It is also worthy of note that breast cancer is not confined solely to women and that some more than 1,800 men contracted the disease in 2004 and 362 men died of breast cancer that year.
Women's breasts are complicated pieces of machinery comprising glands, fat and fibrous connective tissue. Each breast has a number of lobes which are divided into lobules and end in the milk glands and there are also a large number of tiny ducts from the milk glands which connect together and culminate in the nipple.
Eighty percent of breast cancer cases occur in these ducts in a condition referred to as infiltrating ductal cancer. It is also fairly common for breast cancer to occur in the lobules where it is referred to as lobular cancer. Other types of cancer are merely referred to as inflammatory breast cancer.
Changes such as pre-cancerous changes (referred to as 'in situ') are also commonly seen in women and are changes which have not yet spread from the area of the breast where they were originally spotted. Where these changes are found within the ducts then the condition is referred to as ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS and when they are spotted in the lobules they are referred to as lobular carcinomas in situ or LCIS.
The most serious type of breast cancer is metastatic cancer which involves the spread of a cancer from its original site of growth. Breast cancer usually metastasizes into the lymph nodes above the collarbone or under the arms on the same side as the cancer which results in pain and swelling as the lymphatic drainage system is compromised. Other relatively common sites of breast cancer metastasis include the brain, liver and bones.
Besides the very obvious factor of gender, age is a very significant factor when it comes to breast cancer. Despite the fact that breast cancer can develop at any age the risk of finding it increases as you get older. A healthy woman aged 30 will usually have a 1 in 280 chance of developing breast cancer during the next ten years of her life. However, this risk then increases to a 1 in 70 chance of developing breast cancer when that same women is in her forties.
The risk factor for breast cancer is also affected by family history with the risk being particularly high when you have a close relative (such as an aunt or mother) who has developed cancer of the breast at a young age.
Although it has yet to be confirmed, there is believed to be a cancer gene which can be passed down from mother to daughter.
Author: Donald Saunders
About the author:
Breast cancer touches all too many lives these days and for those of you with questions about breast cancer then there can be no better place than http://breastcancertreatmentinformation.com to find the answers we need.
Article source: Free Cancer Articles.
