DR FAITH B YISRAEL

Imani.Consulting.Tobago@gmail.com

It's time to rise is the theme for this year's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This annual campaign is commemorated in October, and this year the aim is one of fundraising and education. Fundraising, to ensure that the women with breast cancer who need services get access to them.

What is breast cancer?

Let us start with the definition of the word 'cancer.' According to the National Cancer Institute, a 'Cancer is a disease in which some of the body's cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body. Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells. Normally, human cells grow and multiply (through a process called cell division) to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old or become damaged, they die, and new cells take their place.

'Sometimes this orderly process breaks down, and abnormal or damaged cells grow and multiply when they shouldn't. These cells may form tumours, which are lumps of tissue. Tumours can be cancerous or not cancerous (benign).

'Cancerous tumours spread into, or invade, nearby tissues and can travel to distant places in the body to form new tumours (a process called metastasis). Cancerous tumours may also be called malignant tumours. Many cancers form solid tumours, but cancers of the blood, such as leukaemia, generally do not.

Benign tumours do not spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. When removed, benign tumours usually don't grow back, whereas cancerous tumours sometimes do. Benign tumours can sometimes be quite large, however. Some can cause serious symptoms or be life threatening, such as benign tumours in the brain.'

Breast cancer is therefore a cancer that has formed in breast tissue.

Breast cancer stages and its influence on treatment

According to the American Cancer Society, 'the stage (extent) of your breast cancer is an important factor in making decisions about your treatment options. In general, the more the breast cancer has spread, the more treatment you will likely need. But other factors can also be important, such as:

• If the cancer cells contain hormone receptors (that is, if the cancer is ER-positive or PR-positive)

• If the cancer cells have large amounts of the HER2 protein (that is, if the cancer is HER2-positive)

• Your overall health and personal preferences

• If you have gone through menopause or not

• How fast the cancer is growing (measured by grade or other measures)'

Stage zero

Stage zero means that the cancer is limited to the inside of the milk duct and is non-invasive. Treatment for this non-invasive breast tumour is often different from the treatment of invasive breast cancer.

• Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a stage zero breast tumour.

• Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) used to be categorised as stage zero, but this has been changed