After a breast lump is found, the first thing to do is to ascertain its type--a cyst, a fibroadenoma, pseudolump or breast cancer--and whether or not it is malignant or benign. While more or less easy procedures are used to deal with the benign lumps, an exhaustive and thorough, sometimes long-lasting therapy, is required for patients with malignant breast lumps.
Cysts
Found both close to the surface of the breast tissue and deeper near the wall of the chest, these lumps are dealt with by doctors using the method of aspiration with a syringe. This punctures the lump, removes the fluid permanently, and determines that the lump is indeed an inoffensive cyst.
Fibroadenomas
Found usually close to the breast surface, these firm lumps can be removed through surgical procedures by specialists, and to remove any kind of doubt it can be biopsied to make sure that it is indeed a harmless fibroadenoma.
Pseudolumps
Dead tissue, scar tissue, hard silicone consisting pseudolumps are best dealt with by ultrasonography and mammogram, and if required, a biopsy, for a pathologist's expert opinion. These also can be removed through surgery.
Breast Cancer
Dealing with a cancerous lump in the breast is usually a tedious process. The doctor will recommend one or more procedure such as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone suppression treatment or even targeted treatment. The main idea behind surgery for breast cancer is to prevent it from returning either in the breast or proliferating to other body parts. Based on the location of the lump, the status of the node, the size and grade, breast cancer surgery might involve one of three processes. While the procedure of lumpectomy removes the entire lump, a quadrantectomy involves removal of both the cancerous as well as nearby tissues, and a mastectomy procedure removes the whole of the breast tissue along with muscles parts of the wall of the chest. If radiation therapy is recommended after breast surgery, the patient might be subjected to external beam radiation that will break down cancer cell DNA and prevent the cancer from developing or spreading. In some cases, the patient might be administered intravenous chemotherapy drugs which aim at further damage of cancer cell DNA, hampering their growth, thereby aiding in prevention of cancer. For estrogen receptor positive cancer that requires the female hormone estrogen to develop, hormone suppression therapy comes in useful. While premenopausal younger women are given drugs to avoid any drastic invasive surgery of their ovaries, older women are advised to get their ovaries removed with an operation. This simple method is the most effective way in which to stop production of estrogen. This deprives the cancer cells from their growth nutrient, and stops them from spreading. While radiation, chemotherapy and surgery affect healthy tissues along with cancerous ones, targeted biologic methods of treatment focus on working with specific cancer cells only, reducing their speed of proliferation and stunting their growth.
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