What Is Breast Cancer?
The breast is made up of 15-20 sections called lobes. Within each lobe there are lobules, which consist of cells that are able to produce milk. Ducts connect these parts of the breast to each other and lead the milk produced to the nipple. Breast cancer is the uncontrolled growth of cells in the breast, particularly cells within the lobules and the ducts. These cells are malignant, meaning they have the potential to invade the surrounding tissue and spread to other parts of the body, such as the brain, lungs, liver and bones. Unlike malignant cells, cells of a benign mass in the breast do not invade or spread to other tissue, although the mass does grow locally; benign masses are not called cancers. Masses comprised of malignant or benign cells are both called tumours. Thus a breast tumour does not necessarily mean breast cancer. Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer among women, second only to skin cancer. A North American or Western European woman who lives to the age of eighty has a 1 in 9 chance of developing invasive breast cancer, while a woman from Asia has only one-fifth the risk that a Western woman has. However, studies have shown that Asian women who live in western countries have identical risks for invasive breast cancer as their western counterparts. Men can also get breast cancer; however, it is much less common.
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