Breast Cancer — NCLEX Cheat Sheet
New painless breast lump
👤 By the CinnaRN Clinical Content Team
🕐 Updated 2026-07-11
🏷️ Physiological Adaptation
🔖 Free to read, print, and share
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Use this quick-reference guide to spot, treat, and prevent Breast Cancer on the NCLEX. Keep it handy during review and on exam day!
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- Hard fixed painless lump, upper-outer
- Skin dimpling, peau d'orange, nipple retraction
- Bloody/clear unilateral nipple discharge
- BRCA1/2, family hx, female, age ↑
- Early menarche, late menopause, nulliparity
- Mammogram, US, biopsy = definitive
- Receptors: ER/PR/HER2 → guide tx
- Post-mastectomy: arm elevated, no BP/IV
- Watch lymphedema → no constriction
- Tamoxifen → ↑ clot/DVT risk
✨Quick Tip
The classic sign is a single, hard, painless, fixed, irregular lump, frequently in the upper outer quadrant.
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