Symptoms: Early breast cancer usually does not cause pain. In fact, when breast cancer first develops, there may be no symptoms at all. But as the cancer grows, it can cause changes that women should watch for: -A lump or thickening in or near the breast or in the underarm area; -A change in the size or shape of the breast; -Nipple discharge or tenderness, or the nipple inverted into the breast; -Ridges or pitting of the breast (the skin looks like the skin of an orange); or -A change in the color or feel of the skin near the areola. A woman should see her doctor about any symptoms like these. Most often, they are not cancer, but it's important to check with the doctor so that any problems can be diagnosed and treated as early as possible. Diagnosis: To help find the cause of any sign or symptom, a doctor does a careful physical examination and asks about personal and family medical history. In addition, the doctor may do one or more breast exams: Clinical breast examination: The doctor can tell a lot about a lump by carefully feeling it and the tissue around it. Benign lumps often feel different from malignant ones. The doctor can examine the size and texture of the lump and determine whether the lump moves easily. Mammography: X-rays of the breast can give the doctor important information about a breast lump. Ultra-sonography: Ultra-sonography of both the breasts can often show whether a lump or lesion is a fluid-filled cyst (not malignant) or a solid mass (which may or may not be cancer). This test also tells about the total spread out of the disease in your breasts. Biopsy: Often, fluid or tissue must be removed from the breast so the doctor can make a diagnosis. A woman's doctor may refer her for further evaluation to a surgeon or other health care professional that has experience with breast diseases. These doctors may perform: -Fine-needle aspiration: A thin needle is used to remove fluid and/or cells from a breast lump. If the fluid is clear and there are no malignant cells then it is not necessary to perform further tests. -Needle biopsy: Using special techniques, tissue can be removed with a needle from an area that looks suspicious on a mammogram but cannot be felt. Tissue removed in a needle biopsy goes to a lab to be checked by a pathologist for cancer cells. -Surgical biopsy: In a surgical biopsy, the surgeon cuts out a sample of a lump or removes all of the lump or suspicious area and an area of healthy tissue around the edges. A pathologist then examines the tissue under a microscope to check for cancer cells. Breast cancer can be easily curable if it is diagnosed at a early stage. Depending on the grade of the cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation can be done after the surgical biopsy.
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