Who gets breast cancer ?

A woman can develop breast cancer any time during her adult life - even as early 
as in her late twenties.  One out of fifteen women will develop the disease at some 
stage during her lifetime.  The risk of developing breast cancer increases with age.


What is breast cancer ?

Breast cancer is not necessarily restricted to a lump in the breast when diagnosed,
although that is generally the first sign of disease.  As a matter of fact, it is not the 
lump itself that kills but rather the spreading of cancerous cells to other parts of the 
body, a phenomenon known as metastasis.     


Breast cancer - a death sentence ?

Breast cancer is a collection of diseases.  Some cases are more aggressive than 
others.  The type and course that the disease takes varies from patient to patient 
comparable to the variation that exists in fingerprints.  In other words, the 
diagnosis of breast cancer is not a death sentence, but will have a different impact
on the lives of individual patients.  There are breast cancer patients who never have 
recurrence of their disease while others live their disease with minimal treatment for 
many years - even decades. 


How is breast cancer treated ?

There are three main arms of treatment:  surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy
(which can include hormonal therapy).  Surgery and radiotherapy are local treatments,
while chemotherapy is systemic, being administered via the bloodstream or digestive 
tract.  In most cases a combination of treatments will be applied.


Does a patient need to lose her breast/s ?

NO.  It has been proven in large overseas studies that a mastectomy (removal of 
the breast) offers no survival benefit, when compared with treatment that removes
only the lump.  Small lumps can be removed with excellent cosmetic results.  This
approach results in far less mutilation and emotional distress for the individual.  With
advances in chemotherapy, hormonal and gene therapy, it is rarely necessary to 
perform a mastectomy.  A mastectomy should not be offered as first treatment.  Its 
application is restricted to very specific cases. 


What if the lump is too big ?

There is a strong possibility that some cancer cells have already found their way via 
the blood stream to other parts of the body (bone, lung or liver).  These cancer 
cells that went astray (micro-metastasis) can not always be detected with the 
available tests such as x-rays and scans.  With a large tumour there is more than a
70% chance of micro-metastasis.  Systemic treatment (chemotherapy ± hormonal 
therapy) should then be administered to shrink the tumour and at the same time kill the
cells outside the boundaries of the breast.  If the tumour has shrunk sufficiently, it 
can be removed with good cosmetic results - resulting in far less trauma and mutilation
for the patient.