Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in women if the relatively less aggressive skin cancer is excluded from counting. Breast cancer accounts for about 32 percent of all cancer diagnosed in women. Although there is no known cure for breast cancer, if it is caught early, it can be treated. The treatments that a patient can undergo are designed to chase the tumor into remission. Therefore, with this hope in mind, it is important that a malignant tumor be caught in its early stage.

There are numerous types of cancer. Cancer that begins in the skin or in tissues that line or cover internal organs is carcinoma. Leukemia is a form of cancer that begins in blood forming tissue such as bone marrow and will cause a large number of abnormal blood cells to be produced and enter the blood stream. Multiple myeloma and lymphoma cancers start in the cells of the immune system. Cancer that begins in the bone, cartilage, fat, blood vessels, or muscle is sarcoma. Common symptoms of breast cancer include a change in how the breast or nipple feels and a change in how the breast or nipple looks.

In addition to this, changes in the shape and appearance of the breast is also suspicious to breast cancer. Before the arrival of X-ray of the breast (mammography) breast cancer is mostly discovered as not showing the evidence of the disease before the symptom comes to existence, which means that the X-ray helps a lot to detect this deadly disease earlier. Changes in how the nipple or breast looks may be the nipple turning inward into the breast. Another change could be a different shape or size of breast. Still other changes that might occur in the breast, nipple, or areola may be red, scaly or swollen skin.

Still, another sign that there could be breast cancer is a nipple discharge. The nipple may discharge a fluid if there is breast cancer. In early stages breast cancer usually does not cause pain. If a woman is having pain or other symptoms that do not go away she should see her health care provider. It is likely the symptoms are not due to breast cancer. Other health problems may also cause these symptoms. If a woman does have these symptoms she should tell her doctor. Any problems that might exist can be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.