Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Roche lists eight signs of breast cancer

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a worldwide annual campaign involving thousands of organizations, to highlight the importance of breast awareness, education and research.

As it is nearly end of October, we want to remind you to stay informed and aware of this disease during whole year, because many women can survive breast cancer if it’s found and treated early. Here are the main risk factors that you should be aware of:

1. Gender – being a woman is the biggest risk factor for developing breast cancer. Breast cancer is second most common kind of cancer in women.

2. Getting older – the older the person the higher the risk, more than 80% of breast cancers occur in women over the age of 50. If you are a woman age 40 to 49, talk with your doctor about when to start getting mammograms and how often to get them. If you are a woman age 50 to 74, be sure to get a mammogram every 2 years. You may also choose to get them more often. Most men who get breast cancer are over 60.

3. Significant family history – this isn’t common, around 5% of people diagnosed with breast cancer have inherited a faulty BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. Talk to a doctor about your risk for breast cancer, especially if a close family member of yours had breast or ovarian cancer. Your doctor can help you decide when and how often to get mammograms

Roche lists eight signs of breast cancer you might not know about:

• Changes in the skin texture on or around your breast: puckering

  This could suggest a lump inside the breast, which causes the ligaments (fibrous tissue) in the breast to shorten, which pulls the tissue and skin inwards, resulting in a puckered or dented appearance.

• Changes in the skin texture on or around breast: dimpling

  Dimpling of the skin could suggest that the tiny channels in the breast, called lymph vessels, which help get rid of waste products from the body, have become blocked. This causes the breast to become inflamed and swollen and a large area of skin to develop little dimples, like orange peel. In some cases, this is a sign of a type of breast cancer known as inflammatory breast cancer.

• Thickening of the breast tissue

  This could suggest a lump in the cells within the milk-secreting glandular lobules or it could be another sign that the tiny channels in the breast, called lymph vessels (which help get rid of waste products from the body) have become blocked.

• Developing an eczema-like rash or redness on the nipple or the surrounding area

  This is a very rare symptom of breast cancer. In a small number of cases it is linked to a disease that is associated with breast cancer called Paget’s disease. While its cause remains unknown, Paget’s disease causes an eczema-like itchy red rash on the nipple or surrounding area.

• The secretion of unusual discharge (such as blood or pus) from the nipple without squeezing

  This could suggest that cancer cells are lining the ducts (small milk-carrying tubes), behind the nipple.

• Changes in the nipple such as one becoming inverted or changing its position or shape

  Developing an inverted nipple (when you weren’t already born with one) which can’t be drawn out, may suggest a lump behind the nipple is pulling it in.

• Visible veins on the breast

  This could suggest a blockage in a blood vessel, that might be caused by a lump or increased supply of blood to the breast, a sign that can accompany tumour growth.

• A swelling in the armpit

  This could suggest a lump in the lymph glands (which help get rid of waste products from the body) under the arms. Sometimes a lump under the arm can be more noticeable than in the breast.

   

  Roche added that there is no wrong way to examine your breasts, the key is remembering to ACT:

• Appearance of the skin:Orange peel, vein development, denting
• Changes to your nipple:Rash, redness around the nipple, inverted nipple
• Thickening of the tissue:A lump in breast or under your arm, thickening of the breast tissue