Breast cancer prevention - symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis

You've probably heard a lot about breast cancer. You know that you should examine your breasts regularly, so when your doctor refers you for an ultrasound you don't protest. Rather, you don't do the examinations regularly, after all, you don't have the time. If you do get to the doctor's office, you leave relieved because the results are perfect. But... what if?

Don't wait until you notice a lump or feel indefinite pain. Prevention is better than cure! Check out what you should know about breast cancer prevention.

What is breast cancer prevention?

Prevention is, by definition, prevention. In this case, it is action to prevent the occurrence of dangerous changes in your breasts. Breast cancer prevention is based on screening, which allows you to detect even the smallest changes before you experience any symptoms.

Why should you care about timing? Breast self-examination, while so important, is not effective in the early stages of the formation of a lump or lesion. You may simply not feel it. A 3D mammogram can already detect a very small change in the breast, of various origins. Even if the detected lesion is cancerous, but small in size, the probability of cure is greatly increased.

What are the risk factors for cancer

Age

The highest incidence of breast cancer affects women over 50. So your vigilance should increase with age.

Genetic load

You can inherit breast cancer (about 10% of cases). The probability of getting the disease increases when your first-degree relatives (mother, sister, daughter) get sick. To determine your risk of inherited breast cancer, you can test for mutations in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. The surestcriterion for hereditary breast cancer is the finding of a gene mutation. For women with BRCA gene mutation, the lifetime risk of breast cancer is 80%.

Factors related to reproduction

The risk of the disease also increases in women who reached sexual maturity earlier and went through menopause late. Motherhood is also not insignificant. Women who did not give birth or became mothers late - after the age of 35 - are at greater risk.

Exogenous factors 

These are external factors, mainly hormonal contraceptives, hormone replacement therapy (HTZ) lasting more than 10 years.

Lifestyle

The risk of developing breast cancer can be affected by the contents of your plate. It increases when you consume large amounts of saturated fat and drink alcohol. Obesity increases the risk of cancer and makes it more difficult to detect, due to the thickness of your body fat.  

Benign lesions

Don't lose vigilance if a breast lesion turns out to be benign. Even harmless lesions can increase the risk of cancer.

Symptoms of breast cancer

The symptom you should pay attention to, which appears earliest and has no pain, is a lump usually located in the upper lateral part of the breast. 

Breast cancer can also be indicated:

• nipple retraction,
• nipple asymmetry,
• ulceration of the nipple or breast skin,
• additional nodules in the area,
• Pain with no apparent cause,
• Itching or burning of the wart,
• Leakage of fluid from the nipple,
• slight thickening of the skin.

In many cases, as the cancer grows, the lymph nodes located under the armpit and then the cervical and supraclavicular nodes enlarge. If the cancer is so-called inflammatory in nature, its symptom is skin swelling that rapidly increases, redness and warming of the skin or soreness.

Breast cancer prevention

Breast self-examination

The first and basic examination that you should make a habit of is breast self-examination. Start as early as possible, self-examination should be done even from the age of 20. 

You should always perform a breast check a week after your period (self-examination, ultrasound, mammogram). Hormonal fluctuations make your breasts swollen and hypersensitive before and during your period. 

To perform a self-examination, follow some of the steps below:

1. Stand in front of a mirror, raise your hands high up and check for changes in the shape of the breasts, for discoloration, for wrinkling or excessive tightness of the skin.
2. Place your hands on your hips and also check to see if you see the above changes.
3. Check that by pressing the nipple no fluid appears.
4. Perform the test in the shower. Put one hand on the back of your head, while using the other to control the breast. Stagger lightly with your three middle fingers in circular motions along the breast, up and down and back again. Repeat these actions while holding your hand along your torso.

Mammography examination

Mammography is a radiograph of the breast that allows detection of small cancerous lesions that cannot be felt by hand. Its sensitivity is estimated at 80-90%. Considered the best way to detect early breast cancer in women over 40.

Nowadays, mammography is performed in an advanced digital system, which dramatically increases the precision of imaging and allows magnification of any sections for more accurate analysis. 3D tomosynthesis mammography, which involves 3D imaging of the breast, is particularly precise and reliable. It is effective even in difficult diagnostic cases, in the examination of breasts with a large amount of glandular-fibrous tissue.

Thanks to mammography, you will learn the probability of cancer in the case of a diagnosed lesion. The examination will enable you to choose how to proceed.

Breast cancer diagnosis

The most important diagnostic methods for breast cancer include:

• mammography (MM),
• ultrasonography (USG),
• Magnetic resonance (MR) mammography,
• Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (BACC) - collection of cells for histopathological examination with a fine needle, under ultrasound guidance,
• Coarse-needle biopsy - the removal with a thicker needle of a thin slice of pathologically altered tissue for histopathological examination, under ultrasound guidance,
• surgical slice,
• A cell study of nipple secretions.