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• Breast Lumps Aren’t Always Cancer, They Could Be Fibroadenomas

  When a woman notices a lump in her breast, her first thought is: Could it be cancer? But not all tumors in the breast are cancerous. A fibroadenoma is a benign tumor of the connective tissue. It affects 10 percent of women, making it the most common solid mass of the breast.

• What to Know About the BRCA Gene for Breast Cancer

  When actress Angelina Jolie found out she had a mutation in her BRCA1 gene that sharply increased her risk of developing breast cancer, she took the aggressive approach of having a preventive double mastectomy. Later, she also had her ovaries removed. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, actress Christina Applegate found out she also had a mutation in one of the BRCA genes. She decided to have a double mastectomy instead of a lumpectomy, and in 2017 also had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as a preventive measure.