What Is Breast Cancer? Health Article

Breast cancer is cancer that begins in the breast. It is one of the most common types of cancer in American women. Doctors do not yet know what causes breast cancer. Once breast cancer occurs, cancer cells can spread to other parts of your body, making it life-threatening. The good news is that breast cancer is often found early before it has spread, and more treatment options exist than ever before. That means there’s more hope of beating breast cancer.

Your doctor can use a biopsy to tell if you have breast cancer and to predict how fast it may grow, called the grade of the cancer. But it’s likely you’ll need other tests to learn about how far the cancer has progressed, called the stage of the cancer.

To decide the best course of treatment for you, your healthcare team needs to know as much as they can about your cancer. This may mean you need to get tests and work with more than one doctor or type of healthcare professional.

Your oncology healthcare team may include an oncology nurse and more than one specialist. Here are some of the doctors who specialize in dealing with breast cancer.

• Gynecologists, specialists in women’s health.

• Medical oncologists, specialists in chemotherapy, hormone therapy, or targeted therapy

• Radiation oncologists, specialists in radiation therapy

• Surgical oncologists, specialists in surgery

• Plastic surgeons, specialists in surgical reconstruction

This multidisciplinary approach helps you get well-rounded healthcare from the most appropriate experts. Your healthcare team will answer any questions you may have and will help you through each of the steps you’ll take before, during, and after treatment. A member of your team will let you know which tests are being done and review the results with you. Team members will guide you in making treatment decisions.

Usually treatment for breast cancer begins a few weeks after a diagnosis. That gives you time to do these things.

• Get more tests, if you need them.

• Talk with your doctor about treatment choices.

• Get a second opinion, if you want one.

• Decide about treatment.

• Prepare yourself and your loved ones.

To better understand what is happening inside you, it may help you to understand the basic anatomy of the breast.