CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

            Breast cancer is the most common diagnosed cancer in women globally and the second most common cancer in the world.  Its attacks on women is reported to be three times higher in developed parts of the world than in less developed parts, but the death toll is greater in less developed regions.

             It is however a cancer that originates from breast tissue; hence it is regarded as a cancer of the glandular tissue of the breast. Though the disease is confirmed to be found both in male and female patients, yet the incidence is hundred times more in women than in men. Breast cancer is therefore a proliferation of breast cells that is characterized by an abnormal growth and division of the cells to the destruction of the surrounding tissues through the filtration of the cancerous cells into the blood stream (Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria, 2011).

            However, breast cancer is mostly detected by a painless lump or mass of tissues called tumors, with genetic mutations and age, among the risk factor. (Palladino, 2009). Historically, according to Russel (2007) breast cancer may be one of the oldest known forms of cancerous tumors in women in Egypt and it dates back to approximately 1600BC. It was first noted and recorded as tumors or ulcers of the breast. During that time, Edwin, Papyrus described eight cases of tumors or ulcers of the breast that were treated by cauterization as ‘there is no treatment’. This treatment by cauterization was done with a tool called ‘Firedrill’. For centuries, physicians described similar cases in their practices with the same conclusion. It was not until doctors achieved greater understanding of the circulatory system in the 17th century, that they could establish a link between breast cancer and the lymph nodes in the armpit. However, the French surgeon, Jean Lewis Petit (1674 – 1750) and Scottish Surgeon, Benjamin Bell (1749–1805) were the first to remove the lymph nodes; breast tissue and chest muscle in an effort to save women from breast cancer. Their successful works were carried on by William Stewart, who started performing mastectomies in 1882. The Halsted radical mastectomy often involved removing  both breast associated with the lymph nodes and the underlying chest muscle. This often led to a long term pain and disability, but was seen as necessary, in order to  prevent the cancer from reoccurring. Radical mastectomy therefore remained the standard until in the 1970s, when a new understanding of metastasis led to  perceiving cancer as the system illness as well as a localized one. (Rusel, 2007).

            According to the American Cancer Society (2007) quoted in Udoudo (2008,p.365)  Female breast cancer incidence rates, for 2002, vary internationally by more than 25 fold, ranging from 300 cases per 100,000 in Mozambique to 101.1 in the United States, North America, Australia and Northern and Western  Europe have the highest incidence of breast cancer. Large parts of Africa and Asia have the lowest.  The alarming increase in the incidence and mortality of the disease not only has posed a great threat to the world of women with slim survival rates, but also created a great deal of concern to the entire world (WHO & UICC, 2005). It is in view of the above that the United Nations, international organizations and national governments have initiated combative strategies against the pandemic with the month of October declared as the National Breast Cancer Awareness month and pink ribbon, symbolizing the awareness of the disease.

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