Breast CancerMedical

biotechnologyBiot-412

Presented by Maheen AlamRoll # 12-10111

What is Breast cancer?

Cancer: a disease caused due to uncontrolled division in the cells

One of its types is breast cancer. It is categorized as a malignant tumor

which arises from the cells of the breast.

It majorly occurs in women however it can also occur in men.

Types of breast cancers:The common ones include: a) ductal carcinoma in situ b) invasive ductal carcinoma c) invasive lobular carcinoma d) mucinous carcinoma e) inflammatory breast cancersf) adenoid cystic carcinoma. Whereas the less common ones includea. papillary carcinomab. Phyllodes tumorc. Angiosarcomad. Tubular carcinoma.

Causes of breast cancer:

Causes of breast cancer are called risk factors. These include:

a. age b. family history c. personal historyd. breast tissue e. racef. exposure to chest radiationsg. obesity Their mechanism for causing cancer is still

unknown. There are some risks factors that you could

control or influence like alcohol intake. Yet there are many risks that you cannot control

like age.

Symptoms and Signs of breast cancer:

Many signs are present that can help determine if a person has breast cancer or not.

The most common sign is that a new lump or mass might develop in the breast

Other signs includea) breast or nipple painb) there might be swelling in some part of

the breast or dimpling c) nipple discharge or it could be red in

color. etc

Diagnosis of breast cancer:

It can be identified by the symptoms mentioned above.

screening mammography is used to detect cancers such as these.

It detects cancers at an early stage even before it has caused any symptoms.

It has certain limitations and might miss some cancers at times.

After the age of 40 a woman should have a screening every year

MRI is done along with a mammogram.

DETERMINING OF BREAST CANCER STAGES:

This test is done to determine the extent of spread of cancer in the body and the stage it as at. This test is important.

Several different imaging techniques can be used to determine if the cancer has spread like

a) chest X-rayb) computerized tomography c) mammograms d) bone scanninge) positron emission tomography

Breast mammogram

MRI for breast cancer

Staging: In case of staging the doctor

determines the extent to which the cancer has spread in the patient’s body.

TNM staging.a) T basically describes the size of the

tumor and a higher number in this case indicates that the tumor has spread to a greater extent.

b) N on the other hand tells about the spread of cancer to lymph nodes near the breast.

c) Lastly M tells whether the cancer has spread to other organs or not.

TREATMENT FOR BREAST CANCER:

There are many ways to treat breast cancer; however the type of treatment used depends on the type of cancer the person has and also the staging group.

Some of the treatments used are Surgery Mastectomy radiation therapy chemotherapy hormone therapy targeted therapy

Limitations of chemotherapy

Even though chemotherapy is thought to be effective is

does have its limitations.

Firstly the tumor cell kinetics protects the cells against

chemotherapy. Initially the growth rate of the cells is

pretty high and then decreases. This way the tumor grows

rapidly while it is clinically undetectable and

chemotherapy can be only applied once the cancer has

been detected.

The second reason is that some cancer cells tend to

develop resistance against chemotherapy.

New treatments:Stem cell transplantation: In this procedure the patients are give

myeloablative dose of chemotherapy which may be followed by radiotherapy and after that they provide the patients with infusions of peripheral blood or bone marrow stem cells.

Targeted therapy: This method was developed in order to make

drugs that specifically target certain cancer cells.

The targets in this case are growth factors and signaling molecules that are essential for the tumor to spread, cell cycle proteins, etc.

Prognosis of breast cancer:

Usually the number given by doctors is 5 years after they have been diagnosed with cancer.

There are cases when patients can live longer than that

however there are cases when patients might die earlier than expected due to other reasons.

Also there are higher chances of survival if a patient is at the initial stage rather than stage 4.

Can it be prevented? To this date doctors have not found a guaranteed way to

prevent cancer from happening. However, if one looks at the risk factors and modifies the

ones that can actually be altered they can actually decrease the risks of developing cancer.

There is also chemoprevention which is the use of medications to reduce cancer.

Supportive care: This is very essential as supportive care can help

improve the safety and tolerability of chemotherapeutic treatments.

There are many drugs available now that can help reduce the side effects of chemotherapy.

Along with this palliative care is also very important as it does not only address the physical symptoms but also the psychosocial and spiritual concerns.

Side effects of breast cancer treatment in younger women: The chances of younger women having breast cancer are less. However they show concerns relating to pregnancies, fertility,

contraception’s etc also they show concerns about the side effects of the therapy.

According to a research chemotherapy actually has negative impacts on the reproductive part.

One of the effects of the alkylating agents used in chemotherapy is the dysfunction of the ovaries.

However the major side effect of chemotherapy is one is bone marrow suppression which in turn can lead to life-threatening bleeding from thrombocytopenia and also infections from neutropenia.

In case of endocrine therapy tamoxifen an estrogen is used it causes vaginal discharge, dryness, etc and it has a risk of stimulating multiple ovulations resulting in multiple pregnancies.

Also studies in breast cancer have shown that during chemotherapy the ovarian reserves decline and it can even lead to menopause at an early age.

Yet it was also reported that even if women do conceive after pregnancy it isn’t detrimental to their health or survival.

Breast cancer occurrence in Pakistan

Breast cancer is very common in developed countries.

1 out of every 8 women has it and 2 percent of cancer occurs in women at the age of 20 to 34.

It is said that it is most common among the American women, yet Pakistan is not devoid of the disease.

According to the University of Health Sciences 90,000 women suffer from breast cancer in Pakistan every year and this number resides within Punjab alone.

Also only 10 percent of these women actually get diagnosed while 75 percent of the women do not ever get treated and die of the problem.