What is breast cancer?

What is breast cancer?

Start with the essentials: how the disease begins, what it looks like, what causes it and how common it is.

1 in 8women will face breast cancer in their lifetime11topics in this section

Section overview

Understanding breast cancer

Breast cancer is a disease in which breast cells divide out of control and form a tumour. Understanding what happens in the body is the first step towards early detection.

Breast cancer: facts and figures

A clear picture of the numbers helps put risk in perspective and shows why early detection matters so much.

How breast cancer grows

Cancer does not appear overnight. Knowing how it develops explains why regular screening is a race we can win.

Breast cancer risk factors

A risk factor is anything that raises the chance of developing a disease. Some can be changed, others cannot. Knowing which is which helps you act wisely.

What causes breast cancer

There is no single cause of breast cancer. It appears when several factors — genetic, hormonal and lifestyle — combine. Understanding this helps separate fear from fact.

Breast anatomy, simply explained

Knowing the normal structure of the breast makes it easier to understand where changes happen and what exams look for.

Breast tumours: benign and malignant

The word tumour simply means a lump. Most breast lumps are benign, but only a test can tell the difference — and that is exactly what screening and biopsy are for.

Genetic testing for breast cancer

Genetic testing looks for inherited changes in your DNA that raise the risk of breast cancer. It is not for everyone — a doctor helps decide whether it is right for you.

BRCA: the breast cancer gene

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genes that help repair damaged DNA. Some people inherit versions that no longer do this job properly — and that raises the risk of cancer.

Other genes linked to breast cancer

BRCA gets the attention, but several other genes can also raise breast cancer risk. Most are rare — and they are usually only tested when family history suggests them.

What if your test is positive

A positive genetic test is information to absorb, not a sentence. It opens the door to a plan that can dramatically reduce your risk — and you will not face it alone.

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