Video:Signs of Breast Cancer

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Transcript:Signs of Breast Cancer

Question: What are the signs of breast cancer?

That’s a good question. When a patient or a woman comes into my office with a complaint of a breast problem, the types of things I look for are masses, of course - things that you can feel inside the breast, because that’s oftentimes associated with an actual cancer. But not all masses are of course cancer. Once we do feel a mass, especially if it’s associated with a history of growing larger, or tenderness, that ’ll of course prompt us to do diagnostic imaging.

Common Signs of Breast Cancer

Some of the other signs of breast cancer are of course, more subtle. For example, sometimes a nipple changes shape or the nipple changes direction in which it points. In some cases you’ll even see an inversion of the nipple, where the nipple starts pointing in, as opposed to pointing out. Sometimes there’s involvement of the skin. The term for this is inflammatory breast cancer. If we see changes like that, redness, or warmth, that’s also a very concerning feature within a breast.

Some women come in with complaints of bloody nipple discharge, vague sensations of pain, and even, in some situations discomfort in the axilla, or armpit. So these are all signs that we will look for when I meet with a patient with potentially breast cancer. I’m Dr. VK Gadi, thank you for watching.