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| What is Breast Cancer? |
| Breast Cancer is a group of uncontrolled dividing cells in the breast that form a lump that eventually takes over the resources and space for productive cells in the body. |
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| What Causes Breast Cancer? |
| Breast cancer is not yet preventable or curable, but is treatable and survivable. Although some factors, especially gender (97% of patients are women) and age (the older, the more at risk), are known to contribute to the risk of getting breast cancer, there is no known cause of this life-threatening disease. |
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| How is Breast Cancer Treated? |
| All breast cancers differ and different people chose to follow different procedures to try to get rid of it. Common options for treating a malignant tumor include mastectomy, lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. |
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| How is Breast Cancer Detected and Diagnosed? |
| The best defense against metastasis of the cancer is early detection. Methods for detection include self/clinical breast exams, mammograms, biopsy and MRIs. |
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| Axillary lymph nodes - Small masses of tissue under the armpits that help the body fight disease by filtering out bacteria. Cancer here indicates a high risk that the tumor will reappear in other parts of the body. |
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| Biopsy - Removal of a portion of a lump to test for cancerous cells. |
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| Chemotherapy - Drugs that kill cancer cells throughout the body and cause a person to be tired, nauseous and susceptible to common illnesses. |
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| Malignant Tumor - Cancerous (as opposed to non cancerous benign tumor). |
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| Mammogram - Special x-ray of the breast for diagnostic purposes. |
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| Mastectomy - Operation in which entire breast is removed. |
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| Metastasis - The spread of cancer cells through the body through lymph nodes (no longer contained in a lump). |
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| Radiation - Localized treatment with side effects like sunburn and fatique. |
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| Tamoxifen - Drug taken to prevent recurrence of breast cancer by blocking the attachment of estrogen growth signals to cancer cells. |
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| prepared by Megan Sussman, 2002 |
