Breast cancer is regarded as one of the most common diseases among womankind. Annually, almost 2 million cases of breast cancer are recorded and more than 500 thousand women die from this disease.
The late first birth, absence or late sexual activity initiation, heredity, and other reasons are perceived as basic risk drivers. With age, the risk of developing specified disease increases and reaches a peak in the postmenopausal period. This is caused by a malfunction in hormonal metabolism due to the extinction of the ovarian function.
When talking about symptoms, unfortunately, the disease is almost asymptomatic at the beginning of its development. The tumor is usually small and most often it is an accidental find during preclinical research. Sometimes, a lump in the breast, which the woman or doctor fell during the palpation of the lacteal glands, can be perceived as a serious sign.
Possible breast cancer signs
- Skin change of the mammary gland.
- The nipple or breast ulceration or discoloration.
- Some painful feelings appearing in the nipples.
- Decreasing of one of the beasts.
- Some discharge from the nipple appearing (the breast milk is off the hook).
- The appearance of a tumor in the axillary space.
Disease treatment
The best breast cancer treatment in Germany implies the following effective methods
- Surgical. The complexity and type of operation depend on the location of the tumor in the mammary gland, its size, form, and the stage of the disease. When the tumor is located in the external parts of the mammary gland (in the early stages), the organ-preserving surgery is possible. In a case of several tumor foci presence, detection of tumor cells at the edges of the resection, a complete exeresis of the milk gland is performed (mastectomy). A mastectomy can be done without or with breast reconstruction (implant placement instead of the removed breast). The preventive bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction can be offered to women at very high risk. When radical surgical treatment performing, the lymph nodes of possible metastasis zones are necessarily removed.
- Chemotherapeutic. The patient gets antitumor drugs that have a destructive and inhibitory effect on malignant cells.
- Radiation treatment is carried out after organ-preserving surgery, complete removal of the mammary gland, and as an independent treatment method. The irradiation area may include the chest wall and lymph nodes. If another type of treatment is not possible, radiation therapy may be performed to reduce the size of the tumor and to alleviate the symptoms.
- Hormone therapy is prescribed to all the patients with the hormone-sensitive disease, regardless of any other treatment.
- Targeted therapy is a method that determines the destruction of the tumor due to the effect on the tumor cell receptors.
Combined treatment involves the use of several different methods of influencing the tumor.
Treated women have a risk of relapse but this does not mean that they must spend the rest of their lives waiting for it. The mood of the patient plays a huge role in the outcome of the disease, the support of relatives is truly important.