Breast Cancer
Medical Author:
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical EditorMelissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology. Medical Editor:
Jerry R. Balentine, DO, FACEP
Jerry R. Balentine, DO, FACEPDr. Balentine received his undergraduate degree from McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. He attended medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine graduating in1983. He completed his internship at St. Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia and his Emergency Medicine residency at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in the Bronx, where he served as chief resident.
BRCA Genes and Your Breast Cancer RiskMedical Author: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
Only about 5% of women with breast cancer are found to carry a mutated BRCA gene. Studies have confirmed that women who carry these BRCA mutations have a high risk for development of breast cancer, up to seven times that of women who do not have BRCA gene alterations. By the age of 80, women with BRCA mutations have about an 80% chance of developing breast cancer. Having a BRCA mutation also predisposes a woman to developing breast cancer at an early age. The incidence of BRCA mutation is higher in some ethnic groups, such as people of Ashkenazi (European) Jewish origin and in some populations in Iceland, the Netherlands, and the Balkans. Top Searched Breast Cancer Terms
symptoms, causes, treatments, pain, sentinel node biopsy, prevention, diagnosis, lump, mastectomy, information, mammogram, breast reconstruction, chemotherapy, lumpectomy
Breast Cancer OverviewBreast cancer is cancer arising in breast tissue. Cancer is simply a group of abnormal cells that have abnormal growth patterns.
The breasts are made of fat, glands, and connective (fibrous) tissue. The breast has several lobes, which are divided into lobules that end in the milk glands. Tiny ducts run from the many tiny glands, connect together, and end in the nipple.
Precancerous changes, called in situ changes, are common.
When cancers spread into the surrounding tissues, they are termed infiltrating cancers. Cancers spreading from the ducts into adjacent spaces are termed infiltrating ductal carcinomas. Cancers spreading from the lobules are infiltrating lobular carcinomas. The most serious cancers are metastatic cancers. Metastasis means that the cancer has spread from the place where it started into other tissues distant from the original tumor site. The most common place for breast cancer to metastasize is into the lymph nodes under the arm or above the collarbone on the same side as the cancer. Other common sites of breast cancer metastasis are the brain, the bones, and the liver. Viewer Comments & ReviewsBreast Cancer - How Was It DetectedThe eMedicineHealth physician editors ask:How was your breast cancer detected? Breast Cancer - SymptomsThe eMedicineHealth physician editors ask:What was your treatment for breast cancer? |
BRCA, known as the "breast cancer gene," is one of
several genetic mutations (alterations in the body's genetic material) that have
been associated with the development of breast and 
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Breast Infection Overview
Mastitis is an infection of the tissue of the breast that occurs most frequently during the time of breastfeeding. This infection causes pain, swelling, redness, and increased temperature of the breast. It can occur when bacteria, often from the baby's mouth, enter a milk duct through a crack in the nipple. This causes an infection and painful inflammation of the breast.
Breast infections most commonly occur one to three months after the delivery of a baby, but they can occur in women who have not recently delivered as well as in women after menopause. Other causes of infection include chronic mastitis and a rare form of cancer called inflammatory carcinoma.
- The breast is composed of several glands and ducts that lead to the nipple and the surrounding colored area called the areola. The milk-carrying ducts extend from the nipple into the underlying breast tissue like the spokes of a wheel. Under the areola are lactiferous duc...
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Breast Cancer »
Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second most common cause of death from cancer in women.
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