Breast Cancer Update: Researches Warn Women That Lumps Are Not The Only Symptoms Found In Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is one the most common cancer found in women. Lumps are the usual symptoms that women are looking for. But experts warn that women should not only look for lumps but other signs can also help the breast cancer diagnosis quickly.

A doctoral candidate at University College London, Monica Koo, said that "It's crucial that women are aware that a lump is not the only symptom of breast cancer. If they are worried about any breast symptoms, the best thing to do is to get it checked by a doctor as soon as possible," as The Huffington Post reported. Koo and her team conducted a research

In the study, the experts gathered data from 2009 to 2012 at the English National Audit of Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care. The participants were diagnosed with breast cancer that involves 2,300 women. The volunteers are then classified by the symptoms that their doctors gave.

Overall, 83 percent of the women have a breast lump, seven percent has abnormalities in the nipple, 6 percent has pain in their breast, two percent had breast ulceration and less than 1 percent had a breast infection.

Also, a number of women reported that their symptoms are not related to the breast at all. About 1 percent had a lump in the armpit, another 1 percent has back pain and less than 1 percent experienced breathlessness and muscle pain.

The experts then group the patients according to their symptoms. They found that 76 percent of all the women had a breast lump as symptoms, 11 percent had breast symptom that was not only a lump as their only symptoms, 6 percent had a breast lump and an additional one breast symptom, and only 5 percent has a non-breast symptom.

The experts then investigate if how long do the women took to go to their doctors after having their symptoms. They discovered that 7 percent of the women took 90 days to go to their doctor. The experts warned that the three-month delay can link to a lowering of five years in their survival rate.

According to Live Science, Director of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) from the U.K. Karen Kennedy said that "This research shows that, all too often, women are delaying going to their doctor with symptoms of breast cancer. This could be because people are simply unaware that breast cancer can present in many different ways, not just through the presence of a lump."