Some of the most common symptoms of breast cancer are thickening of breast that feels different from the surrounding area, change in the shape, size or appearance and skin over the breast, redness of the skin over your breast.

Breast cancer is mainly caused by the complex interaction between hormonal, lifestyle and environmental factors. Risk factors include being female, increasing age, family history of breast cancer, beginning of your period at a younger age, menopause at an older age, having your first child at an older age, drinking alcohol, etc.

Ask your physician about breast self-examination if you feel a lump in your breast. If any of your family members have breast cancer, beginning of your period at a younger age, menopause at an older age, having a first child at an older age, drinking alcohol, etc., you can consult your doctor. Doctor can advice to take mammogram as a screening test.

Doctor will check for any lumps or other abnormalities by examining the breasts and lymph nodes in the armpit and can suggest mammogram as a diagnostic test. A breast biopsy is the only confirmed way to diagnose breast cancer and to determine the type of cells involved in the breast cancer, and whether the cancer cells have hormone receptors that may influence the treatment options.

Operative treatment includes removing the breast cancer, removing the entire breast, removing a limited number of lymph nodes or several lymph nodes, removing both breasts depending upon the size of lump, aggressiveness, lymph nodes involved, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, targeted drug therapy, immunotherapy and palliative care.