Will Early Detection Of Mucinous Cancer Help To Cure It?
Mucinous Cancer Symptoms
Mucinous cancer is a rare type of breast cancer which occurs in women between the ages 45 and 80. This cancer appears as a gelatinous tumor in the breast. This affects the milk ducts of the breast and spreads beyond it. When these fluid filled cysts are small, they are difficult to detect. The cancer cells produces mucous and hence the name Mucinous Carcinoma or Colloid Carcinoma. Women at the age of menopause are particularly vulnerable to this type of cancer. The area of the breast will not get compressed like other areas if the breast has mutinous cancer.
In all women diagnosed with the breast cancer, only 3 % are found to have Mucinous Cancer. It is better to do a biopsy test if you have any doubt about the abnormal lumps in the breast. Mucinous cancer rarely spreads to the lymph nodes or other places of the body unlike other kind of cancers.
Mucinous Cancer Diagnostic Tests
The diagnostic tests for mucinous cancer include breast ultrasound, mammogram and surgical biopsy. Most mucinous cancer can be detected using breast ultrasound test. However it is difficult to detect small tumors using this test if they are embedded in the fatty tissues of the breast. In mammogram the Mucinous Cancer Cells appear as a bumpy mass with definite borders. In surgical biopsy mammary tissue sample is taken from the patient and is tested for specific characteristics of mucinous cancer in the laboratory.
Mucinous Cancer Treatment
Though Mucinous Cancer do not spread as fast as the other types of cancers and are not aggressive it is easy to treat this type of cancer. It is necessary to treat this cancer and remove the cancer cells from the body. The recurrence of mucinous cancer should be prevented to improve the quality of life of the patient. The treatments for mucinous cancer include Lumpectomy, Radiation, Mastectomy and Hormone therapy. Mastectomy is done if the cancer has spread to larger area of the breast. This includes the removal of the entire breast tissue.
- In Lumpectomy, only the tumor and the surrounding tissue are removed and the remaining part of the breast is kept intact.
- In Radiation Therapy, radioactive substances are used to kill the cancer cells of the breast.
- Hormone therapy is used to treat this type of cancer if the mucinous cancer is hormone sensitive.
As mucinous cancer is not very dangerous the prognosis for mucinous cancer patients are brighter.