BREAST

Like all tumor streams, the Breast Service is a collaboration with clinical partners, providing coordinated and comprehensive cancer care.Assessment of breast symptoms, diagnosis and management of breast cancer and pre-cancerous diseases is the main focus of our work. This care is supported by a multidisciplinary team.Patients will receive care from specialist breast surgeons, breast radiologists, breast pathologists, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists and plastic surgeons in association with specialist breast care nurse consultants, psychologists, social workers and additional supportive care services.We are closely affiliated with the Familial Cancer Centre and the Breast/Ovarian Cancer Risk Management Clinics at Erode cancer centre. The Breast Service is actively involved in a number of research programs.

• Getting older.The risk for breast cancer increases with age; most breast cancers are diagnosed after age 50.
• Genetic mutations.Inherited changes (mutations) to certain genes, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Women who have inherited these genetic changes are at higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
• Reproductive history.Early menstrual periods before age 12 and starting menopause after age 55 expose women to hormones longer, raising their risk of getting breast cancer.
• Having dense breasts.Dense breasts have more connective tissue than fatty tissue, which can sometimes make it hard to see tumors on a mammogram. Women with dense breasts are more likely to get breast cancer.
• Personal history of breast cancer or certain non-cancerous breast diseases.Women who have had breast cancer are more likely to get breast cancer a second time. Some non-cancerous breast diseases such as atypical hyperplasia or lobular carcinoma in situ are associated with a higher risk of getting breast cancer.
• Family history of breast or ovarian cancer.A woman’s risk for breast cancer is higher if she has a mother, sister, or daughter (first-degree relative) or multiple family members on either her mother’s or father’s side of the family who have had breast or ovarian cancer. Having a first-degree male relative with breast cancer also raises a woman’s risk.
• Previous treatment using radiation therapy.Women who had radiation therapy to the chest or breasts (like for treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma) before age 30 have a higher risk of getting breast cancer later in life.

Women who took the drug diethylstilbestrol (DES), which was given to some pregnant women in the United States between 1940 and 1971 to prevent miscarriage, have a higher risk. Women whose mothers took DES while pregnant with them are also at risk.