Overview

The breast and the way it functions

The mammary gland is made up of about twenty lobes that produce milk and a network of milk ducts that allow the milk to reach the nipple.

The nipple-areolar plate (NAP) is composed of the areola (pigmented skin area) with the nipple in the center (raised area allowing suckling) where the milk ducts end.)

In young women, the breasts are essentially composed of the mammary gland (the lobes that produce milk) surrounded by connective tissue that contains fat, blood and lymph vessels. The proportion of gland and fat in the breast depends on age, morphology and the influence of hormones (estrogen, progesterone, prolactin…). This gland/fat ratio conditions the density of the breast which will impact the screening for cancer by mammography. A breast with a lot of glands will be dense and more difficult to analyze by mammography. This is one of the reasons why mammography is less effective in young women.

The lymphatic vessels of the breast form a parallel network to the bloodstream. The lymphatic flow drains into the lymph nodes. These lymph nodes are filters that capture undesirable elements (infectious, cancerous…). The lymph nodes that receive lymph from the breast are mainly located in the armpit (axillary nodes), but also around the clavicle (supra- and sub-clavicular nodes) and in the thorax, near the sternum (internal mammary nodes).

What is breast cancer?

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the Western world. In France, more than 1 woman in 8 develops breast cancer.

Out of nowhere, while you feel perfectly healthy, someone tells you that a small, often impalpable lump has developed in your breast and may threaten your life. You will have to deal with the situation: choose the medical team that will accompany you, inform your relatives, reassure your children, manage your professional life… and get treatment.

This disease is all the more frightening because it is so widespread… Everyone knows someone who knows someone…. and it is easy to compare stories that have nothing to do with each other…

There is not one, but many types of breast cancers, and the treatment that you will be offered is often complicated and multidisciplinary.

Some women manage to get through this disease ” no questions asked”, but many need to know as much as possible in order to understand the treatment options available to them. These articles are for them.