Breast Cancer
At Apex Cancer Clinic, we have the best cancer doctors who specialize in treating cancer
Incidence of Breast Cancer In India
- Breast cancer is cancer that extends in the cells of the breasts. Breast cancer is a popular cancer diagnosis in women in India. Breast cancer appears in women ages between 35 – 55 years.
- Breast cancer survival rates have increased, and the figure of deaths related to this disease is constantly decreasing, largely due to factors such as earlier detection, a unique personalized approach to treatment, and a more satisfying understanding of the disease.
What Are the Stage of Breast Cancer ?
Breast cancer can be classified into stages based on how large the tumor or tumors are and how much it has improved. Cancers that are large and/or have attacked nearby tissues are at a higher stage than cancers that are small and/or still contained in the breast. For Staging breast cancer the Oncologist need to know:
- If the cancer is invasive or noninvasive
- How large the tumor is
- Whether the lymph nodes are involved
- If cancer has expanded to nearby tissue or organs
What are the Breast Cancer Treatment options?
Treatment of breast cancer includes cancer surgery, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and radiation therapy. For stage 1 cancer, surgery is the first treatment offered to breast cancer patients. A large category of patients is found in stage 2 or 3 in which primary treatment remains Chemotherapy followed by Surgery of cancer and then Radiation therapy. A large category of breast cancers is called hormone dependant cancer or ER/PR +ve cancers as they call it popularly, only hormonal therapy or hormone therapy after surgery or chemotherapy is recommended. Such hormone-positive breast cancer patients can be managed without chemotherapy most of the time.
What are the Signs and symptoms of Breast Cancer?
- A breast lump or thickening that looks different from the surrounding tissue.
- Changes in the shape, and size of a breast.
- A newly altered nipple.
- Peeling, crusting, or flaking of the pigmented area of skin enclosing the nipple skin.
- Changes in the skin over your breast, like the skin of an orange.
Breast cancer has five main stages :
Stage 0 breast cancer: Stage 0 is DCIS. Cancer cells in Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).
Stage 1 breast cancer
Stage 1A: The initial tumor is 2 centimeters and the lymph nodes are not affected.
Stage 1B: Cancer is located in nearby lymph nodes, and either there is no tumor in the breast, or the tumor is smaller than 2 cm.
Stage 2 breast cancer
Stage 2A: The tumor is less than 2 cm and has grown to 1–3 nearby lymph nodes, or it’s between 2 and 5 cm and hasn’t developed to any lymph nodes.
Stage 2B: The tumor is between 2 and 5 cm and has grown to 1–3 axillary lymph nodes, or it’s longer than 5 cm and hasn’t developed to any lymph nodes.
Stage 3 breast cancer
Stage 3A: Cancer has extended to 4–9 axillary lymph nodes or has enlarged the internal mammary lymph nodes, and the primary tumor can be any size. Tumors are vaster than 5 cm and cancer has expanded to 1–3 axillary lymph nodes or any breastbone nodes.
Stage 3B: A tumor has invaded the chest wall & skin and may or may not have invaded up to 9 lymph nodes.
Stage 3C: Cancer is identified in 10 or more axillary lymph nodes, lymph nodes near the collarbone, or internal mammary nodes.
Stage 4 breast cancer
Stage 4 breast cancer can have a tumor of any size, and shape and its cancer cells have spread to nearby and distant lymph nodes as well as distant organs.
What are the Types of Breast Cancer ?
There are numerous types of breast cancer, and they are divided into two main categories.
- Invasive – Invasive cancer has developed from the breast ducts or glands to other parts of the breast
- Noninvasive – Noninvasive cancer has not spread from the original tissue.
These two categories are used to define the most common types of breast cancer, which include:
- Ductal carcinoma in situ
- Lobular carcinoma in situ
- Invasive ductal carcinoma
- Invasive lobular carcinoma
Other, less common types of breast cancer include:
- Paget disease of the nipple
- Phyllodes tumor
- Angiosarcoma
How is Breast Cancer Treated?
The treatment for breast cancer depends on the nature and stage of cancer. In general, breast cancer treatments may include:
- SURGERY – Surgery is done to eliminate the cancerous tissue (it involves the complete elimination of breast lumps and nearby structures). Regular surgeries are Mastectomy (Removal of the whole breast), Quadrantectomy (Removal of one-quarter of the breast), and Lumpectomy (Removal of a small part of the breast). Reconstructive surgery can be done where breast contour can be replaced to near normal with plastic surgery.
- RADIATION THERAPY – Radiation therapy is done to kill cancerous tissue. Radiation therapy includes the use of high energy X Rays that kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. About half of all people with cancer are managed with radiation therapy, either alone or in combination with other types of cancer treatment. There are principally three types of radiation therapy done at Apex Cancer Clinic Hospital to treat cancer – 3DCRT (three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy), IMRT, and IGRT (image-guided radiation therapy). At Apex Cancer Clinic, we use the most advanced NOVALIS TX with EXACT-TRAC & ROBOTIC ON-BOARD IMAGER which is used to track tumors online to enable highly accurate treatments for moving tumors like lung, liver, prostate etc.
- CHEMOTHERAPY – Chemotherapy is done to kill cancer cells
- HORMONAL THERAPY –Hormonal therapy is recommended to women with ER-positive breast cancer to block certain hormones that trigger cancer growth.