Breast cancer is a malignant tumor of the mammary gland. In other words, a cancer that originates in the unit cell whose function is to secrete milk, units ducto-lobular breast, mainly in women (cancer occurs 200 times less frequently in humans, which also has breasts, although atrophy).

Knowledge of Breast Cancer (wikipedia.org)

This cancer is the most common cancer in women with 89 cases per 100 000

5 to 10% of these cancers have a genetic hereditary, 85 to 90% of cases (known as sporadic or non-hereditary) have misunderstood the origins, environmental. A significant proportion of sporadic breast cancers are induced by hormone treatment, with a predisposition of some women with this cancer. Some lifestyle choices (alcohol, trans fats, obesity, physical inactivity) or gynecological choice (late first pregnancy, not breastfeeding, etc..) also promote cancer.

Epidemiology

The risk increases significantly with age between 30 and 60 years and is then evenly between 60 and 80 years the average age of diagnosis is 61 years.

There are certain predisposing genetic factors and hormonal factors.

However, its incidence has decreased significantly (from just under 9%) in the United States since 2003 and also in France, which would correspond to less use of hormone replacement therapy for menopause

Worldwide

* In 2002, it was estimated near 1.1 million new cases, with more than 400 000 deaths from breast cancer. Almost four million women develop breast cancer (Boyle and Ferley, 2004). Because of overdiagnosis, the frequency of histological finding a “cancer” breast depends mainly on the intensity of screening. Mortality decreased substantially since the 1990s in developed countries. It continues to grow in other countries.

Risk factors

It is essentially a cancer of women. It is rare in humans (less breast cancer in 100) but more importantly, the diagnosis is often delayed.

Genetic causes

5-10% of breast cancers diagnosed are breast cancer predisposition gene, between 2000 and 4000 people annually and responsible for 550 to 1,000 deaths in France. In 2008, ten genes are known to be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer when they carry mutations. Among them, nine are related to the system response to DNA damage. The tenth encodes a protein that inhibits the action of the enzyme AKT1 (enzyme whose inhibition also plays a role in cancer non-genetic). Two of these ten genes (called BRCA1 and BRCA2) are themselves solely responsible for half of hereditary breast cancers.

Most often this type of breast cancer appears in a woman with no particular health problem. Very rarely a woman carries a genetic disease known.

Several signs may suggest a breast cancer susceptibility gene:

* Age of youngest patient (average of 43 years instead of 60 years in the forms not transmitted)
* Family history of breast cancer;
* Cancer that occurs in both breasts simultaneously or in succession;
* Appearance of a second cancer in the ovary;
* Histological type of spinal cancer.

Transmission mode

It is autosomal dominant; transmission of an abnormal gene known as “muted. In a woman, the presence of a single gene mutation with a higher risk of having 80% of breast cancer instead of 10% in the absence of mutation.

The risk for women with a family in which there is abnormal gene depends on whether or not they have inherited. If they do not have the gene, their risk is the same as other women, whereas if they have inherited the gene, they will have between 70% to 80% probability of actually having breast cancer.

The problem is similar to the risk of ovarian cancer or colon. In some families you can see all of these cancers among women in the direct line (grandmother, mother, daughter) or with close relatives (aunt, sister, cousin). These cancers usually occur in the first part of their lives.

A genetic test may reveal that risk, but a test for a mutated gene does certainty that it is positive (in this case, all parents should be monitored). This highly specialized instrument should be requested for families in which women are likely to be a genetic inheritance highlighted by a cancer genetics consultation which will establish the pedigree of this family.

Treatments

As with all cancers, it is ideally (from a medical standpoint) in the surgical removal of the tumor, allowing at the same time to make the diagnosis. The next problem is to make the staging: the presence or absence of lymph nodes affected, presence or absence of metastasis.

However female breast is also in general for women to a female psychological and social, breasts are a symbol of femininity among the strongest. Some women may experience this mutilation as a denial of their femininity and thus their personality.

There are also other treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy, which in some cases can be used to obtain a reduction of the tumor prior to surgery. The effectiveness and risks of each type of treatment depends on the type of cancer, its extension and terrain.

reference :

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_du_sein