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Breast cancer and its treatments

Breast cancer and its treatments

Edited by: at 10/10/2023

Breast cancer is defined as the abnormal proliferation of cells in the mammary gland, which produce a tumor.

Dr. Fernando Cordera González de Cosío

Breast cancer is the abnormal proliferation of mammary gland cells that produce a tumor and this tumor initially grows locally in the breast, from there you can go to the axillary ganglia and from there to other parts of the body and put in Danger to life. 90% of breast cancers originate from the ducts that carry milk from the lobules to the nipple and are called "ductal carcioma". The other 10% originates in the lobules where milk is produced and are called "lobular carcinoma".

Sometimes breast cancer may present as a palpable tumor that is detected by the patient when self-extracting, but many times when it is detected, it is already at an advanced stage. The ideal is to detect breast cancer before it is palpable and hence the importance of making mast. National and international scrutiny guides recommend annual mastography starting at age 40.

The most important intervention for breast cancer is early detection and hence the importance of making annual mastographs from the age of 40.

There is a group of patients who have a very important family history of breast cancer in which genetic studies can be done (BRCA 1 and BRCA 2). If it is determined that the patient is a carrier of one of these BRCA mutations, bilateral prophylactic mastectomies with reconstruction are occasionally made, thus preventing the development of breast cancer.

The treatment

Today, cancer results from breast cancer have improved a lot. One of the reasons why this has happened is because we attack the tumor with several strategies: we do good surgery (main treatment), we use external radiation therapy, we use increasingly effective chemotherapy and we use hormone therapy in some tumors that limit the access of estrogens To the tumor. With this multidisciplinary management are more and more patients with breast cancer that are cured.

- Tumor resection: Today most women have the option of having a mastectomy (in which case reconstruction is always possible), or conservative surgery plus radiation , ie removing the tumor completely with appropriate margins and After receiving radiation. With this management the rates of life and survival free of disease are equal to those of a mastectomy, and the woman has the advantage of preserving her breast.

Surgical treatment of the armpit. In the past, all the lymph nodes in the armpit were completely removed to see if the tumor had spread to that level. Today, in the hands of a specialist, no longer all ganglia are removed and removed one or two ganglia that are called "sentinel ganglion". To do this a blue dye is injected and radioactive material is injected into the breast and these two substances go to a single ganglion in the armpit. Using that blue dye and a special device that detects the radioactivity counts, that ganglion is detected which, in theory, is the first ganglion that would be affected. This ganglion is removed and we are told to analyze pathology and this gives us enough information about how the ganglia are in the armpit and nowadays the great majority of women can preserve their ganglia with this technology.

  • Reconstruction: There are many ways to rebuild the breast that include tissue taken from the abdomen, or by rotating muscle from the back or, more often by placing expanders or implants. Nowadays, excellent aesthetic results are achieved
  • Oncoplastic Surgery: This is a relatively new concept that consists of achieving the best possible cancer results accompanied by the best possible aesthetic results. Using advanced oncoplastic surgery techniques (which are usually done by only subspecialists), excellent oncological results are obtained with the best aesthetic results possible
  • Additional Treatments: Most women who have invasive breast cancer greater than 1 cm in diameter end up receiving systemic chemotherapy which is highly effective. However, today there are genetic studies that can be done in some patients, who can do a genetic study to the tumor to see if we can dispense with tranquility of the chemotherapy and with this technology many patients can save themselves the chemotherapy with peace of mind .

In addition, most patients whose tumors have estrogen receptors (ER +) today receive a daily tablet that limits the access of estrogen to residual breast tissue, this is called hormone therapy and has been shown to decrease the rate of recurrence in These patients.

With this multidisciplinary management, more and more breast cancer patients are able to heal and move on with their normal lives.

Surgical Oncology in Cuajimalpa de Morelos