Cancer Types
Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer continues to make headlines every day. It is a disease that can cause great sorrow. Yet every case is a story of grit and courage and sheer perseverance to beat the odds. Breast cancer, if diagnosed in time is completely CURABLE!!
A lady, who recently became the CEO of a large research company, felt a lump in her breast. With great trepidation she visited our clinic and spent an hour discussing with us the various options. She had no intention of giving up anything in life and hence attended one meeting abroad even when she was on chemotherapy. Today she is fully cured and completely back to her work and family.
Diagnosis
Post Treatment Support, Followup Care and Surveillance :
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Breast cancer impacts over 240,000 new patients a year in India.
• Approximately every 3 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer and approximately every 12 minutes breast cancer claims another life.
• 70% of breast cancer cases occur in women who have no identifiable risk factors.
• 22% of all cancers in women are breast cancers.
• Numero Uno cancer in urban women ranks no.2 in whole of India.
• Female
• Over age 40
• Personal or family history of breast cancer
• Early age of menarche
• Late age at menopause
• Never had children or
• Had first child at age 30 or older
It is basically driven by three heads
- Surgery
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation
Surgery had changed like never before
Mastectomy : This procedure essentially involves removal of the entire breast and the associated glands in the armpit (axillary lymph nodes). Previously the entire muscle of the chest wall was also removed. (Pectoralis major). However now the procedure performed is called MODIFIED RADICAL MASTECTOMY in which the muscles are preserved. SIMPLE MASTECTOMY is done in cases of prophylactic mastectomy like in the recent case of a Hollywood celebrity where only the breast tissue is removed and the axillary glands are spared.
Conservative surgery : The biggest change in surgery is that many patients with breast cancer need not undergo complete removal of the breast. They can go in for partial removal or conservative surgery of the breast.
Reconstructive surgery : Nowadays plastic surgeons can do a wonderful job in reconstructing the breast using the body's own tissue, implants and other techniques to give a near normal breast. This helps to preserve the body image and restores the confidence of the individual.
Oncoplastic surgery : Oncoplastic breast surgery combines the techniques of traditional breast cancer surgery with the cosmetic advantages of plastic surgery. The goal is to remove cancer while minimizing the unwanted effects of surgery, helping patients heal both physically and emotionally.
The frequency of follow-up appointments depends on the individual case, but regular check-ups are typically recommended for the first few years.
RADIATION is the treatment where the tumor is killed by rays emitted by a radiation source. With modern medicine the machines delivering this have become better with good software guiding the rays so that only the tumor tissue is killed and the rest of the organs are affected as less as possible.
Which are given through I,V and saline. They do cause some side effects like loss of hair, nausea vomiting etc but all of these are temporary. Now there are medicines available to effectively counter these side effects. There is a recent development called targeted therapy where the drugs attack certain genetic mutations present in the cancer cells so that normal cells are spared and hence side effects are minimal.
The five year survival rate for breast cancer patients has increased
• From 72% in the late 1940
• To 97% today