What you never knew about breast cancer

FIJ

In a global effort to raise awareness on breast cancer, the World Health Organisation in 2015 designated October as Pink Month.

Pink Month is a month where efforts to educate those concerned about the disease, including early identification and signs and symptoms associated with breast cancer.

It noted that yearly, breast cancer kills more than 500,000 women around the world. In resource-poor settings, a majority of women with breast cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage of disease, resulting in low survival rates.

The apex health body defines breast cancer as “a disease in which abnormal breast cells grow out of control and form tumours. If left unchecked, the tumours can spread throughout the body and become fatal.”

Breast cancer cells begin inside the milk ducts and/or the milk-producing lobules of the breast. The earliest form (in situ) is not life-threatening. Cancer cells can spread into nearby breast tissue (invasion). This creates tumours that cause lumps or thickening.

Invasive cancers can spread to nearby lymph nodes or other organs (metastasize). Metastasis can be fatal. However, treatment is based on the person, the type of cancer and its spread.

Breast cancers may spread to other areas of the body and trigger other symptoms. Often, the most common first detectable site of spread is to the lymph nodes under the arm although it is possible to have cancer-bearing lymph nodes that cannot be felt.

Breast cancer occurs in every country in the world and approximately 0.5–one per cent of breast cancers occur in men while the female gender is the strongest breast cancer risk factor. The treatment of breast cancer in men follows the same principles of management as for women.

In 2020, there were 2.3 million women diagnosed with breast cancer and 685,000 deaths globally. As of the end of 2020, there were 7.8 million women alive who were diagnosed with breast cancer in the past 5 years, making it the world’s most prevalent cancer. Breast cancer occurs in every country of the world in women at any age after puberty but with increasing rates in later life, WHO disclosed in a publication.