The Health Blog

Step 1: Begin by looking at your breasts in the mirror with your shoulders straight and your arms on your hips.

Here’s what you should look for:

* breasts that are their usual size, shape, and color.

* breasts that are evenly shaped without visible distortion or swelling.

If you see any of the following changes, bring them to your doctor’s attention:
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* nipple discharge

* dimpling, puckering, or bulging of the skin.

* a nipple that has changed position or an inverted nipple (pushed inward instead of sticking out).

* redness, soreness, rash, or swelling.

Step 2: Now, raise your arms and look for the same changes.

Step 3: While you’re at the mirror, gently squeeze each nipple between your finger and thumb and check for nipple discharge (this could be a milky or yellow fluid or blood).

A recent study shows that women who switch from the breast cancer pill tamoxifen to a newer class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors live longer, Italian researchers reported on Monday. This study adds to a growing body of evidence that the new drugs are far safer, preventing cancer with fewer side effects than tamoxifen.

However, aromatase inhibitors are only for women who are post-menopausal. Tamoxifen is still the best choice for younger patients.

Tamoxifen transformed breast cancer therapy when it was shown to reduce the risk of cancer coming back by close to 50 percent. It was also an easy-to-take pill. But the drug raised the risk of death from strokes and endometrial cancer. Then a newer class of drugs, the aromatase inhibitors, was developed. Reuters

Overview:

Breast cancer is a malignant proliferation of epithelial cells linking the ducts or lobules of the breast. It is the most common cause of cancer in women, excluding skin cancer. It is a hormone-dependent disease so that women without functiong ovaries who never receive estrogen replacement do not develop breast cancer.

Epidemiology:

Risk Factors:

1. Age - The risk of getting breast cancer increases with age but incidence begins to decline beginning at the age of menopause. The three dates in a woman’s life that have a major impact on breast cancer are age at menarche, age at first full-term pregnancy and age at menopause. Women who experience menarche at age 16 have only 50-60% of the breast cancer risk of a woman having menarche (first menstruation) at age of 12; the lower risk persists throughout life. Similarly, menopause occuring 10 years before the median age of menopause (52 years), whether natural or surgically induced, reduces risk of breast cancer by about 35%. Women who have a first full-term pregnancy by age 18 have a reduced (30-40%) risk of breast cancer compared with nulliparous (or women who never experienced pregnancy) women.