Breast cancer causes, preventive tips and all about pregnancy after chemotherapy

According to the World Health Organisation, breast cancer occurs in every country of the world and in women at any age after puberty but with increasing rates.

In later life while health professionals point out that breast cancer is the commonest cancer in urban Indian women and the second commonest in the rural females.

Experts have revealed that in India, breast cancer has been a silent killer that kills 75,000 patients every year and it has become an epidemic with its cases rising each year now.

Since no woman is immune to breast cancer, we all must be vigilant and create awareness against the disease. Ahead of World Cancer Day 2022, we got doctors on board to know more about the warning signs to watch out for or the range of symptoms which indicate the occurrence of breast cancer, how to prevent them and all about pregnancy and breastfeeding after chemotherapy.

What is breast cancer?

Dr (COL) R. Ranga Rao, Chairman of Paras Cancer Centre, Paras Hospitals in Gurugram explains, “Breast cancers usually occur when some breast cells begin to grow abnormally. These cells divide faster than healthy cells and continue to accumulate, thereby forming a lump or mass. The cells can metastasize through the breast to one’s lymph nodes and then to other parts of the body.”

Highlighting how breast cancer usually begins in the milk producing ducts of the breasts and is initially called invasive ductal carcinoma, Dr Ranga Rao pointed out another common region where breast cancer can begin – the glandular tissue called lobules which is diagnosed as invasive lobular carcinoma.

Studies claim that 5 to 10 percent of breast cancers are linked to gene mutations passed through one generation to another within a family with the most well known breast cancer genes being BRCA1 and BRCA2. However, a study by American Cancer Society shares that most breast lumps are benign and not cancer (malignant) and that these non-cancer breast tumours are abnormal growths but they do not spread outside of the breast nor are they life threatening yet can increase a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer.