Data Extraction And Quality Assessment
A standardized table was used to extract the relevant information from all the included studies : author country population psychological factors under study type of cancer measures follow-up years adjusted covariates quality cancer and effect size. Adjusted RRs were used to measure effect size with 95% CI for cancer risk incidence. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale as recommended by the Cochrane Non-Randomized Studies Methods Working Group for non-randomized studies, including case-control and cohort studies. The scale accesses three criteria: quality and representativeness of sample comparability between groups and verification of the exposure or result of interest . The total score of the scale ranges from 0 to 9. Higher scores indicate higher quality. The assessment was done by two researchers.
Table 1. Characteristics of included studies psychological factors and cancer risk.
Treatment For A Breast Infection
The primary treatment for a breast infection is antibiotics. Youll usually need to take the medication for 10 to 14 days. You can also use mild over-the-counter pain relievers.
Be sure to drink plenty of fluids and get adequate rest to fight the infection. If breastfeeding is a problem, your doctor or lactation consultant can help you adjust your technique. After a couple of weeks, your infection should be cleared up.
This Woman Had Burning Breast Pain But 4 Doctors Told Her Breast Cancer Doesnt Hurt
The burning pain in Sarah Dickinsons right breast started when she was pregnant, and doctors explained it as a side effect of her developing milk ducts. But an ultrasound after she gave birth showed something more serious.
This article is part of Healths series, Misdiagnosed, featuring stories from real women who have had their medical symptoms dismissed or wrongly diagnosed.
Sarah Dickinson was just two weeks pregnant when she started to develop a burning feeling that affected her entire right breast. At first, she assumed it was a weird symptom of pregnancy, but the pain persisted.
It was on and off, mainly in the evenings, Dickinson, 37, tells Health. It would take my breath awaythe intensity of the burning sensation would just knock the wind out of me. The first-time mom found that applying heat to her breast helped, and she chalked up her symptoms as just hormonal.
But the burning sensation continued. Dickinson brought it up when she went to her ob-gyns officeand she went often. Because she was 35 at the time, hers was considered a high risk pregnancy, and that meant having doctor appointments every month. I saw four different providers and told each one about the burning, she says. Every time, they did a manual breast exam, and then concluded that the burning sensation was the result of her milk ducts coming in to prepare for breastfeeding.
RELATED: The Lump in My Breast Was Growing, but Doctors Kept Dismissing the Possibility That It Was Cancer
Read Also: What Are The Side Effects Of Breast Cancer
Common Causes Of Traumatic Breast Injury
The most common cause of a traumatic breast injury is a car accident. The seatbelt can cause trauma, or the airbag can deploy. Sometimes, the force of the collision slams your chest into the steering wheel. In all of these cases, it is possible to sustain an injury to your breast. Other causes of traumatic breast injury include assault, falling, or as the result of a sports injury.
You May Have Heard That Trauma To The Breasts Causes Breast Cancer In Actuality There Is No Data To Support A Link Between Trauma And Breast Cancer
Trauma to the breast can cause injury to the breast tissue and bleeding, which can form into a palpable mass. Bleeding can result in a hematoma, a collection of blood in the breast from the disruption of a blood vessel. On a mammogram, this area of injury will eventually be represented by calcifications. Hematomas eventually get reabsorbed by your lymphatic system.
There are many different types of calcifications in the breast. Calcifications in the breast are not related to the calcium levels in your bloodstream. Some calcifications are normal, others represent atypical cells and early forms of breast cancer. It is important to remember that calcifications from trauma do not turn into breast cancer.
Trauma to breast tissue can cause fat necrosis and oil cysts to form. Fat necrosis is scarring of the breast tissue, and can also be seen after surgery , biopsies, and radiation. The scarring often leads to a firm mass. Fat necrosis may take months or years to form after injury. An oil cyst occurs from shear forces tearing the fatty component of the breast, with the resultant release of oily fluid that coalesces into a cyst. Neither of these entities increases the risk of breast cancer, but may lead to additional imaging at the time of your yearly mammogram, such as an ultrasound or biopsy.
About the Author
Vanessa Prowler, MD, is a Breast Surgeon with Lakeland Regional Health. To make an appointment with Dr. Prowler, call 863.603.6565.
You May Like: Breast Cancer Stage 4 Life Expectancy
What Are The Symptoms Of Breast Pain From Injury
As weve mentioned above, there are many causes of injury, but what are the symptoms? Youll be glad to know that most breast issues result in no severe side effects apart from sharp breast pain, non-cancerous lumps, and breast contusions.
However, in less common cases, women can experience severe bleeding. This is due to the injury-causing severe damage to the blood vessels inside the breast. This then results in the possibility of several more side effects, such as feeling as if you are going to faint, lower blood pressure than normal, an increased heart rate, and shock.
Breast Injury When You Should Worry
A breast injury occurs when something causes damage or stress to the breast tissue. Many women experience breast pain at some point in their lives. Luckily, many types of breast injuries do not cause lasting problems, and there is no research suggesting they cause cancer. However, there are some types that are longer lasting than others.
Read on below as we explain all the symptoms you need to look out for and the dangerous complications that can occur after experiencing sharp breast pain from an injury.
Read Also: Stage Of Breast Cancer Survival Rate
Other Causes Of Pain And Tenderness
We often associate pain with something wrong, so when people feel tenderness or pain in their breast, they often think of breast cancer. But breast pain is rarely the first noticeable symptom of breast cancer. Several other factors can cause the pain.
Clinically known as mastalgia, breast pain can also be caused by the following:
- the fluctuation of hormones caused by menstruation
You May Like: What Is Genetic Counseling For Breast Cancer
Statistics On Breast Cancer And Pain
A breast tumora hard clump of breast cancer cellsdoesn’t usually cause breast pain unless it reaches the size of 2 centimeters in diameter or greater. But a tumor can be larger than 2 centimeters and still not cause pain.
For many women, breast pain is not their reporting symptom. One study found that only 6% of women reported breast pain as their main symptom. While most women with breast cancer report that a breast lump was their main symptom, 1 in 6 report a different symptom, including breast pain.
Read Also: Stage 2 Breast Cancer Metastasis
What Can Happen After An Injury To The Breast
If someone has an injury or blow to the breast, they might check it themselves or have it checked by a health professional. If theres already a cancer in the area, these checks could find it. This doesnt mean that the injury has caused the cancer.
Sometimes an injury can cause a lump thats not cancer. This can be bruising or scar tissue that can form when the body naturally repairs itself. Theres no evidence to suggest that these lumps increase the risk of cancer, but they may need treatment if they dont go away on their own.
If you notice a change to the look or feel of your breasts, or anything else thats not normal for you, tell your doctor. It probably wont be cancer, but its important to have it checked.
There are many myths about what causes cancer, including physical injuries to breasts. However, there are also proven causes, and things you can do to reduce your risk.
How Can A Woman Be Certain That A Lump Is Not Cancer
The only one way to be certain that a lump is not cancerous is to have a tissue sampling . There are several ways to perform the biopsy.
Types of biopsy studies include:
- Fine needle aspiration: Fine needle aspiration is similar to a blood test in that a needle is inserted into the mass and fluid is withdrawn. The fluid and cells are examined by a pathologist for signs suggesting malignancy.
- Core needle biopsy: For some women, may be indicated. In this procedure, a hollow needle is inserted into the suspicious area, and a core of tissue is removed through the needle.
To determine the correct location to sample by either method, the lump may be felt by hand if cannot be located. The FNA or core biopsy may be done during an ultrasound examination or mammogram. FNA of a benign cyst may remove the fluid contents of the cyst and cause the mass to disappear or markedly decrease in size.
- Excisional biopsy: If no fluid can be aspirated, and the mass is solid, then a direct tissue sampling must be performed. Tissue sampling using either a core needle biopsy or an excisional biopsy . The excisional biopsy is the best method of making an accurate diagnosis. Typically it is done in the operating room using either local or general anesthesia.
Don’t Miss: Stage Iv Breast Cancer Life Expectancy
Breast Mri Findings With Breast Cancer
Breast MRIs are usually reserved for women with an elevated risk of developing breast cancer, have already had breast cancer, or as a follow-up study to inconclusive findings on a mammogram, ultrasound, and exam. On an MRI, findings that suggest breast cancer include a mass with spiculated margins, rim enhancement around the mass, or what is known as “washout kinetics.” While a spiculated mass on MRI has a relatively high chance of being a cancer, there are benign changes that can mimic even MRI findings.
Influence Of Psychological Factors In Breast And Lung Cancer Risk A Systematic Review
- 1Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- 2Department of Medical Oncology, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- 3Laboratory of Mind-Matter Interaction with Therapeutic Intention, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
- 4Clínica de Saúde Ser e Viver, Maia, Portugal
Introduction: In 2020, according to the Global Cancer Observatory, nearly 10 million people died of cancer. Amongst all cancers, breast cancer had the highest number of new cases and lung cancer had the highest number of deaths. Even though the literatures suggest a possible connection between psychological factors and cancer risk, their association throughout studies remains inconclusive. The present systematic review studied the connection between psychological factors and the risk of breast and lung cancer, prior to a cancer diagnosis. The psychological factors of trauma, grief, and depression were studied.
Results and Conclusion: A total of 26 studies were included. Although non-consensual, the findings from the present systematic review suggest that, in addition to the known risk factors, psychological factors may play an important role in the etiology of both breast and lung cancer. To include psychological factors as a variable that affects cancer development may be fundamental to opening new avenues for prevention and intervention.
Systematic Review Registration: , identifier .
Recommended Reading: Stage 3 Cancer Definition
Does Breast Pain Increase Breast Cancer Risk
Though it’s uncommon, there are some painful breast conditions that may raise your risk of developing breast cancer. Both radial scars and multiple or complex fibroadenomas increase your risk of breast cancer Many breast conditions which cause pain pose little to no increased risk of breast cancer. Duct ectasia does not increase the risk of developing breast cancer, and while simple fibroadenomas do not increase the risk of breast cancer, complex fibroadenomas only slightly increase the risk.
Mammogram Findings With Breast Cancer
As with your clinical exam, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between a benign process in the breast and breast cancer. In fact, sometimes these can completely overlap . Mammograms are thought to be 60% to 90% sensitive, which means that 60% to 90% of the time if a cancer is present, the mammogram will find it. Mammograms have a specificity of 93%. This means that 93% of the time, something that looks strongly like a cancer on a mammogram will be cancer. This means that 7% of the time when a mammogram strongly suggests cancer, it is something else.
Mammogram findings that suggest cancer include breast calcifications, masses with an irregular shape, and a spiculated mass . Radiologists give a mammogram a number known as the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System or BI-RADS classification. In this system, a mammogram report is given a number between 1 and 6 describing the likelihood of cancer. A number of 1 means there are no signs of cancer and a number of 5 means the mammogram is highly suggestive of cancer .
The average recall rate from a screening mammogram is 9.8%, meaning that almost 10% of women who have a mammogram will be called back to do other studies. Of these women, 12% will need a biopsy done. Of these biopsies, 60% will be benign. In other words, even if you have an abnormal mammogram, and even if follow-up studies recommend you have a biopsy done, you are still more likely to have a benign breast process than cancer.
Also Check: Baking Soda And Breast Cancer
Breast Conditions That Arent Cancer
Breast symptoms including lumps, swelling, and nipple discharge are all possible symptoms of breast cancer, but more often they are symptoms of breast conditions that are benign not cancer. Help keep your breasts healthy by paying attention to how they normally look and feel and let your health care provider know about any changes.
These 5 benign breast conditions often need no treatment, but some do. And some are linked with a higher risk for getting breast cancer later on.
Signs Of Breast Cancer That Arent A Lump
For decades, the medical community and the media have waged an effective awareness campaign about the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, educating the public about the importance of diligently monitoring their breasts for lumps. And the tactic has worked. Early detection has contributed to a 39 percent decline in breast cancer deaths in women from 1989 to 2015, according to the American Cancer Society. While thats an important step forward, many other abnormalities that may also indicate breast cancer are lesser known and discussed. Some, then, may be led to assume that no lump and no tumor mean no cancer, but that may be a dangerous conclusion to draw.
The majority of the publicity assigned to breast cancer is a lump, and the majority of patients might feel a mass in the breast, but there are definitely other symptoms besides a lump, says Ricardo H. Alvarez, MD, MSc, who leads the Breast Cancer Center Institute at Cancer Treatment Centers of America® . Visual changes may be especially key in helping detect breast cancer early.
You can see a lot of things just by looking at your breasts in the mirror. When your arms are by your side, you dont always see everything. Put your hands on your hips or raise them up. Having arms in two different positions while looking is also helpful. Cynthia Lynch, MD, Medical Oncologist at our hospital near Phoenix
Dont Miss: Is Chemo Always Needed For Breast Cancer
Also Check: Tubular Cancer Of The Breast
Do Mobile Phones Cause Breast Cancer
Theres no evidence that radiation from mobile phones has any effect on your risk of developing breast cancer.
Some people worry that radio waves produced and received by mobile phones may be a health risk, especially if they keep their phone in their breast pocket.
However, theres currently no evidence that radio waves from mobile phones cause breast cancer or increase the risk of developing it.
Breast Biopsy And Cancer
A breast biopsy is a definitive test if a cancer is suspected. This can be done as a fine needle aspiration biopsy , core needle biopsy, stereotactic breast biopsy, or open surgical biopsy. If the results of a core biopsy and imaging studies are discordant, a surgical breast biopsy usually follows.
A biopsy can also determine the type of cancer if one is present and the presence of estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors. As noted above, even for women who have mammogram and ultrasound findings suggestive of cancer, it is still more likely that a biopsy will be benign.
Even with a biopsy, there is still a small chance of both false-positives and false-negatives .
So what are the breast conditions that mimic breast cancer on an exam or imaging reports that necessitate a biopsy? There are several we will look at here. Some of these are more common than others, and the conditions below are not listed in order of prevalence.
Also Check: Cancer Stage 3
Can Chemicals In The Environment Cause Breast Cancer
Theres no conclusive evidence that exposure to chemicals in the environment increases your risk of breast cancer.
Lots of studies have looked at the relationship between breast cancer and chemicals in the environment such as pesticides, traffic fumes and plastics, but theres no clear evidence of any links.
It can be very difficult to work out the effects of individual chemicals when we are exposed to low levels of thousands of chemicals during our lifetime.
Some studies have suggested that women who are exposed to chemicals in their jobs, for example in the manufacturing industry, may be at higher risk of breast cancer. But the evidence is weak and more research is needed. Employers are legally required to limit exposure to chemicals that may cause cancer.