What is Breast Cancer?
It is a tumoral formation that occurs as a result of the deterioration and uncontrolled proliferation of the cells lining the milk glands or milk ducts in the breast tissue and has the potential to spread to other organs.
What Are the Symptoms of Breast Cancer?
- Palpable swelling in the breast or armpit area
- Breast enlargement, deformity, asymmetry
- Nipple deformity, collapse and color change
- Discharge from the nipple
- Eczema-like skin rashes and peelings on the nipple
- Redness and scar formation on the nipple
- Edema, redness, orange peel appearance on the breast skin (inflammatory breast cancer)
How is Breast Cancer Diagnosed?
In the diagnosis of breast cancer, the process begins with a detailed history and physical examination. When deemed necessary by your doctor, the following methods are generally used to diagnose breast cancer:
- Mammography
- Ultrasonography
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Biopsy
- Computed tomography (CT)
- PET CT
In our hospital, along with advanced imaging methods such as Breast Ultrasonography, Digital Mammography, Magnetic Resonance Examination (MRI); Advanced diagnostic and therapeutic applications such as needle biopsies are performed with radiological methods.
How is Breast Cancer Treatment?
Breast cancer treatment depends on many factors such as the stage and type of the disease.
Breast-conserving surgery (in which the entire breast is not removed) can be applied in patients caught at an early stage.
After breast-conserving surgery, the operated breast tissue must be completely irradiated. (Radiotherapy)
In large tumors, a surgical method, which we call mastectomy, is performed in which the entire breast is removed. If there is involvement in the armpit lymph nodes, these lymph nodes are also removed.
Chemotherapy is one of the most commonly used drug treatment methods in breast cancer. In this treatment, cancerous cells are tried to be destroyed with the help of chemical drugs.
Hormonal therapy: It is a treatment method applied in the form of suppression of hormones that are effective in the growth and proliferation of cancer cells. It is a form of treatment used in hormone-sensitive tumors.
In breast cancer, where early diagnosis is vital, preventive treatment is as important as the treatment of the existing disease.
In order to detect cancer formation in the breast early, attention should be paid to screening methods.
