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Juvenile Breast Carcinoma - Children and Teens Can Get Breast Cancer Too

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Breast cancer can strike children and teens too

Most are probably quite familiar with the age-related statistics for breast cancer by now – only 5-7 % of all breast cancers occur in women younger than 40, and the vast majority of these cases are found in women who are in their thirties. Basically, there is an almost steady increase in the odds of being diagnosed with breast cancer as women grow older, which is why age is the number one risk factor and predictor for this disease.

But what many people may not realize is that breast cancer can potentially strike females at almost any age, even before they could actually be classified as women. Juvenile breast carcinoma is a form of breast cancer that affects children and adolescents. While overall this strain of the disease accounts for less than 1% of the total cases, worldwide it is still diagnosed in over 300,000 young women annually. To put this in perspective, there are about 200,000 adult women who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the United States.

Juvenile breast carcinoma is a relatively non-aggressive form of breast cancer that fortunately is highly curable because it only metastasizes about 15% of the time, moving slowly even when this process begins. A mastectomy or lumpectomy with some lymph node removal is the usual treatment, and it seems that in most cases young victims of the disease are spared the necessity of follow-up chemotherapy or radiation treatments.

Juvenile breast carcinoma tends to start out as small, pea-sized lumps that can usually be found easily by children or their parents. Because this disease is so rare and unknown, even in those cases where parents are concerned that something may be wrong and make an appointment with a doctor, these cancers generally aren’t biopsied or treated until they grow much larger and the young patient begins to report sometimes unbearable pain. Unfortunately, medical professionals simply don’t suspect cancer in these cases, so they usually diagnose some kind of lymph node infection or inflammation and attempt to treat it with antibiotics. Eventually, however, as the tumors grow – sometimes becoming as big as oranges – the disease all but diagnoses itself, and treatment procedures can be then be prescribed.

Needless to say, when the parents of young girls, and the girls themselves, receive the diagnosis of breast cancer, it is a shocking, confusing, and emotionally devastating moment. While all parents fear for the health and safety of their children, breast cancer is obviously something they never would have thought could happen in a million years.

The Ages of the Victims
Most juvenile breast cancer victims are in their teens, as might be imagined since breasts do not even begin forming in girls until they approach puberty. However, there have been some shocking exceptions to this rule. In 2008, ten-year-old Hannah Powell-Auslam from Fullerton, California became the youngest girl to ever be diagnosed with breast cancer after doctors finally determined the growing lump in her breast that had been causing her so much pain was indeed malignant. Because of the unfortunate delay in getting an accurate diagnosis, Hannah’s breast cancer had spread to the lymph nodes by the time treatments could begin, so in addition to a radical mastectomy she has had to undergo continuing chemotherapy as well.

But as shocking as Hannah’s case was, she did not remain the youngest victim of breast cancer for very long. By 2009, the ever-growing lump in Aleisha Hunter’s breast had finally been diagnosed as cancer by stunned doctors in her hometown of Toronto, Ontario. It is quite appropriate to use the word ‘stunned’ here because while those medical professionals had heard of juvenile breast carcinoma, they certainly never expected to see it manifest in a three-year-old. Aleisha was perhaps even too young to understand completely what was happening but she bravely endured surgery for removal of the affected breast plus 16 lymph nodes. Her surgery was extremely successful, and she is now totally cancer free and did not require any additional chemotherapy or radiation treatments afterwards.

Some Speculations
Unfortunately, the causes of juvenile breast carcinoma, especially in girls of such extraordinarily young ages, are not well understood. In fact, they have not even been investigated much, since researchers and philanthropic organizations not surprisingly concentrate on the 99% of cases that occur in adult women. Juvenile breast cancer is still quite unknown, although it can be hoped that the highly publicized cases involving Hannah Powell-Auslam and Aleisha Hunter will help dramatically raise awareness about the existence of this disease.

Many cancer experts are speculating that the onset of juvenile breast carcinoma could be triggered by exposure to man-made estrogen-like chemicals that are now found in pesticides, cosmetics, and various pollutants, and that the growth hormones that are increasingly being introduced to the food supply to help encourage larger growth in cattle and other farm animals could also somehow be linked to these precocious cancers.

Clearly, this is an area where much more study needs to be done. Until definitive answers can be obtained that either incriminate or exonerate these kinds of artificial chemical additives, however, the causes of breast cancer in young girls and adolescents will continue to be debated among those passionate about discovering the truth.

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Signs and Symptoms of Breast Cancer

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