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Breast Cancer
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Breast Cancer
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Breast Cancer
Diagnosis
The diagnosis of Breast Cancer is
established by the pathological examination of removed breast tissue. Such
tissue is generally obtained at the time of surgical treatment. A number
of procedures have been devised to obtain tissue or cells prior to the
treatment for histological or cytological examination. Such procedures
include fine-needle aspiration, nipples aspirates, ductal lavage, core
needle biopsy, and local surgical biopsy. Most of these diagnostic steps,
however, have some limitations as they may not yield enough tissue or miss
the cancer, while the surgical biopsy already becomes an invasive
procedure. Imaging tests are used to detect metastasis and include chest
x-ray, bone scan, CT, MRI, and PET scanning. Ca 15.3 (carbohydrate antigen
15.3, epithelial mucin) is a tumor marker determined in blood which can be
used to follow up disease activity. Breast lesions are examined for
certain markers, notably sex steroid hormone receptors. About two thirds
of postmenopausal Breast Cancer s are estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and
progesterone receptor positive (PR+). Receptor status modifies the
treatment as, for instance, ER+ lesions are more sensitive to hormonal
therapy. |
History of Breast Cancer
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