Stage 0, I: lump, pain, skin nodules, skin swelling, etc.
Stage Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ: lump, pain, skin nodule, skin swelling, skin ulceration, breast contour change, nipple invagination and orientation change, nipple eczema-like change, nipple discharge, etc.
Analysis of related symptoms:
Mass: It is the first symptom of breast cancer. According to foreign reports, the masses are mostly located in the outer upper quadrant, followed by the inner upper and nipple areola areas, and less below. Tumors vary in size, with the size of 2 ~ 3 cm more common, mostly single and occasionally multiple. The masses are mostly round or oval, with unclear boundaries, usually induration and poor mobility.
Pain: Most breast cancer patients lack pain symptoms. Because of less pain, breast cancer is not easy to be found early. Pain is often manifested as breast tingling, swelling or dull pain, such as cystic hyperplasia of breast around cancer, and periodic pain can also occur.
Skin redness and swelling: For tumors with fast growth and large volume, superficial veins of the skin may swell, and the local skin temperature of the tumor may increase. If the tumor is close to the skin surface, the skin may become red. If cancer cells block the subcutaneous lymphatic vessels, skin edema and orange peel degeneration will occur.
Inflammatory breast cancer is the most typical skin swelling of breast cancer, and the skin color is reddish or crimson, which rapidly expands from a limited piece to most breasts, even the whole breast. During palpation, the whole breast thickened and hardened, the skin temperature increased, the swelling was rough, and there were obvious orange peel-like changes.
Skin ulceration: the tumor develops to the late stage, and the lump grows up, which can make the skin bulge. For example, if the blood supply is insufficient, ulcers will occur as the skin turns red and thin. Patients are often accompanied by pain, and sometimes the pain is unbearable. Due to a large number of necrotic tissues and bloody secretions oozing from the wound, patients often show signs of emaciation and anemia.
Skin nodules: When the nodules are distributed in the skin around the focus, they are called satellite nodules, which are caused by cancer cells directly infiltrating into the skin along lymphatic vessels, mammary ducts or subcutaneous fascia cords. Satellite nodules can be single or several, and the latter are mostly scattered.
Breast contour changes: when the mass is large, the breast may have local uplift and the breast may be enlarged. When the tumor involves the skin or pectoral muscle, it can make the breast harden and shrink. When the patient sits up, the affected breast can be improved.
Nipple retraction and orientation change: the nipple is flat, retracted, sunken and orientation changed until it is completely retracted under the areola, and the nipple is invisible. The nipple depression caused by breast cancer is different from congenital nipple invagination. The latter can often be pulled out by hand, but the nipple invagination caused by breast cancer cannot be pulled out, and the mass can be palpated under or around the sunken nipple.
Eczema-like changes of nipple: at first, nipple pruritus, nipple epithelium thickening, desquamation, exudation, gradual erosion, repeated scabbing and peeling after erosion, red granulation after areola skin peeling, nipple can gradually flatten and finally disappear.
Nipple discharge: Breast cancer accounts for a large proportion of nipple discharge with lump. Overflow can be colorless, milky white, light yellow, brown, bloody, etc. It can be water sample, blood sample, serous fluid or suppuration; Overflow can be more or less, and the interval is inconsistent.
Professor Koichiro Tsukawa, director of the Department of Breast Endocrinology Surgery, director of the Advanced Medical Center for Radiotherapy, and deputy director of the Department of Genetic Diagnosis of the University Hospital in Japan, was introduced by the media as one of the famous doctors for breast cancer treatment. Not only breast-conserving surgery and sentinel lymph node biopsy, but also breast reconstruction surgery. In addition to daily diagnosis and treatment work and actively training the next generation of doctors, we have also established our own website to actively send information to breast cancer patients. Dr. Tsukawa's treatment philosophy is "patient-centered team medicine". You can consult his information if you are interested.
Good luck.