A proportion of women may not have any symptoms of breast cancer but detection is made via mammography. A patient may also note a lump in the breast that would require specialist assessment with appropriate tests to identify the nature of the lump.
Advanced cases of breast cancer can present with a larger lump, inversion of the nipple, involvement of the skin or bleeding. There may also be signs of spread of the breast cancer with swelling of the lymph glands under the arm pit or secondary tumours (metastases) that have spread to other sites. These may cause, for example, bone pains due to bone spread, general ill health or signs referable to the organ where the cancer has spread.
