Breast cancer still impacting thousands
By Leethaniel Brumfield, III
Issue date: 10/1/08 Section: News
Although October has been designated as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) for more than 20 years, many Americans are still uninformed about the potential health risks of this disease
Breast cancer, a malignant tumor that originates as breast cells, may invade surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to distant areas of the body by growing, changing, and multiplying out of control.
In order to understand breast cancer, it helps to have some basic knowledge about the normal structure of the breasts.
In females, the breast is made up mainly of lobules (milk-producing glands), ducts (tiny tubes that carry the milk from the lobules to the nipple), and stroma (fatty tissue and connective tissue surrounding the ducts and lobules, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels). Most breast cancers begin in the cells that line the ducts (ductal cancers). Some begin in the cells that line the lobules (lobular cancers), while a small number start in other tissues.
The National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) estimates that this year more than 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die. The NBCF also predicts that one in eight women either has or will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. While the numbers for men are much lower, they are just as alarming. Incidences of breast cancer in men are approximately 100 times less common than in women, but men with breast cancer are considered to have the same statistical survival rates as women, and the NBCF reports that 1,700 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, with a fourth of this number dying annually.
African-American women need to be particularly wary about this disease. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among African-American women, and the second leading cause of death in African-American women with the disease. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), 5,640 African-American women will succumb to breast cancer this year, while 19,240 new cases are expected.
Breast cancer, a malignant tumor that originates as breast cells, may invade surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to distant areas of the body by growing, changing, and multiplying out of control.
In order to understand breast cancer, it helps to have some basic knowledge about the normal structure of the breasts.
In females, the breast is made up mainly of lobules (milk-producing glands), ducts (tiny tubes that carry the milk from the lobules to the nipple), and stroma (fatty tissue and connective tissue surrounding the ducts and lobules, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels). Most breast cancers begin in the cells that line the ducts (ductal cancers). Some begin in the cells that line the lobules (lobular cancers), while a small number start in other tissues.
The National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) estimates that this year more than 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die. The NBCF also predicts that one in eight women either has or will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. While the numbers for men are much lower, they are just as alarming. Incidences of breast cancer in men are approximately 100 times less common than in women, but men with breast cancer are considered to have the same statistical survival rates as women, and the NBCF reports that 1,700 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, with a fourth of this number dying annually.
African-American women need to be particularly wary about this disease. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among African-American women, and the second leading cause of death in African-American women with the disease. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), 5,640 African-American women will succumb to breast cancer this year, while 19,240 new cases are expected.
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