Though, breast cancer is commoner in females with about one in every eight women likely to develop it. In fact the strongest risk factor for the development of breast cancer is being a woman but still about 0.5 to one per cent of breast cancers occur in men.
According to the World Health Organisation, breast cancer is the world’s most prevalent cancer with about 7.8 million women alive having it in the past five years leading to the year 2020.
A breast has three major parts; lobules, ducts and the connective tissue. It is in the lobules that milk is produced and it is the duct that carries milk to the nipple. The connective tissues are the ones that surround and hold firm the structures of the breast. They are made up of fibrous and fatty tissue.
The largest chunks of breast cancers are initiated in the ducts or lobules. According to the World Health Organisation, breast cancer arising from the lining cells of the ducts constitute 85 per cent of breast cancer while 15 per cent others originate from the lobules of the breast.
Most people will first notice breast cancer as an area of the breast with thickened tissue or a lump in the breast or in a nearby armpit. It may also be heralded as a non-cyclical armpit or breast pain or as an area of the skin having an orange skin-like appearance which may be accompanied by skin color changes.
Sometimes, breast cancer may even start as a rash around one or both nipples or as nipples discharge which sometimes is bloody. In some instances, the presage may be an indentation or an inversion of the nipple. A change in the size or shape of the breast or the peeling, flaking or scaling of the skin of the breast or the nipple may all that would betoken the beginning of a breast cancer.
Normally, cells in our bodies divide only when there is a need for a new cell. But cells can sometimes, become delinquent to create a mass of tissue called a tumor. A tumor that contains normal cells is said to be benign and the one that contains abnormal cells and function differently from the body normal cells is called malignant or cancerous.
Cancers are named after the part of the body from which they originate from. So, breast cancer emanates from an uncontrolled division and growth of the breast cells. Just like any other cancer, breast cancer can also invade and extend into surrounding breast tissues and even metastasize into other parts of the body to form new tumors.