07/10/2019
THE BREAST
• The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of the chest of primates.
• In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secretes milk to feed infants.
• Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues.
• Along with their major function in providing nutrition for infants, female breasts have social and sexual characteristics
SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS
Breast cancer symptoms vary widely — from lumps to swelling to skin changes — and many breast cancers have no obvious symptoms at all.
In some cases, a lump may be too small for you to feel or to cause any unusual changes you can notice on your own. Often, an abnormal area turns up on a screening mammogram (X-ray of the breast), which leads to further testing.
In other cases, however, the first sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass in the breast that you or your doctor can feel. A lump that is painless, hard, and has uneven edges is more likely to be cancer. But sometimes cancers can be tender, soft, and rounded.
It's important to have anything unusual checked by your doctor.
Any of the following unusual changes in the breast can be a symptom of breast cancer:
• swelling, redness, or darkening of the breast
• skin irritation or dimpling
• ni**le/breast pain or the ni**le turning inward
• redness, scaliness, or thickening of the ni**le or breast skin
• a ni**le discharge other than breast milk
• a lump in the underarm area
• changes in breast size and shape
• prominent veins on the surface of the breast
• a sore or rash on the ni**le
• inversion of the ni**le or other parts of the breast
These changes also can be signs of less serious conditions that are not cancerous, such as an infection or a cyst. Again, it’s important to get any breast changes checked out promptly by a doctor.
