancer, but it is very expensive. I recommend this examination for patients with preserved breasts to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the diseased side of the breast before surgery. Recently, many hospitals have introduced the DOBI breast cancer diagnostic instrument from the United States. This new device has many advantages and can be used for screening and for patients of any age, and because it uses nano-light, it is not harmful to the breast and has a higher rate of early diagnosis. Our hospital has received very good results since it was carried out in June.
3. How to detect breast cancer at an early stage?
The early symptoms of breast cancer are not obvious and relatively hidden. Therefore, for early detection of breast cancer, it is necessary to
1. understand its related risk factors.
2. learn self-examination of the breast.
3. Seek regular check-ups with a specialist. Under the guidance of a doctor, an effective and reasonable combination of the above examinations can lead to early detection of breast cancer.
4. How do doctors diagnose breast cancer?
When a woman has a breast lump or other breast changes, even if there is no serious problem, the doctor should look for its cause, ask a detailed medical history and conduct the following examinations.
1.Breast examination
To understand the size, hardness, mobility and relationship with surrounding tissues of a lump, an experienced doctor can clarify the benignity or malignancy of a lump through physical examination and medical history.
2.Mammography examination
This is a reasonably priced, convenient and non-invasive test that is most valuable in identifying solid and cystic lumps and is suitable for women of all ages.
3.Mammography
It can provide the doctor with important information about breast lumps, but the sensitivity varies among age groups, with the highest sensitivity of 94% in women over 50 years old.
4.Mammary duct endoscopy
It is a kind of miniature endoscopy, mainly used for the diagnosis of the cause of nipple overflow, and the accuracy of diagnosis of tumor in the milk duct is more than 90%.
5.Needle aspiration cytology examination
A fine needle is used to extract a little tissue of the lump and send it to pathology department to check whether it is cancerous or not, liquid is not necessarily sent for examination. This is a safer test, with high confirmation rate and little trauma, and is now widely used without causing cancer metastasis.
6.Breast puncture biopsy
A special needle is used to puncture some abnormal tissues on the mammogram through X-ray or B-ultrasound positioning and send them to pathology department for examination of cancer, which is somewhat invasive. Surgical biopsy or frozen section examination: the surgeon removes the lump or abnormal tissue and sends it to pathology for examination, which is the most accurate examination method and can also achieve the treatment purpose if it is a benign lump, while frozen section examination can make the tumor achieve the treatment purpose in one operation. The recently developed DOBI is also an optional method.
V. Development and spread of breast cancer
Breast cancer originates from the ducts and alveolar epithelium at all levels of the breast, from ordinary hyperplasia of the glandular epithelium to atypical hyperplasia, and then gradually develops into carcinoma in situ → early invasive carcinoma and finally invasive carcinoma. The main ways of breast cancer spread are intra-mammary spread, extra-mammary spread, lymphatic tract metastasis and hematogenous metastasis. 6. What are the common manifestations of breast cancer? Breast cancer usually presents as a small, painless, solitary lump in the breast, which is often discovered unintentionally by the patient. It may also manifest as nipple overflow, nipple and areola changes (nipple retraction, indentation, etc.), breast morphology changes (bilateral breast asymmetry, local bulge, etc.), breast skin changes, etc.