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Breast cancer can be a devastating diagnosis and our job at Auckland Breast Centre is to ensure the journey doesn’t have to be. We practice within a tight multi-disciplinary team of specialists and surgeons with our aim to tailor your treatment to target your breast cancer, specifically.
The breasts are glands that are found within the fat layer of the chest wall. They are made up of the lobules that make the milk (like lumps of grapes), and the ducts (hollow tubes) that drain milk to the nipple. Between these units is the supporting or stromal tissue of the breast which also includes fatty tissue.
Breast cancer is a condition where the normal cells of the breast become abnormal (mutated) and grow out of control and invade other tissues around them. It can start from cells in the ducts, lobules or more rarely the stromal tissue in the breast. It is a very slow process initially from atypical cells as seen in the picture below. No breast cancer is the same as another as the mutations the cells have are unique which is why breast cancer treatments can be different between people as well. Breast cancer can also spread out of the breast to other parts of the body via the lymphatics (lymph glands) or blood stream.
No! Breast cancer is an accident of cell division. Even with all the risk reducing behaviours we can manage, some women will still get breast cancers.
Breast cancer can be managed in a number of ways, briefly:
At Auckland Breast Centre, you are managed by a team of surgeons, radiologists, pathologists and oncologists to determine the breast management for you. Sometimes, we do the surgery first; sometimes we give the chemotherapy first. Either way, our job is to tailor your care to you, your wishes and your needs.
Here are some links to some online tools that we recommend:
http://www.cancer.gov/bcrisktool/
https://canceraustralia.gov.au/affected-cancer/cancer-types/breast-cancer/your-risk/calculate
Get moving- 30 mins 5 times a week
http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/obesity/physical-activity-fact-sheet
Reduce your alcohol- limit to 7 units per week with some alcohol free days.
Diet- > 5 fruit and vege servings per day (whether frozen or fresh)
Women start accumulating their first mutations and risks of breast cancer between their first period and their first term pregnancy. In that time, the cells of the breast are vulnerable, can mutate easily and are not very good at repairing themselves. During that time, the best things to remember are:
http://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=canpre_pubs