This disease is the most common cancer among American women, outside of skin cancer. It is also the second leading cause of cancer death. The chance of developing invasive breast cancer at some point in a woman's life is a little less than 1 in 8 (12 percent).
According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 192,370 women will develop breast cancer this year and 40,170 will die from it.
In Massachusetts alone, 4,800 women will develop breast cancer this year and sadly 870 will die from it.
Statistics on the Portuguese community are not available seeing they are not broken out by ethnicity, only by race, according to Linda C. Aguiar, Community Executive, Health Initiatives for the American Cancer Society.
According to Dr. Therese Mulvey, physician-in-chief at SouthCoast Center for Cancer Care, 300 to 400 women in the SouthCoast region will develop breast cancer and more than 50 percent will be non-white American, which encompasses many ethnic groups.
Looking at these statistics, it is clear that the question "What is Breast Cancer?" needs to be answered and clarified.
It is a question some know the answer to and too many are seeking an answer for.
According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is a malignant tumor that starts from cells of the breast. A malignant tumor is a group of cancer cells that may invade surrounding tissues or spread to distant areas of the body.
The disease occurs almost entirely in women, but men can get it, too. Most breast cancers begin in the cells that line the ducts (ductal cancers); some begin in the cells that line the lobules (lobular cancers) and a small number start in other tissues.
Knowing the type of cancer is important, but knowing if the cancer cells have spread to lymph nodes is critical too, because if it has, there is a higher chance that the cells could have also gotten into the bloodstream and spread to other parts of the body.
"Knowing the specific type of cancer, allows treatment to be customized and directed to the tumor," stated Dr. J. Bruno Pestana, a hematologist/medical oncologist at Saint Anne's Hospital in Fall River, Mass.
The American Cancer Society statistics show that progress in both early detection and treatment of breast cancer has resulted in decreasing mortality rates since 1990. It also shows that breast cancer caught early before it has spread has a 98 percent, five-year relative survival rate and that 61 percent of breast cancers are found at this early stage.
"It is very important to screen the population in order to detect early stages and in turn treat them effectively," stated Dr. Pestana.
The American Cancer Society states that even though most breast lumps are not cancerous, therefore benign, some may still need to be sampled and viewed under a microscope to prove they are not cancerous.
Most lumps turn out to be fibrocystic changes, the formation of fibrous (scar-like) tissue, and cysts (fluid-filled sacs), causing breast swelling and pain, and often happening just before a woman's menstrual period is about to begin. Other benign breast lumps, such as fibroadenomas or intraductal papillomas, are abnormal growths, but they are not cancerous and do not spread outside of the breast to other organs. Although they are not life threatening, some benign breast conditions are important because women with these conditions have a higher risk of developing breast cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, there are about 16 types of breast cancer.
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the most common type of non-invasive breast cancer. These cancer cells are inside the ducts, but have not spread through the walls of the ducts into the surrounding breast tissue. About 1 in 5 new breast cancer cases will be DCIS. A mammogram is often the best way to find DCIS early.
Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) is the most common type of invasive breast cancer. It starts in a milk passage (duct) of the breast, breaks through the wall of the duct, and grows into the fatty tissue of the breast. At this point, it may be able to spread to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system and bloodstream. About 8 of 10 invasive breast cancers are invasive ductal carcinomas.
Another common type is invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), which starts in the milk-producing glands (lobules). Like IDC, it can spread to other parts of the body. About 1 out of 10 invasive breast cancers are ILCs.
For more information on other types of breast cancer, please visit www.cancer.org.
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