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Breast Cancer

The breast is a gland designed to make milk. The lobules in the breast make the milk, which then drains through the ducts to the nipple.

Like all parts of your body, the cells in your breasts usually grow and then rest in cycles. The periods of growth and rest in each cell are controlled by genes in the cell's

Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth of breast cells.

Cancer has the potential to break through normal breast tissue barriers and spread to other parts of the body. While cancer is always caused by a genetic "abnormality" (a "mistake" in the genetic material), only 5?10% of cancers are inherited from your mother or father. Instead, 90% of breast cancers are due to genetic abnormalities that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general.

While there are things every woman can do to help her body stay as healthy as possible (such as eating a balanced diet, not smoking, minimizing stress, and exercising regularly), breast cancer is never anyone's fault. Feeling guilty, or telling yourself that breast cancer happened because of something you or anyone else did, is counterproductive.

Who Gets Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is the most common cancer to affect women. In 2004, it is estimated that about 216,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States, along with 59,390 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer.

Every woman is at SOME risk for breast cancer?this is merely the "risk" of living as a woman. But there are many risk factors that can make one woman's picture differ substantially from another's. When you understand your own particular risk profile, you are in a better position to manage it and don't have to fear the unknown.

Stages of Breast Cancer

Stage 0
This stage is used to describe non-invasive breast cancer. There is no evidence of cancer cells breaking through to or invading neighboring normal tissue.

Stage I
This stage describes invasive breast cancer (cancer cells are breaking through to or invading neighboring normal tissue) in which
- The tumor measures up to two centimeters, AND
- No lymph nodes are involved.

Stage II
This stage describes invasive breast cancer in which:

-	The tumor measures at least two centimeters, but not more than five centimeters, OR
-	Cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm on the same side as the breast cancer. Affected lymph nodes have not yet stuck to one another or to the surrounding tissues, a sign that the cancer has not yet advanced to stage III. (The tumor in the breast can be any size.)

Stage III
Stage III is divided into subcategories known as IIIA and IIIB.

Stage IIIA This stage describes invasive breast cancer in which: - The tumor measures larger than five centimeters, OR - The tumor has spread to lymph nodes, and nodes are clumping or sticking to one another or surrounding tissue. Stage IIIB This stage describes invasive breast cancer in which a tumor of any size has spread to the breast skin, chest wall, or internal mammary lymph nodes (located beneath the breast inside the chest)—and includes inflammatory breast cancer.

Stage IV
This stage includes invasive breast cancer in which a tumor has spread beyond the breast, underarm, and internal mammary lymph nodes. The tumor may have spread to the supraclavicular lymph nodes (nodes located at the base of the neck, above the collarbone), lungs, liver, bone, or brain.

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