Expert: Claes-Gustaf Nordquist, M.D. - 8/12/2009

Question
QUESTION: I'm doing a film script on breast cancer and would like to know if a new mother can find out she has breast cancer by not being able to breast feed due to pain in her breast?

ANSWER: That is rarely an early breast cancer symptom. In fact pain is seldom an early breast cancer symptom at all.


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QUESTION: if the cancer has been present in the person but never been diagnosed, can it cause pain during breastfeeding?

will there be an inability(due to pain) to breastfeed as a result of breast cancer?

If there be, at what stage of the cancer will this be?

ANSWER: Normally it will not cause any pain until it is quite large and that usually happens long after it has been diagnosed or at least was possible to diagnose (there are of course people who in spite of being aware of that something is wrong still will refuse to seek help. The worst case of that kind that I have seen was in the 1970ies in the emergency room of the South Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden with an elderly lady who had been brought to the hospital by some distant relatives who had happened to visit her and who had reacted to her bad smell - or rather stench. The dr of the emergency room called the oncology & radiation therapy clinic of the hospital where I worked as a dr at that time. Her breast cancer had "eaten" away her whole breast on that side and formed a wound crater that almost penetrated her chest wall). Normally a breast cancer would not hinder breast feeding (if not diagnosed) and for it to stop breast feeding by pain it normally would have to be very big. In order for this scenario to work you must give your character of the story some real mental problems. I have never seen such a case in fact.


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QUESTION: Thanks that was very helpful as my character is a villager from a remote village in West Africa where cases like hers are translated to witchcraft or voodoo.

If the case has gotten this far, what immediate line of action would the medical team take?

Answer
You are welcome! Well that depends on the exact size, location, stage and grade of the cancer so there is no simple single general answer. Do you want me to "think out" a possible scenario? If so since this seems to be a commercial project I suggest that you contact me on LivePerson.com so that we can negotiate a deal. It is not something I'm prepared to do here. This is a site reserved for real patients (or potential ones) and their families.