Information about breast cancer
Metastases... what now?
Malignant cells can invade other tissues. In this way, cancer cells can break away from the original tumor and be carried along with the blood or lymph. There they can settle in other places in the body and continue to divide. Thus, they form a new tumor somewhere else in the body.
What is secondary cancer?
Secondary cancer is cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
Where can these metastases occur?
Breast cancer can metastasize to many other organs. But when metastases do occur, it is usually in the liver, lungs, brain or bones.
If the cancer has spread to the lungs, are we talking about lung cancer?
Cancer that metastasizes remains a cancer from where the disease originally originated. Thus, breast cancer that metastasizes to the lungs remains breast cancer.
How can we recognize metastases?
The symptoms that occur depend on the organs where the metastases have developed. A doctor can help you further with symptoms.
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Fear of relapse after breast cancer
Once the treatments are over, everyone breathes a sigh of relief, except you, who have survived the cancer. Your body doesn't feel the same, but most of all, sometimes the fear of the cancer returning creeps up on you. Cancer instills fear. Especially in the first year after diagnosis, but also later, especially during check-ups, fear of relapse sometimes rears its ugly head. This is normal. The majority of all cancer survivors face it regularly.
Hereditary breast cancer is a sword of Damocles
Author and columnist Nele Reymen - sister of radio host Ann Reymen - will soon undergo a preventive double mastectomy and reconstruction. Like both her sisters, Nele Reymen is a carrier of a breast cancer gene. The sisters previously opted for the procedure. True hereditary breast cancer is sometimes confused with familial breast cancer. Both involve genes and yet there is a world of difference.
Hereditary breast cancer is not a doomsday scenario; there are solutions
Ten percent of all breast cancers are hereditary. That means there are abnormal genes in the hereditary material that greatly increase the risk of breast cancer. The best-known breast cancer genes are BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA stands for BReastCAncer). They are passed down from generation to generation. Men can also inherit these genes and pass them on to their offspring. Moreover, both breast cancer genes are dominant. If one of your parents carries the gene, you have a 50 percent chance of inheriting it.
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