Cancer...It Wont Get The Breast of Me

Oestrogen, the predominant female hormone mainly produced by the ovaries, plays a well-known role in breast cancer development and protection. Oestrogen causes breast development in puberty and during pregnancy helps the breasts develop for breastfeeding. Unfortunately, increased oestrogen over a long time can also cause damage to normal breast cell DNA and cause these damaged cells to multiply , which can start a cancer. Factors that increase lifetime oestrogen exposure and, with that, breast cancer risk, include having no or few children and starting your family at an older age.

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Oestrogen production is interrupted while women are not menstruating during pregnancy and breastfeeding, which decreases the overall lifetime exposure to oestrogen. Combined hormone replacement therapy HRT or the oral contraceptive pill, both of which contain oestrogen, increase risk for the period they are taken. However, for the contraceptive pill the risk is small, as breast cancer is rare at the age it is used. Reduced prescriptions for HRT has recently been shown to have led to a reduction in breast cancer cases.

Women who have more children earlier and breastfeed are at lower risk of breast cancer. Both cause an increase of oestrogen around the pregnancy but then lower levels than normal for many years after. There is a widespread concern that elements of the modern diet add to breast cancer risk. But the belief that preservatives and pesticides are major contributors has never been confirmed. Similarly, no risk increase has been found for people consuming dairy products. Eating meat appears to cause little or no risk. This is probably because processing causes small amounts of cancer-causing toxins to form in the meat.

Not everything gives you cancer, but eating too much processed meat certainly can. There is some limited evidence that eating more fish reduces breast cancer risk. This may be due to the protective effect of omega-3 fats. And there is relatively strong proof that vegetable consumption lessens risk , although how this works is not known. Similarly, organically grown vegetables do not give greater protection than those grown in the usual way. Studies exploring the benefits of vitamin supplements show no conclusive evidence these affect breast cancer risk, although vitamin D may provide modest protection if at healthy levels compared to low levels.

Alcohol increases lifetime breast cancer risk by around a tenth per drink per day for the period during which drinking occurs. Active smoking, but not passive smoking , also increases risk by about a fifth — especially in younger women. Caffeine may be mildly protective and chocolate appears safe in moderation. This is provided consumption does not lead to substantial weight gain, as obesity has repeatedly been shown to increase breast cancer occurrence by about a fifth, especially in post-menopausal women.

This may be because fatty tissues produce oestrogen. Also, obese women have higher insulin levels, another hormone that can lead to breast cancer. Those developing full diabetes in later life, when insulin levels are usually very high, are at an even higher risk — a two-fifths increase. How obesity causes cancer, and may make screening and treatment harder. Contrary to popular belief, sugar itself does not appear to directly affect risk in moderation. However, too much sugar may increase risk indirectly through obesity, which can then cause diabetes. Exercise substantially reduces the chance of a breast cancer diagnosis, although how this works is not yet understood.

The duration rather than intensity appears important, with three hours of moderate aerobic exercise weekly reducing breast cancer risk by about a fifth. Exercise also improves survival after breast cancer. Chemo is given in cycles or rounds. Each round of treatment is followed by a break.

Most of the time, 2 or more chemo drugs are given. Treatment often lasts for many months.

Chemo can make you feel very tired, sick to your stomach, and cause your hair to fall out. But these problems go away after treatment ends. There are ways to treat most chemo side effects. If you have side effects, be sure to talk to your cancer care team so they can help. Estrogen pronounced ES-tro-jin is the female hormone that your body makes until you go through the change of life menopause.

After that, the body still makes it but in much smaller amounts. Even these small amounts are enough to cause some breast cancers to grow. Drugs that block the effect of estrogen or cut down estrogen levels can be used to treat these breast cancers. Drugs like this are a type of hormone treatment. It helps lower the chances of the cancer coming back for some women. There are other drugs and other ways to lower estrogen to help fight breast cancer. Ask your doctor to tell you about any drugs you are given.

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Clinical trials are research studies that test new drugs or other treatments in people. They compare standard treatments with others that may be better. If you would like to learn more about clinical trials that might be right for you, start by asking your doctor if your clinic or hospital conducts clinical trials.

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See Clinical Trials to learn more. Clinical trials are one way to get state-of-the art cancer treatment. They are the only way for doctors to find better ways to treat cancer. And if you do sign up for a clinical trial, you can always stop at any time. When you have cancer you might hear about other ways to treat the cancer or treat your symptoms. These may not always be standard medical treatments. These treatments may be vitamins, herbs, special diets, and other things.

You may wonder about these treatments. Some of these are known to help, but many have not been tested. Some have been shown not to help. A few have even been found to be harmful. Even when cancer never comes back, people still worry about it. For years after treatment ends, you will see your cancer doctor. Be sure to go to all of these follow-up visits. You will have exams, blood tests, and maybe other tests to see if the cancer has come back. At first, your visits may be every 3 to 6 months. After 5 years, they may be done once a year.

This is most often caused by something other than cancer, but it can be the first sign of cancer in the uterus. Having cancer and dealing with treatment can be hard, but it can also be a time to look at your life in new ways. You might be thinking about how to improve your health. Call us or talk to your cancer care team to find out what you can do to feel better. What you can change is how you live the rest of your life — making healthy choices and feeling as well as you can.

The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team Our team is made up of doctors and master's-prepared nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing. We have a lot more information for you about breast cancer, as well as day-to-day help and emotional support every step of the way. August 2, Last Revised: For reprint requests, please see our Content Usage Policy. Are there different kinds of breast cancer? Invasive ductal carcinoma This is the most common type of breast cancer.

Invasive lobular carcinoma This breast cancer starts in the milk glands. Inflammatory breast cancer or IBC This is a rare type of breast cancer. Questions to ask the doctor Why do you think I have cancer? Would you please write down the kind of cancer you think I might have? What will happen next? How does the doctor know I have breast cancer? Tests that may be done A change seen on your mammogram may be the first sign of breast cancer. Here are some of the tests you may need: Questions to ask the doctor What tests will I need to have?

Who will do these tests? Where will they be done? Who can explain them to me? How and when will I get the results? Who will explain the results to me? What do I need to do next? How serious is my cancer? Breast biopsy In a biopsy BY-op-see , the doctor takes out a small piece of tissue to check it for cancer cells.

Grading breast cancer The cancer cells in the biopsy sample will be graded. Questions to ask the doctor Do you know the stage of the cancer? If not, how and when will you find out the stage of the cancer? Would you explain to me what the stage means in my case?

What kind of treatment will I need? The stage and grade of the cancer The chance that a type of treatment will cure the cancer or help in some way Your age Other health problems you have Your feelings about the treatment and the side effects that come with it Surgery for breast cancer Most women with breast cancer have some type of surgery SUR-jur-ee. Estrogen treatment for prostate cancer may increase the risk of breast cancer in men, but the risk is small compared to the benefit of the treatment.

Some studies also reported that men who take estrogen as part of the process of transitioning to women may have a higher risk for breast cancer. Certain problems with the testicles may increase the risk of breast cancer in men. These problems include an undescended testicle called cryptorchidism or having one or both testicles removed.

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Men who had mumps as an adult that caused an inflammation of the testicle may also have a higher risk for breast cancer. More research is needed to see if the following are risk factors for breast cancer in men: To make the decisions that are right for you, ask your healthcare team questions about risks. It is important for men to know what is normal for their breasts and to report any changes to their doctor. The most common sign of breast cancer in men is a painless lump, usually near or under the nipple. Other signs and symptoms include: Later signs and symptoms occur as the cancer grows larger or spreads to other parts of the body, including other organs.

Late symptoms of breast cancer in men include: Diagnosing breast cancer usually begins with a visit to your family doctor. Your doctor will ask you about any symptoms you have and may do a physical exam. Based on this information, your doctor may refer you to a specialist or order tests to check for breast cancer or other health problems. The process of diagnosis may seem long and frustrating. The following tests are commonly used to rule out or diagnose breast cancer in men. Many of the same tests used to diagnose cancer are used to find out the stage how far the cancer has progressed.

Your doctor may also order other tests to check your general health and to help plan your treatment. Your health history is a record of your symptoms, risk factors and all the medical events and problems you have had in the past. Your doctor will ask questions about your history of: A physical exam allows your doctor to look for any signs of breast cancer.

During a physical exam, your doctor may: Find out more about physical exams and clinical breast exams. Diagnostic mammography is an x-ray that uses small doses of radiation to make an image of the breast. It is used to follow up on abnormal results of a clinical breast exam. Mammography can also be used to guide the doctor to an abnormal area during a biopsy. Find out more about mammographies.

An ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to make images of parts of the body. It is used to find out if a breast lump is a solid tumour or a cyst. Doctors may also use an ultrasound to guide them to an abnormal area during a biopsy. If a man has advanced breast cancer, doctors may use an ultrasound to check if the cancer has spread to the liver called liver metastases. Find out more about ultrasounds.

During a biopsy, the doctor removes tissues or cells from the body so they can be tested in a lab. A report from the pathologist will confirm whether or not cancer cells are present in the sample. A breast biopsy is the only definite way to diagnose breast cancer. Doctors may use the following types of biopsy. Fine needle aspiration FNA uses a very thin needle and syringe to remove a small amount of tissue from a lump. It can help find out if the lump is a cyst or a tumour. It is the most common type of biopsy used to diagnose breast cancer in men because most lumps can be easily reached with the needle.

Find out more about fine needle aspirations FNAs. Surgical, or open, biopsy removes all or part of a lump or abnormal area. An excisional biopsy removes the whole lump or abnormal area with a margin of healthy tissue around it. An incisional biopsy removes only part of the lump or abnormal area. Find out more about surgical biopsies. Breast cancer cells can break away from a tumour and travel through the lymphatic system to lymph nodes. A lymph node biopsy is used to remove lymph nodes so they can be examined under a microscope to find out if they have cancer in them.

The number of lymph nodes that have cancer helps doctors determine the stage of breast cancer. Axillary lymph node dissection ALND removes lymph nodes from under the arm called the axilla.

Breast cancer in men

ALND is the most common way to check the lymph nodes in men. Find out more about axillary lymph node dissections. Some breast cancer cells have receptors for these hormones. When the hormones attach to these receptors, they can stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells. Hormone receptor status testing is used to find out if the breast cancer cells have estrogen receptors ERs , progesterone receptors PRs or both. This information will help your healthcare team decide which treatment plan will work best for you. Find out more about hormone receptor status testing. HER2 stands for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2.

It is a gene that has changed mutated , so it helps a tumour grow called an oncogene. HER2 status testing is done to find out if the breast cancer cells are making more HER2 protein than normal called overexpression. Only a small number of breast cancers in men are HER2 positive. Find out more about HER2 status testing. Your doctor may order other tests to check your general health. You may also have tests to find out if the cancer has spread metastasized to other parts of the body.

Find out more about a diagnosis. To make the decisions that are right for you, ask your healthcare team questions about a diagnosis. The same grading system is used for breast cancer in men and women. Find out more about grading breast cancer. The same staging system is used for breast cancer in men and in women.

Breast cancer in men is often diagnosed at a later stage than in women. It has usually started to spread to other parts of the body when it is diagnosed.