Breast Cancer

Cancer is a disease that affects many different parts of the body and a various number of people. When it comes to women, breast cancer is the leading type of cancer they may encounter. Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that rises up from the cell within the breast. There are a vast number of risk factors, sign and symptoms and treatment that go along with breast cancer.

There are many different reasons that woman maybe at a higher risk for breast cancer than other woman. Family history is risk factors that increase a woman’s likelihood of getting breast cancer. What this means is if a woman is in a family where this disease is common among female or even males they are at a higher risk for being diagnosed with breast cancer than someone who is in a family where breast cancer is not common. If the relative that has this disease is one that is very close meaning they are either a sister, mother, or daughter the likelihood that said person will also contract the disease is then doubled. This is mainly due to the fact that in close relations you are able to inherit the genes BrcA-1 or BrcA-2, these genes are mutation genes that play a role in controlling the growth of cancer cell. Only a small portion of women inherit this gene about 1 in 500 to be exact, however when they do inherit this gene they have a 80% chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime. This gene causes woman to develop cancer at a younger age usually before the time they hit menopause. Also, women with this gene have a greater risk of developing cancer in both breasts which is called bilateral breasts cancer. This is due to the fact that once the cancer develops in one breast the risk for developing it in the other breast increases. (“Breast Cancer”) "About 5 to 10% of breast cancer is hereditary, passed from one generation to the next via a variety of mutated genes". (Port 95-105) Lastly,