Swelling of the breast
Another common sign of breast cancer is swelling of the breast. Swelling can be located in the armpit and many other areas of the chest. Swelling is not an early symptom of breast cancer. Instead, it usually happens when the tumor is large enough to cause an alteration in the average circulation of the blood or lymph. It may also indicate that cancer is starting to spread into the nearby lymph nodes and affecting their normal function of draining lymph back to the general circulation.
Moderate swelling is also detectable as a normal finding during a woman’s period and before it starts. However, this swelling tends to affect both breasts at the same time, and it does not change the size and proportion of the breast. Instead, suspicious swelling is often unilateral (affecting only one half of the body) and sometimes it may be severe enough to cause a visible change to the breast.
