FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
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Breast Cancer
It is commonest cancer affecting women in the United Kingdom. 1 in 7 women are affected with breast cancer during their lifetime. It is rare in men, and only 1 in 1000 men are affected with breast cancer during their lifetime.
Breast lump is commonest symptoms. Other symptoms include, nipple discharge, skin changes with or without swelling of breast and lump in the axilla.
If you notice any new symptoms in your breast or axilla, you should seek advice from your doctor.
Cancer develops within in the cells lining the milk duct in your breast. When the cancer cells remain within the milk duct and doesn’t involve the surrounding supportive tissue it is called as in-situ breast cancer (Ductal carcinoma in situ –
DCIS).
Whereas when the cancer cells invade thorough the milk ducts into the surrounding supportive tissue, it is called as invasive breast cancer. There are various type of invasive breast cancer depending on how they look under a microscope. The Invasive Ductal Cancer (IDC) and Invasive Lobular Cancer (ILC) are the commonest variants.
Breast Cancer Treatment
It is one of the commonest questions being asked during a consultation. Yes, it can be treated.
Various treatment options are available to manage breast cancer. Depending on the behaviour of your cancer (features of cancer identified from the biopsy), the specialist will recommend a combination of treatments to achieve the best long-term outcome.
- Surgery – It involves removal of the cancer from the breast and in most cases removal of few or all the lymph glands from the axilla.
- Chemotherapy – A combination of medications that are given through your blood vessels prior to and/or after surgical removal of cancer.
- Radiotherapy – Radiation treatment given commonly after surgery to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence.
- Anti-hormonal medications – Tablets that are taken once a day for 5 to 10 years after your surgical treatment. Sometimes the specialist might want to give this mediation prior to your surgery. These medications act through various mechanisms to prevent the female hormone (Oestrogen) acting on breast cancer cells.
- Immunotherapy – Offered for some types of breast cancer expressing specialised areas which can be targeted through immunotherapy. Most of the immunotherapy medications are given through injections and along with or after chemotherapy treatment.
Breast Cancer Surgery
If you are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, the surgery involves removal of cancer from the breast and few/all lymph glands from your axilla. Conversely, if you have non-invasive cancer (DCIS), surgical removal of cancer from the breast is only needed and most of the time an axillary surgery can be avoided.
The specialist can remove only the area of abnormality, or the lump containing cancer (lumpectomy or wide local excision) or will have to remove the whole breast (Mastectomy).
Lumpectomy is removal of the cancer with a clear margin (wide local excision).
There are various factors the specialist will consider before determining the best options to manage your cancer. The specialist will go through the reason for offering mastectomy and will discuss with you the various reconstructive options that are available.
During triple assessment in one stop clinic, an ultrasound examination of your axilla will be undertaken and if needed our radiologist will perform percutaneous biopsy from the lymph glands. This will allow the specialist to determine whether there is any spread of cancer cells to the lymph glands.
The removal of axillary lymph glands at the time of your cancer surgery will allow the specialist to gain vital information on cancer spread (metastasis). This will also enable the specialist to determine the stage of your breast cancer.
- Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) – offered when there is no pre-operative suspicion of cancer spread to the axillary lymph glands.
- Axillary lymph node clearance (ALNC) – Offered when there is percutaneous biopsy proven confirmation of cancer spread to axillary lymph glands.
