What Are The Physical Symptoms Of Breast Cancer

Fungating Chest Wall Tumors

In many instances, patients initially presenting with ulcerated or fungating chest wall tumors will respond to anticancer therapies. In some situations, especially with initial presentation, anti-tumor therapies or radiation therapy also enhance local control.

Persistent chest wall and skin lesions after several lines of therapy present major treatment challenges. These lesions may be complicated by problems of itch, pain exudates, infection, and odor and are a major cause of distress to patients and their caregivers. These patients need meticulous wound care, adequate supports, and analgesia particularly for wound care and open lines of communication with the professional care team.

For patients with good performance status and a life expectancy of more than 6 months, surgical management with resection with appropriate flap or graft reconstruction is occasionally helpful, but for most patients this will not be an option. These patients and their caregivers need education and support to assist with washing, asepsis, dressing changes, control of odor, itch and bleeding, pain management, and dealing with the most troublesome chronic wound problems that affect the patients physically and emotionally.,

Chronic pain should be treated in accordance with the standard guidelines for chronic cancer pain. Dressing changes will often require premedication with a short-acting opioids and, occasionally, may even require sedation.

Correlations Of The Bcpt Symptom Scales With The Sf

To provide a preliminary examination of the BCPT Symptom Scales’ discriminant validity, we correlated the scale scores with the SF-36 MCS and PCS scores. Magnitudes of the correlations were similar across samples 1, 2, and 3 and for those samples combined . The BCPT Symptom Scales were modestly negatively correlated with the SF-36 scales, with only two scale correlations exceeding r = 0.30. The BCPT Total Score was moderately correlated with the SF-36 scales.

Table 6.

Correlations of the BCPT Symptom Scales with the SF-36 PCS and MCS scores for combined samples 1, 2, and 3

Signs Of Invasive Breast Cancers

Invasive breast cancers can cause specific signs and symptoms, such as:

• Itchy or irritated breasts
• Changes in the color of your breasts, such as redness
• A rapid change in the shape of your breast or an increase in breast size over a short period
• Changes in the way your breasts feel when you touch them they may be hard, tender, or warm to the touch
• Flaking or peeling or flaking of the nipple skin
• Feeling a lump in your breast or thickening of the breast tissue
• Pitting of the skin on your breast, making it look somewhat like the skin of an orange

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Models Of Care For Patients With Advanced Breast Cancer

The high prevalence of physical and psychosocial distress among patients with breast cancer underscores the need for an approach to care that incorporates clinical approach to address these issues in parallel to usual anticancer therapies.

There is no one best way for oncologists and specialist palliative care services to work together. Rather a number of different models have been developed.

Oncologist-based palliative care

In this model, the oncologists assume the role of coordinating care and providing both anticancer and palliative care services, thus seeing the patients through from diagnosis until death. This approach emphasizes the importance of the oncologist-patient relationship and the notions of continuity of care and nonabandonment. The success of this model is dependent on the level of palliative care skills and sophistication of the oncologists and their ability to balance competing intellectual and practical interests. This approach is augmented by having a strong relationship with a care team, including a palliative medicine expert for backup in difficult cases.

Concurrent model

The Effects Of Breast Cancer On The Body

At first, breast cancer affects the breast area only. You may notice changes in your breasts themselves. Other symptoms arent so obvious until you detect them during a self-exam.

Sometimes your doctor may also see breast cancer tumors on a mammogram or other imaging machine before you notice symptoms.

Like other cancers, breast cancer is broken down into stages. Stage 0 is the earliest stage with the fewest noticeable symptoms. Stage 4 indicates the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

If breast cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it may cause symptoms in those particular areas, too. Affected areas may include the:

• liver

American Cancer Society , the most common sign of breast cancer is a newly formed mass or lump in your breast.

The mass or lump is usually irregularly shaped and painless. However, some cancerous masses can be painful and round in shape. This is why any lump or mass ought to be screened for cancer.

Invasive ductal carcinoma causes lumps and bumps in the breasts. This is a type of breast cancer that forms inside the milk ducts.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, invasive ductal carcinoma is the most common type of breast cancer. It makes up about 80 percent of all diagnoses. Its also more likely to spread to other areas of the body.

With breast cancer, your nipples may also undergo some noticeable changes.

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Inclusion And Exclusion Criteria

To prevent bias, the inclusion criteria were prespecified according to population, intervention, comparison, and outcome : Types of participants: Participants had a diagnosis of stage I to III ER-positive, or PR-positive breast cancer in accordance with diagnostic criteria and were receiving adjuvant therapy for AIs Types of interventions: All types of management interventions for psychosomatic symptoms were considered acupuncture of all types, doses, and courses, and all exercise therapy, which had to meet the definition of physical activity that is planned, structured and repetitive and has a final or intermediate objective of the improvement or maintenance of physical fitness, such as tai chi, yoga, aqua aerobics, and resistance exercise. These exercise programs had aerobic/endurance, stretching/flexibility, resistance/strengthening, or combined training as a key component and resulted in significant physiological changes Types of studies: All RCTs or quasi-experimental studies which examined the effectiveness of all kinds of PTs on AIMSS or psychosomatic symptoms in AIs treated patients with breast cancer Types of outcome measures:

2.2.1 Primary Outcomes

Pain . The score of pain should be measured using scales including the BPI scale, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Index scale, VAS scale, and electronic algometer.

2.2.2 Secondary Outcomes

Breast Cancer Signs And Symptoms

Knowing how your breasts normally look and feel is an important part of breast health. Although having regular screening tests for breast cancer is important, mammograms do not find every breast cancer. This means it’s also important for you to be aware of changes in your breasts and to know the signs and symptoms of breast cancer.

The most common symptom of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. A painless, hard mass that has irregular edges is more likely to be cancer, but breast cancers can be tender, soft, or round. They can even be painful. For this reason, it’s important to have any new breast mass, lump, or breast change checked by an experienced health care professional.

Other possible symptoms of breast cancer include:

• Swelling of all or part of a breast
• Skin dimpling
• Breast or nipple pain
• Nipple or breast skin that is red, dry, flaking or thickened
• Nipple discharge
• Swollen lymph nodes

Although any of these symptoms can be caused by things other than breast cancer, if you have them, they should be reported to a health care professional so the cause can be found.

Remember that knowing what to look for does not take the place of having regular mammograms and other screening tests. Screening tests can help find breast cancer early, before any symptoms appear. Finding breast cancer early gives you a better chance of successful treatment.

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Screening For Breast Cancer

Women aged between 50 and 74 are invited to access free screening mammograms every two years via the BreastScreen Australia Program.

Women aged 40-49 and 75 and over are also eligible to receive free mammograms, however they do not receive an invitation to attend.

It is recommended that women with a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer, aged between 40 and 49 or over 75 discuss options with their GP, or contact BreastScreen Australia on 13 20 50.

Changes To Body Shape

After breast cancer surgery, such as a masectomy or breast conserving surgery, you may feel unhappy with your body size or shape, or be distressed about scars. But the ideal body size or shape differs over time and from person to person. What others find attractive about you goes beyond your physical appearance.

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Discuss With Your Health Team:

Ask your health team about ways to help you deal with the changes breast cancer can bring. For example:

• Ask about how to access a Look Good Feel Better workshop in person or online, or request a home-delivered confidence kit to help deal with changes to the way you look following breast cancer treatment.
• In some cases, breast reconstruction or breast prostheses can improve a womans body shape and help improve confidence.

Any Nipple Dischargeparticularly Clear Discharge Or Bloody Discharge

It is also important to note that a milky discharge that is present when a woman is not breastfeeding should be checked by her doctor, although it is not linked with breast cancer.

Let your doctor know about any nipple discharge, clear, bloody or milky. The most concerning discharges are bloody or clear.

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Breast Cancer Types And Symptoms

There are several kinds of breast cancer. Many of them share symptoms.

Symptoms of ductal carcinoma

This is the most common type of breast cancer. It begins in your ducts. About 1 in 5 new breast cancers are ductal carcinoma in situ . This means you have cancer in the cells that line your ducts, but it hasnât spread into nearby tissue.

You may not notice any symptoms of ductal carcinoma. It can also cause a breast lump or bloody discharge.

Symptoms of lobular carcinoma

This kind begins in the glands that make milk, called lobules. Itâs the second most common type of breast cancer. Symptoms include:

• Fullness, thickening, or swelling in one area
• Nipples that are flat or point inward

Symptoms of invasive breast cancer

Breast cancer thatâs spread from where it began into the tissues around it is called invasive or infiltrating. You may notice:

• A lump in your breast or armpit. You might not be able to move it separately from your skin or move it at all.
• One breast that looks different from the other
• A rash or skin thatâs thick, red, or dimpled like an orange
• Skin sores

• Loss of appetite and weight loss
• Muscle weakness

Symptoms of triple-negative breast cancer

Breast cancer is called triple-negative if it doesnât have receptors for the hormones estrogen and progesterone and doesnât make a lot of a protein called HER2. This kind tends to grow and spread faster than other types, and doctors treat it differently.

Symptoms of male breast cancer

• A small, hard cyst

Be Aware Of Your Breasts To Detect Breast Cancer Symptoms Early

Studies show that regular breast self-exams are not the best way to detect breast cancer early.

What does work? Being aware of how your breasts look and feel and seeing a doctor as soon as you notice changes or abnormalities.

The vast majority of breast cancers are found during daily activities like showering, applying deodorant or even scratching, says Therese Bevers, M.D., medical director of the Cancer Prevention Center.

Bevers advises women to see a doctor if they have one or more symptoms of breast cancer, no matter how mild they may seem.

You dont need to wait for any particular size or severity of symptoms to get checked out, she says. “The earlier that breast cancer is detected, the better our chances of treating it successfully.”

And you shouldnt ignore symptoms just because you breasts don’t hurt. Pain is rarely a symptom of breast cancer, she says.

The vast majority of breast cancers are found during daily activitieslike showering, applying deodorant or even scratching.

Therese Bevers, M.D.

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Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Part of the current knowledge on breast carcinomas is based on in vivo and in vitro studies performed with cell lines derived from breast cancers. These provide an unlimited source of homogenous self-replicating material, free of contaminating stromal cells, and often easily cultured in simple standard media. The first breast cancer cell line described, BT-20, was established in 1958. Since then, and despite sustained work in this area, the number of permanent lines obtained has been strikingly low . Indeed, attempts to culture breast cancer cell lines from primary tumors have been largely unsuccessful. This poor efficiency was often due to technical difficulties associated with the extraction of viable tumor cells from their surrounding stroma. Most of the available breast cancer cell lines issued from metastatic tumors, mainly from pleural effusions. Effusions provided generally large numbers of dissociated, viable tumor cells with little or no contamination by fibroblasts and other tumor stroma cells.Many of the currently used BCC lines were established in the late 1970s. A very few of them, namely MCF-7, T-47D, MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-3, account for more than two-thirds of all abstracts reporting studies on mentioned breast cancer cell lines, as concluded from a Medline-based survey.

Metabolic markers

The Special Case Of Back Pain And Epidural Compression

Epidural compression of the spinal cord or cauda equina is a common neurologic complication of breast cancer. Most often it is caused by posterior extension of vertebral body metastasis to the epidural space. Occasionally, epidural compression is caused by tumor extension from the posterior arch of the vertebra or infiltration of a paravertebral tumor through the intervertebral foramen.

Untreated, epidural compression leads inevitably to neurological damage. Effective treatment can potentially prevent these complications and thus underscores the importance of early diagnosis. Since pain usually precedes neurologic signs by a prolonged period, it should be viewed as a potential indicator of epidural compression, which can lead to treatment at a time when a favorable response is most likely. Some pain characteristics are particularly suggestive of epidural extension: rapid worsening of back pain and radicular pain . Weakness, sensory loss, autonomic dysfunction, and reflex abnormalities usually occur after a period of progressive pain.

Patients with suspected epidural encroachment require urgent axial assessment of the epidural space with either MRI or CT imaging. MRI offers accurate imaging of the vertebrae, intraspinal, and paravertebral structures., CT imaging is a good option if urgent MRI cannot be arranged.

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What Are The Common Signs And Symptoms Of Breast Cancer

The following early signs and symptoms of breast cancer can happen with other conditions that are not cancer related.

• New lump in the breast or underarm
• Thickening or swelling of part of the breast
• Irritation or dimpling of breast skin
• Redness or flaky skin in the nipple area of the breast
• Pulling in of the nipple or pain in the nipple area
• Nipple discharge other than breast milk, including blood
• Any change in the size or the shape of the breast
• Pain in any area of the breast

Descriptive Statistics Internal Consistency Estimates Of Reliability And Between

To further examine the psychometric properties of the obtained item sets, we first formed symptom scales by averaging the scores on items forming each factor and then created a total mean score by averaging scores across all items. Descriptive statistics on the eight BCPT Symptom Scales and total score are shown in . On average, women reported being bothered not at all to slightly over the past 4 weeks by the symptoms. However, on specific scales , women in some samples reported being slightly to moderately bothered by the symptoms, on average.

Table 4.

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Symptoms If Cancer Has Spread To The Bones

You may have any of these symptoms if your cancer has spread to the bones:

• an ache or pain in the affected bone
• breaks in the bones because they are weaker
• breathlessness, looking pale, bruising and bleeding due to low levels of blood cells – blood cells are made in the bone marrow and can be crowded out by the cancer cells

Sometimes when bones are damaged by advanced cancer, the bones release calcium into the blood. This is called hypercalcaemia and can cause various symptoms such as:

• tiredness

• Find out more about cancer that has spread to the bones

What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Breast Cancer

Having regular screening tests is helpful in the detection of breast cancer, but mammograms do not always capture the existence of breast cancer. Therefore, it is very important to be able to identify the signs of breast cancer through self-examination and an awareness of the signs and symptoms is essential. The first step is to be aware of how your breasts normally look and feel. This will enable you to identify any changes and report it to your doctor sooner.

The most common sign of breast cancer is the formation of a new lump in the breast. Most of these lumps are painless and hard, with irregular edges. But sometimes, they can also be painful, tender, soft and round. Any new lump found in the breasts must be reported to a doctor for further examination.

The symptoms of breast cancer vary from person to person, but these are some commonly reported symptoms:

The skin on the breast or the nipple may start peeling or feel more sensitive than before. There may be a visible redness on the skin. Sometimes, there is itching and irritation of the skin. Pitting of the skin could also be an indicator. However, we should understand that the above symptoms could be indicative of other conditions like eczema. So a doctor should be consulted to find out the cause of these conditions and to rule out cancer.

In case of the type of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in-situ, no such symptoms are experienced. However, a mammogram usually detects this type of cancer.

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