Like all other cancers, breast cancer is also divided into various stages for the facilitation of treatment through correct diagnosis. In this article I will highlight some important facts about stage 3 breast cancer.

Stages 3C, 3B and 3A are the different subcategories in which stage 3 breast cancer is usually divided. Invasive breast cancer is detected in stage 3A. Usually at this stage, there might be no tumor in the breast.

Axillary lymph nodes which stick to other structures or clump together carry the cancerous growth. At other times it is found that lymph nodes which are located close to the breastbone have come under the attack of cancer that is spreading.

The size of the tumor may be 5 centimeters or it may be smaller and the axillary lymph nodes have already been preyed by the cancer. In the next sub stage, the tumor might have exceeded 5 cm and grown larger and started spreading.

In stage 3B, which is also an invasive breast cancer stage, the size of the tumor has grown really big, it might be of any size and the skin of the breast and/or the chest wall will be under attack from the cancer that is spreading its tentacles ominously.

We have already talked about the lymph nodes located below or above the collarbone, which will fall prey to the spreading cancer. And the axillary lymph nodes and those located close to the breastbone will also get affected by the spreading cancer. It is at stage 3B, that doctors declare inflammatory breast cancer. At stage 3C, another invasive breast cancer stage, apart from the breastbone lymph nodes and axillary lymph nodes which will be under attack, the lymph nodes below and above the collarbone will also get affected by the cancer.

A peculiar thing that is noticed at stage 3C is that the breast may contain no sign of cancer. However, if a tumor is at all present, the size of it can be of any diameter and it may or may not have spread to the breast skin and chest wall.

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When cancerous or malignant cells start developing in the breast tissues, it leads to the often lethal breast cancer.

The two most common life threatening cancers that attack women all over the world and increase female mortality rates are breast cancer and cervical cancer, exactly in the order written. The figures are really astounding because out of every 7 American women, at least one woman will contract breast cancer during her lifetime.

In the year 2009, it has been estimated that 220,000 women in America will get attacked by breast cancer. In this article I shall discuss the common symptoms of breast cancer that every woman should be aware of.

Symptoms of breast cancer
There might be a small or tiny or medium sized lump in your breast that you will feel whenever you examine your breast or feel your breast after a certain age.
Your nipples might sport scales or they may be inverted or there might be a mass or swelling inside the armpit that is referred to as lymph nose. You might experience pain in your nipple and your affected breast might continue to feel soft and tender persistently. There might also be a bloody or clear nipple discharge at times coupled with swelling of the breast.

In the early stages of breast cancer, at times, there might be no visible symptoms or symptoms at all. After women reach the middle age, they should perform a self breast examination every month in front of the mirror or get a doctor to do it to detect if there is any change or lump in the breasts. If there is anything unusual or unnatural, you must seek immediate medical intervention. If a woman’s nipple is inverted since birth, then you can exclude an inverted nipple as a sign of your contracting breast cancer. But otherwise if your nipple is inverted or flat, it might be a symptom of breast cancer.

You can detect inflammatory breast cancer that is rare and really lethal among breast cancers through breasts that are often hot to touch and always feel warm.
Itchy nipples or breasts, dimpled breasts that look like orange peel, red and blotchy breasts, sudden increase in breast size without rhyme or reason or the size being constant during menstrual cycle are all symptoms of breast cancer.

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The short form of inflammatory breast cancer is IBC. An invasive type of breast cancer that is highly dangerous and extremely rare and which takes a very short time to spread to the other body parts is known as inflammatory breast cancer.

While other types of breast cancers strike women mostly in their middle ages, inflammatory breast cancer is different in that it strikes younger women normally. Usually inflammatory breast cancer is caused when the lymph vessel in the breast is blocked by breast cancer cells.

Symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer
The symptoms and signs of inflammatory breast cancer can be pretty different from the other types of the same disease that are more common. Let me debunk the myth that whenever a woman suffers from breast cancer, she will be able to feel small lumps in her breast for the commonest and widely known symptom of lump in the breast is absent in the case of inflammatory breast cancer.

The symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include nipple discharge, bruised breast appearance or a red or sore or darker appearance of breasts or change in the color of breasts, a sudden increase in the size of breasts without rhyme or reason, sore breast or painful breast, itchy breast or nipples, dimpling of breasts, inverted or flat nipple. The breast might start looking like an orange peel and sometimes (usually) the breast will feel hot to touch and mostly the breast will stay warm. The breast might be swollen.

It is often difficult to diagnose inflammatory breast cancer as the symptoms of IBC are very similar to those of a breast infection called mastitis. If a woman diagnosed with mastitis and being treated for the same does not show positive results and does not respond to antibiotics within 7 days, she might need an inflammatory breast cancer screening and require immediate medical intervention.

IBC is an aggressive type of breast cancer that remains largely undiagnosed till it has reached the later stages when chances of survival are slim or reduced. Rates of survival are better in the early stages, so do not neglect the symptoms or a medical consultation.

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Just like other types of cancer, even breast cancer is divided into several stages and sub stages which is known as stage grouping to help gauge the range of the spread of the cancer to other parts of the body and each stage has different survival rates, with the survival rate at stage 0 being the highest and those at stage IV the lowest.

Usually if the breast cancer is detected in the early stages of its formation, diagnosed correctly and if treatment is started immediately, there are very good chances of recovery.

Breast cancer stages are expressed in roman numerals from stage 0 to stages I, II, III, IV. Then A, B, C are used to denote the sub stages such as stages III A, III B, III C. Following is a summary of the breast cancer stages: Stage 0 is referred to as carcinoma in situ or DCIS. At Stage I the tumor has not reached axillary lymph nodes.

At stage II A, the size of the tumor will vary between 2 cm and 5 cm and it won’t have reached the lymph nodes which are axillary. However, if the tumor is smaller than 2 centimeters in diameter, then lymph nodes which are axillary might have been attacked.

At stage II B, if the tumor is bigger than 5 centimeter, lymph nodes which are axillary will remain unaffected but if the tumor is sized between 2 and 5 cm, then the cancer would have clawed its way to less than 4 axillary nodes.

The same holds true for stage III A, but here if the tumor is sized between 2 and 5 centimeters, then the cancer would have traveled to four or even more numbers of axillary nodes. At stage III B, the tumor may have attacked less than 10 axillary lymph nodes or the skin of the breast or chest wall might have been penetrated.

More than ten lymph nodes which are axillary will have fallen prey to the cancer at stage III C, or internal mammary lymph nodes or infraclavicular lymph nodes or more than 10 supraclavicular lymph nodes. Stage IV is identified with distant metastasis.

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The central tenet of breast cancer treatment is usually surgery if the breast tumor is localized and is backed up by radiotherapy at times, and chemotherapy and possible adjuvant hormonal therapy with aromatase inhibitor or Tamoxifen.

All kinds of post surgery adjuvant therapy treatments have to follow a certain pre set pattern that changes every two years, on the basis of the Swiss health conference or breast cancer summit.

A few tests that can be used by doctors are PCR tests such as microarray tests or Oncotype DX tests. For e.g. Mammaprint test. This one is beneficial for determining the risk of recurrence of breast cancer on the basis of expression of gene.

A minimally invasive method of treating breast cancer that is pretty innovative is ILT or Interstitial laser thermo therapy. It does not carry the risk of adverse side effects or health risks nor does it require any kind of surgical removal of breast tissue. Survival rates are not affected negatively due to this minimally invasive surgery.

Even after surgery, there might be a few cancerous cells loitering around in the affected portion. You can destroy these lingering cancer cells through radiation treatment. If your doctor can deliver the radiation in the right dose or the correct dose, then the risk of cancer recurrence is minimized by 66% to 50%.

Local treatment of breast cancer
Local treatment examples are radiation and surgery where the tumorous growth is treated without the rest of the body getting affected in any way.

Systemic treatment
Some examples of systemic treatment of breast cancer are immunotherapy, hormone therapy and chemotherapy. Usually these types of treatments reach the cancerous cells and spread throughout the body by consumption or pushing down through the mouth or by injection through the bloodstream. In this way the medication or treatment can reach all corners of the body and destroy cancer cells if they have spread to other body parts and affected other organs or parts.

Other treatments are neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies, surgeries like axillary dissection, lumpectomy, segmental or partial mastectomy or quadrantectomy, radical mastectomy, modified radical mastectomy, total or simple mastectomy, sentinel lymph node biopsy followed by breast reconstruction surgery.

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I know it sounds surprising, but it is not only women who get breast cancer, but even men can get affected by male breast cancer. In countries like United States, at least 1600 men annually get affected by male breast cancer.

Symptoms of male breast cancer
The symptoms of male breast cancer include scaly and dry nipples or scaly and dry skin of the breast or a red and sore breast, inverted nipples, discharge from the nipples, there might be a swelling or mass or lump in the wall of the chest or nipple or breast, the nipple might turn inward, puckering or dimpling of skin etc.

There might be a lump in the breast or chest at times but more often than not this condition has got nothing to do with male breast cancer and everything to do with gynecomastia.

However you should not neglect any symptom or sign or abnormality or any lump and immediately seek medical assistance for a proper and correct diagnosis.

Risk factors or causes of male breast cancer
Some of the risk factors which increase the chances of a man’s contracting male breast cancer (that doesn’t mean the man will definitely develop male breast cancer for sure) are age since maximum number of male breast cancer cases are reported in the age group of 60 and 70 years, liver diseases like cirrhosis which lead to an increase in the estrogen levels of the body and which often results in male breast cancer development.

Other risk factors are genetic disorders like Klinefelter’s Syndrome, a family history of male breast cancer or female breast cancer. Medical research and statistics reveal that when a very close female relative has suffered from breast cancer, in 20% of such cases, a man who is perhaps her son or brother or grandson or someone very close will also develop male breast cancer. This is because the gene BRCA gets mutated.

The other risk factor is exposure to radiation. For e.g. if a patient has previously undergone radiation therapy to treat lymphoma, he will be at increased risk of contracting male breast cancer.

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Breast cancer can be treated through several different types of drugs and in this article I will list a few commonly prescribed drugs.

Femara or Letrozole
Letrozole is the generic name of this medicine or chemotherapy drug that can effectively treat breast cancer. Positive breast cancer patients who have post menopausal estrogen receptor will benefit from this drug. This aromatase inhibitor prevents the conversion of androgens into estrogen because of which the tumor starts shrinking instead of growing.

Some of the side effects of Femara are back pain, fatigue, nausea, joint pain, bone pain, hot flashes etc. However pregnant women should stay away from Femara because it will harm the fetus. You can take Femara in the form of a pill without or with food.

Tamoxifen or Nolvadex
This pill, in use for the past 20 years to fight advanced breast cancer effectively, prevents the activity of estrogen which can lead to growth of cancerous cells in the breast tissue. Both men and women who are at high risk or at an advanced stage can use it.

Because it can harm the fetus, this pill shouldn’t be taken in pregnancy. Pre menopausal women can become more fertile after taking this pill, so adequate protection must be used during conjugal union.

The side effects are similar to the symptoms of menopause namely irregular periods, vaginal discharge, hot flashes etc. In case of men, the side effects will be impotence or loss of sexual desire, headaches and nausea.

Zoladex or Goserelin Acetate
The function of Zoladex is to starve the cancer cells in the breast tissue of estrogen. However this is not a pill but an injection that is injected every 3 months or every month. The common side effects of Zoladex include irregular periods, tenderness and swelling of breasts, vaginal dryness, decreased libido and hot flashes.

Some of the less commonly seen side effects are skin rashes, depression, insomnia, headaches, bone pain etc. After taking this injection if you experience a tingling sensation in the legs or arms or a numbness or difficulty in urinating or if urine flow has stopped completely, you require immediate medical assistance.
Another drug that you may try is Taxol.

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There are many risk factors behind breast cancer but the exact causes are not known.

One probable cause of breast cancer can be genetic predisposition or mutation of genes or changes in DNA because of which cancerous growth is seen in normal breast cells. Some of the uncertain risk factors, for which there is no valid medical basis as such are high fat diets, prolonged use of antiperspirant deodorant in the underarm region, daily use of under wire bra, increased use of push up bra, abortions, breast implants with silicone, pollution, working in night shifts, tobacco smoke etc.

There is hardly any link between these risk factors and breast cancer, but more studies and researches are being conducted to investigate any possible link. Use of cosmetics and special kinds of lingerie as a risk factor is a complete myth/rumor, so do not pay any heed to it.

Certain risk factors
The first risk factor is gender that is; women are 100 times more likely than men to get breast cancer. Age is the second factor with every two out of 3 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer of the invasive type crossing the age of 55 years plus when the condition is detected.

Mutation of genes BRCA2 and BRCA1 can cause breast cancer in 80% of the cases. A family history of breast cancer with very close female blood relatives suffering from breast cancer or a personal history of breast cancer can increase the chances.

Other factors are treatment with DES, previous treatment with breast radiation, very early periods before the age of 12 or late menopause after the age of 55 years, dense breast tissue, racial factors etc. American Indian women, Hispanic and Asian women run a lower risk as do African American women of contracting breast cancer. White women are at the greatest risk.

Other causes or risk factors are lack of exercise, obesity, alcohol, not breast feeding, post menopausal hormone therapy, contraceptive pills, giving birth to children after 30 years or not having children at all.

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There are 4 stages of breast cancer but if breast cancer is detected early, there are high chances of survival and cure, but in stage 4, the survival odds are really low.

Dry or scaly breasts or nipples, inverted or flat nipples, nipple discharge that is either bloody or clear, persistent tenderness and softness of breast, a breast that remains warm and is hot to touch, pain in breasts or nipples, a sore breast or swelling in the breasts, increase in size of breasts without rhyme or reason, no change in size of breasts even during menstruation, small lump in the breast that can be felt during examination of breast, change in appearance and color of breasts, redness or dark color of breasts etc are the commonly reported symptoms of breast cancer.

There are various different types of breast cancer and some are rarer and more dangerous than others. Sometimes there can be a mixture of different types in one breast tumor or it can be a blend of in situ and invasive cancer. Some of the breast cancer types are ductal carcinoma in situ, Lobular carcinoma in situ, Invasive or infiltrating ductal carcinoma, Infiltrating or invasive lobular carcinoma and inflammatory breast cancer. Of these the last is very rare and extremely lethal and the mortality rate is also higher at advanced stages. Apart from these, there are other types less commonly seen breast cancers.

Genetic predisposition, mutation of genes, change in DNA, lack of exercise, having children too late in life or not having children at all, early menstruation, late menopause, use of birth control pills, post menopausal hormone therapy, race, family history of breast cancer, personal history of radiation therapy or exposure to radiation, obesity, high fat diet, etc are the risk factors of breast cancer but no exact cause behind breast cancer has yet been pin pointed.

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