The Perioperative Management of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer for women all over the world. As the report of Korea Central Cancer Registry about cancer incidence from 2003 to 2005 by Ministry of Health and Welfare in Korea, around 35.5 of a hundred thousand women were diagnosed breast cancer in 2005, which was the second most common cancer for women in Korea. As many as women concern about safety of their breasts, and want to get screening tests for breast cancer, clinicians should prepare to make a right diagnosis and management for breast cancer. While examining a patient who visited to get breast cancer screening, history taking could be one of the most crucial step to diagnose breast cancer. In order to get information related to breast cancer during taking her/his history, clinicians should know about risk factors of breast cancer. Although most commonly used screening test for breast cancer is mammography, most of Korean breast cancer patients could need additional breast sonography due to dense breast. If any abnormal lesions during physical examination or on screening test are detected, another imaging studies, such as breast sonography or breast MRI, should be taken to describe the lesion in detail. After characterizing the lesion on imaging studies, the lesion which has possibility of malignancy should be proven pathologically by biopsies, including fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC), core needle biopsy(CNB), vacuum-assisted large core needle biopsy, and surgica