What to Expect After Breast Cancer Diagnosis

• 01/08/2021
• 0

At present, Breast cancer has become more common in women. It is a type of cancer that starts in breast when the breast cells begin to grow out of control. It can be diagnosis through x-ray or felt as lump. So if you feel any kind of lump in your breast, without delaying, you must consult Breast Disease Specialist in Chandigarh.

The most scary and dreadful moment is, when you receive an unexpected news about possibility of cancer in you. After knowing this, doctor will ask you for mammogram that shows a suspicious area or through physical exam by you or your doctor lump is found.  Doctor asks questions about changes in nipple, lump or the skin of your breasts and if all signs are pointing to breast cancer then, the next step that you will have to follow is the series of test to know more about the cancer so that the treatment plan can be decided.

Diagnostic Testing: – In this step, many tests are done such as diagnostic mammogram, breast ultrasound, breast MRI etc. Diagnostic mammogram is almost same as screening mammogram but suspicious area is looked including magnified views. Sometimes diagnostic mammogram gives different or more detailed views about the affected area as compared to screening mammogram.

After that, your doctor becomes ensure about your condition, is there any kind of serious problem or benign or requires a follow-up mammogram up to four to six months etc. Apart from it, you may be asked to need of biopsy. To make the image clearer about your disease, you must contact Breast Cancer Specialist in Chandigarh.

Biopsy: – This is the last option to ensure that if the area is cancerous or not. For this procedure, so many points are viewed such as size, location, how much area to be biopsied and many other factors. Biopsy techniques are mentioned below: –

1) Fine Needle Biopsy: – In this process, a very thin needle is used to take the sample of fluid-filled lump.

2) Core Needle Biopsy: – In this process, a wider needle is used to take a larger sample of tissue.

3) Vacuum-assisted Biopsy: – This is also known as mammotone biopsy. In this process, a needle is attached to a gentle suction tube for obtaining sample or clearing the bleeding from the area.

Stages

Once, breast cancer is diagnosed then your doctor will find out how far it has spread and this is called staging. Treatment of cancer is based on its stage.

Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) is described as stage 0 and other stages of breast cancer determine invasive breast cancer.

1) Stage 1 – On this stage, the size of tumour is 2 cm and the lymph nodes of armpit are not affected. Cancer does not spread anywhere else in the body.

2) Stage 2 – On this stage, the size of tumour is 2 – 5 cm and the lymph nodes of armpit are not affected. Cancer does not spread anywhere else in the body like 1^st stage.

3) Stage 3 – On this stage, the size of tumour remains same as in 2^nd stage but may be attached to structures in the breast such as skin or surrounding tissues and the lymph nodes of armpit are affected. It has not spread elsewhere in the body.

4) Stage 4 – On this stage the size of tumour can be any and it has spread to other parts of the body.

Grades

The grade of cancer is helpful in describing about the appearance of cells.

1) Low grade (G1) – The cells look abnormal and appear to be growing slowly.

2) Medium grade (G2) – The cells look more abnormal and appear to grow little bit faster.

3) High grade (G3) – The cells look much more abnormal and appear to grow with fastest speed.

Treatment

The treatment of this problem is based on its type, stage and your personal decision. But for most of the stages, surgery is suggested. Breast-conserving surgery depends upon your stage and it can be either a lumpectomy or partial mastectomy, in which the surgeon takes a small section of breast tissues. There are another options in mastectomy such as Simple or total mastectomy, skin-sparing mastectomy, modified radical mastectomy, radical mastectomy etc.

You can talk to Breast Surgeon in Chandigarh for breast reconstruction surgery. Some surgeons perform breast reconstruction surgery at the time of breast surgery whereas some others recommend separate procedure.

  After Treatment

Once the treatment is completed you will have to visit to your doctor every three to six months initially. As per recovery, your visits will be less frequent and at last there will be only once in a year or 5 year post treatment. To get rid of this as soon as possible, you should consult Breast Cancer Specialist in Chandigarh.