Cancer Studies > cancer > Breast Cancer Diagnostic
If you have a symptom or screening test result that suggests cancer, your doctor whether this is due to cancer or other causes. Your doctor may ask about your personal and family history. You can use a physical exam. Your doctor may also order a mammogram or other imaging procedure. These tests make pictures of tissues in the chest. After the tests your doctor may decide no other exams are needed. Your doctor may suggest that you follow-up exam later. Or you may need a biopsy to look for cancer cells.
Clinical Breast Exam
Your health care provider feels each breast for lumps and looks for other problems. If you have a solid, your doctor feels the size, shape and texture. Your doctor will also check to see if it moves easily. Benign lumps often feel different from cancer Ones. Nodules which are soft, smooth, round, and movable are likely benign. A hard, oddly shaped, that is feels more secure in the risk of breast cancer.
Diagnostic Mammogram
Diagnostic mammograms are x-ray images of the breast. They take clearer, more detailed images of the areas that look abnormal on a screening mammogram. Doctors use them to learn more about unusual breast changes, such as a lump, pain, thickening, nipple discharge, or a change in breast size or shape. Diagnostic mammograms may focus on one specific area of the breast. They may involve special techniques and more views than screening mammography.
Ultrasound
An ultrasound device sends sound waves that humans cannot hear. The waves bounce tissues. A computer uses the echoes to create a picture. Your doctor may these pictures on a monitor. The pictures may show whether a lump is solid or filled with fluid. A cyst is a fluid-filled bag. Cysts are not cancer but a solid mass cancer. After the test your doctor can store the pictures on video or print them out. This test can be used in conjunction with a mammogram.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) uses a powerful magnet linked to a computer. MRI makes detailed pictures of breast tissue. Your doctor may these pictures on a monitor or print film. MRI can be used in conjunction with a mammogram.
Biopsy
Your doctor may refer you to a surgeon or breast specialist for a biopsy. Fluid or tissue is removed from your breast to help determine if there is cancer.
Some suspicious areas seen on a mammogram but cannot be felt during a clinical breast exam. Doctors can use imaging procedures to help see the area and remove tissue. These procedures include ultrasound-guided, needle-localized, or stereotactic biopsy.
Doctors can remove tissue from the breast in different ways:
- Fine-needle aspiration: The doctor uses a thin needle to remove fluid from a chest strap. If the fluid appears to contain cells, a pathologist at a lab checks them for cancer with a microscope. If the liquid is clear, it cannot be verified by a laboratory.
- Core biopsy: Your doctor uses a thick needle to remove breast tissue. A pathologist checks for cancer cells. This procedure is called a needle biopsy.
- Surgical biopsy: Your surgeon removes a sample of the tissue. A pathologist checks the tissue for cancer cells. An incision biopsy takes a sample of a lump or abnormal area. An excision biopsy takes the entire lump or area.
If cancer cells are found, the pathologist can tell what kind of cancer it is. The most common form of breast cancer is ducal carcinoma. Abnormal cells are found in the lining of the pipes. Lobular carcinoma is a different type. Abnormal cells are found in the milk glands.
Determining Breast Cancer Staging
To plan your treatment, your doctor must know the extent (stage) of disease. The stage is based on the size of tumor and whether the cancer has spread. Staging may include x-rays and lab tests. These tests can reveal whether the cancer has spread, and if so, what parts of your body. When breast cancer spreads, cancer cells are often found in the lymph nodes under the arm (axillary lymph nodes). The stage is often not known until after the surgery removing the tumor in your breast and lymph nodes under your arm.
These are the stages of breast cancer:
- Stage 0 is carcinoma in situ.
Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS): Abnormal cells in the lining of a lobule. LCIS is seldom invasive cancer. However, having LCIS in one breast increases the risk of cancer for both breasts. Carcinoma in situ (DCIS): Abnormal cells in the lining of a pipe. DCIS is also called intraductal carcinoma. The abnormal cells have not spread outside the channel. They have not invaded the nearby breast tissue. DCIS is sometimes invasive cancer if not treated.
- Phase I is an early stage of invasive breast cancer. The tumor is no more than 2 centimeters (three quarters of an inch) over. Cancer cells have not spread beyond the breast.
- Phase II is one of the following:
The tumor in the breast is no more than 2 centimeters (three quarters of an inch) over. The cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm. The tumor is between 2 and 5 centimeters (three quarters of an inch to 2 inches). The cancer may have spread to the lymph nodes under the arm. The tumor is larger than 5 cm (2 inches). The cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes under the arm.
- Stage III locally advanced cancer. It is divided into Stage IIIA, IIIB and IIIC.
- Stage IIIA is one of the following:
The tumor in the breast is less than 5 cm (2 inches). The cancer has spread to underarm lymph nodes that are linked to each other or with other structures. Or the cancer may have spread to lymph nodes behind the breastbone. The tumor is more than 5 inches wide. The cancer has spread to the underarm lymph nodes that either alone or together or to other structures. Or the cancer may have spread to lymph nodes behind the breastbone.
- Stage IIIB is a tumor of any size that has grown into the chest wall or skin of the breast. It may be associated with swelling of the breast or with nodules (lumps) in the breast skin.
The cancer may have spread to lymph nodes under the arm. The cancer may have spread to underarm lymph nodes that are to each other or other structures. Or the cancer may have spread to lymph nodes behind the breastbone. Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare form of breast cancer. The breast looks red and swollen because cancer cells of lymph vessels in the skin of the chest to block. When a doctor diagnoses inflammatory breast cancer, it is at least Stage IIIB, but more could be claimed.
- Stage IIIC is a tumor of any size. It has spread in one of the following ways:
The cancer has spread to the lymph nodes behind the breastbone and under the arm. The cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under or above the collarbone.
- Stage IV is distant metastatic cancer. The cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
- Recurrent cancer is cancer that has come back (again) after a period which could not be detected. The manufacturer may recur in the breast or chest wall. Or it may return in another part of the body such as bone, liver or lungs.
Related posts:
- Breast Cancer Staging
- Ductal Breast Cancer
- Breast Cancer Test
- Signs of Breast Cancer
- Breast Cancer Diagnosis
- Breast Cancer Surgery
- Breast Cancer Information
- Lobular Breast Cancer
- Metastatic Breast Cancer
- Treatment for Breast Cancer
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