Breast cancer: Clinical implication

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is a disease underlined by a complex aetiology, natural history and disease behaviour. Age is the greatest risk factor, which coupled with genetic predisposition, hormonal phenotype, reproductive profile and extrinsic factors, make BC the commonest malignancy in women (23%). The most frequent presenting symptom of BC is a hard, painless, irregular lump. Profile of BC, respective of it's growth and invasiveness capacity is diverse. Principle prognostic indicators are nodal status, tumour size histological grade and hormonal receptor status. Diagnosis is achieved by the combination of physical examination, FNAC or core biopsy and breast imaging (mammography/ ultrasound). Surgery remains the mainstay of BC treatment, with or without radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormonal manipulation, and state-of-the-art targeted treatment. Even in this day-and-age, less than 55% of BC sufferers have an overall survival longer than 5 years. This raises an alarm to bring the long awaited and much researched patient-tailored treatment to the clinic at the fastest possible pace.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• prognostic parameters
• therapy approach