Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women. The current pandemic is taking on average 6 000 lives daily as of September 2020, yet according to WHO statistics breast cancer is impacting 2.1 million women each year and causes almost 2 000 deaths daily.
Remember that effective treatment for breast cancer exists if it is diagnosed early enough!
Read this and our following posts to learn more about:
- what breast cancer is
- what are its signs and symptoms of this serious illness
- who might be at risk group of breast cancer
- how is it diagnosed and what are the current breast cancer therapeutic approaches
WHAT IS BREAST CANCER
What we commonly refer to as breast cancer is not a single disease, but a group of them, as each type of cancer has its own unique symptoms and treatment. They have one thing in common though – they are malignant changes located in a breast.
Mutations in the genetic make-up of the cells cause their internal mechanisms to malfunction. As they start reproducing out of control, tumor mass grows and new blood vessels form (a process known as neoangiogenesis) to supply it with nutrients.
Cancer will continue its growth and spread to surrounding tissues and lymph nodes. At later stages, some cells may travel with blood or lymph to other parts of the body giving rise to “mini-cancers” – metastases – which will grow independently of the primary tumor.
Our goal is to identify the disease at its early stage when it is still relatively easy to remove the tumor completely.
