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| Illustration of Symptoms of Breast Cancer |
Other signs of breast cancer symptoms are as follows :
- Swelling of all or part of the breast
- Breast skin is irritated
- Breast pain
- Nipple pain or the nipple hard into
- Skin on the breast or nipple color: red, scaly skin, or thickened
- Discharge / blood from the nipple (other than milk)
Sometimes breast cancer can spread to the lymph nodes under the arm and causing a lump or swelling in the armpit area, even before the tumor / lump in the breast is clearly visible / palpable. See a doctor immediately if you experience signs above.
Usually in addition to a physical examination and mammography, your doctor may need to do some more tests, such as the following :
Breast Cancer Imaging Tests
Breast Ultrasound: Ultrasound uses sound waves. Echoes of the sound waves picked up by the computer to create images / imaging organs on a computer screen. Ultrasound is a good test used in conjunction with mammography. Ultrasound helps distinguish between cysts and solid masses in the breast.
Ductogram (also called galactogram): This is a special type of X-ray that is sometimes used to find the cause of nipple discharge. A very thin plastic tube is placed into the duct opening on the nipple. Dye is then injected to see the look of duct on the X-ray image. It helps detect the presence of tumor in the canal. Usually the fluid is also tested to examine the presence / absence of cancer cells.
Biopsy
A biopsy is done when other tests gave a strong indication that you have breast cancer. There are several types of biopsies :
Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (fine-needle aspiration biopsy): Fluid / tissue removed from the lump through a fine needle and then examined under a microscope by a pathologist.
If the biopsy does not give a clear answer, or the doctor you're still not convinced, a second biopsy or various types of biopsy may be needed.
Core needle biopsy (Core Needle Biopsy): NEEDLE used for this test BIGGER than fine needle biopsy. It is used to remove one or more core networks. Biopsy was performed under local anesthesia on patients.
Stereotactic biopsy: performed as an outpatient procedure. Does not require stitches, and there is little scarring. This method is usually raised more tissue than core needle biopsy.
Surgical biopsy (open biopsy): Sometimes surgery is needed to remove all or part of a lump that can be seen under a microscope. The entire mass as well as some surrounding normal tissue can be taken out. This can be done while outpatient and using local anesthesia.
Networks that have been raised through a biopsy will be examined in the laboratory by a pathologist to see if it is benign (not cancer) or cancer. If not cancer, then there is no more treatment is needed. If the cancer, the biopsy can help to tell the type of cancer and indicate whether or not an invasive cancer.
Grade Breast Cancer
If cancer, biopsy samples are also given ratings / grade 1-3. Cancer is more like normal breast tissue tends to grow and spread more slowly. As a rule, a lower mean grade cancers grow more slowly, while the higher grade means the cancer grow faster. Grade help predict outcome (prognosis) for the women. Tumor grade is one factor that will be considered for treatment / post-operative treatment.
Hormone Receptor Status
Receptors are proteins on the outer surface of the cell that can be attached to the hormone in the blood. Estrogen and progesterone are hormones that are often attached to several receptors of breast cancer cells to fuel their growth. Biopsy sample can be tested to see whether cancer cells have receptors for estrogen and / or progesterone. If not, is often referred to as ER-positive. This means the cancer is likely to have a prognosis / outcome is better and they are much more likely to respond to hormone therapy. About 2 out of 3 breast cancer have at least one receptor.
HER2/neu status
About 1 in 5 breast cancers have too much of a protein called HER2/neu. Tumors with increased HER-2/neu called "HER2-positive." These cancers tend to grow and spread more quickly than other breast cancers.
HER2/neu testing should be performed on all women newly-diagnosed breast cancer too. With HER2-positive cancers can be treated with drugs targeted therapies, such as trastuzumab (Herceptin ®) and lapatinib (Tykerb ®).
Other laboratory tests may also be done to help find out how fast the cancer is growing, and what treatment options may work best.
Test Pattern Gen (gene patterns)
Research shows that seeing patterns of a number of genes at the same time can help determine whether a newly diagnosed breast cancer tends to return after the first treatment or not. This can help when deciding whether more treatment, such as adjuvant chemotherapy is needed. Symptoms of Breast Cancer, now there are 2 types of this form of test - Oncotype DX ® and MammaPrint ®. Doctors may choose to use or not to use this type of test. Research to investigate whether this gene test pattern really helps is still ongoing.
Breast Cancer Imaging Tests
Breast Ultrasound: Ultrasound uses sound waves. Echoes of the sound waves picked up by the computer to create images / imaging organs on a computer screen. Ultrasound is a good test used in conjunction with mammography. Ultrasound helps distinguish between cysts and solid masses in the breast.
Ductogram (also called galactogram): This is a special type of X-ray that is sometimes used to find the cause of nipple discharge. A very thin plastic tube is placed into the duct opening on the nipple. Dye is then injected to see the look of duct on the X-ray image. It helps detect the presence of tumor in the canal. Usually the fluid is also tested to examine the presence / absence of cancer cells.
Biopsy
A biopsy is done when other tests gave a strong indication that you have breast cancer. There are several types of biopsies :
Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (fine-needle aspiration biopsy): Fluid / tissue removed from the lump through a fine needle and then examined under a microscope by a pathologist.
If the biopsy does not give a clear answer, or the doctor you're still not convinced, a second biopsy or various types of biopsy may be needed.
Core needle biopsy (Core Needle Biopsy): NEEDLE used for this test BIGGER than fine needle biopsy. It is used to remove one or more core networks. Biopsy was performed under local anesthesia on patients.
Stereotactic biopsy: performed as an outpatient procedure. Does not require stitches, and there is little scarring. This method is usually raised more tissue than core needle biopsy.
Surgical biopsy (open biopsy): Sometimes surgery is needed to remove all or part of a lump that can be seen under a microscope. The entire mass as well as some surrounding normal tissue can be taken out. This can be done while outpatient and using local anesthesia.
Networks that have been raised through a biopsy will be examined in the laboratory by a pathologist to see if it is benign (not cancer) or cancer. If not cancer, then there is no more treatment is needed. If the cancer, the biopsy can help to tell the type of cancer and indicate whether or not an invasive cancer.
Grade Breast Cancer
If cancer, biopsy samples are also given ratings / grade 1-3. Cancer is more like normal breast tissue tends to grow and spread more slowly. As a rule, a lower mean grade cancers grow more slowly, while the higher grade means the cancer grow faster. Grade help predict outcome (prognosis) for the women. Tumor grade is one factor that will be considered for treatment / post-operative treatment.
Hormone Receptor Status
Receptors are proteins on the outer surface of the cell that can be attached to the hormone in the blood. Estrogen and progesterone are hormones that are often attached to several receptors of breast cancer cells to fuel their growth. Biopsy sample can be tested to see whether cancer cells have receptors for estrogen and / or progesterone. If not, is often referred to as ER-positive. This means the cancer is likely to have a prognosis / outcome is better and they are much more likely to respond to hormone therapy. About 2 out of 3 breast cancer have at least one receptor.
HER2/neu status
About 1 in 5 breast cancers have too much of a protein called HER2/neu. Tumors with increased HER-2/neu called "HER2-positive." These cancers tend to grow and spread more quickly than other breast cancers.
HER2/neu testing should be performed on all women newly-diagnosed breast cancer too. With HER2-positive cancers can be treated with drugs targeted therapies, such as trastuzumab (Herceptin ®) and lapatinib (Tykerb ®).
Other laboratory tests may also be done to help find out how fast the cancer is growing, and what treatment options may work best.
Test Pattern Gen (gene patterns)
Research shows that seeing patterns of a number of genes at the same time can help determine whether a newly diagnosed breast cancer tends to return after the first treatment or not. This can help when deciding whether more treatment, such as adjuvant chemotherapy is needed. Symptoms of Breast Cancer, now there are 2 types of this form of test - Oncotype DX ® and MammaPrint ®. Doctors may choose to use or not to use this type of test. Research to investigate whether this gene test pattern really helps is still ongoing.
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