Abnormal signs warning of breast cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases of women in the world and in Vietnam. In Vietnam, what is different from the world is that the incidence tends to be younger.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hong Quang, Head of Breast Surgery Department, K Hospital, Hanoi, said that compared to the European and American regions, the highest rate of women with breast cancer is at the age of 55-60 and older. go up. But in our country, many doctors meet people in their 40s .

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases of women in the world and in Vietnam. (Photo: Vantagenews).

"Even during our professional career, we have encountered cases of people over the age of 20 who have had breast cancer. In Vietnam , according to statistics from the Global Cancer Registry (GLOBOCAN 2020), Breast cancer is the most common cancer with 21,555 new cases, accounting for nearly 25.8% of total cancer cases ," Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hong Quang said.

Warning symptoms

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hong Quang said that breast cancer often appears with the symptom of a lump in the mammary gland . Normally, newly appearing lumps do not cause pain, so patients are easily subjective. Tumors often grow silently, gradually increasing over time, until they reach a certain size before the patient gets worried and goes to the doctor.

Besides, they also appear with the appearance of lymph nodes in the armpit area, nipple ulcers, and discharge.

Today, with the expansion of screening and early detection programs, many cases of breast cancer can be detected early before tumors appear.

"Women over the age of 40 can pay more attention to their health by participating in screening programs to detect cancer early, helping to increase the cure rate as well as the quality of treatment." treatment", Associate Professor Quang said.

Breast cancer often appears with symptoms of lumps in the mammary gland. (Photo: BVCC).

According to this expert, teenagers may begin to develop fibroadenomas. For breast cancer, usually, the disease has a high rate of appearing at the age of 40-55.

The causes and risk factors of breast cancer are also very diverse.

1. Age: As the body gets older, the process of repairing mutations and damage becomes poorer, causing cancer.
2. Genetics: If the family has a mother, sister, or aunt who has had breast cancer, the woman has a very high risk of getting breast cancer.
3. Endocrine : Women who marry, give birth late or do not give birth at all are also at higher risk of breast cancer.
4. In addition, other risk factors such as a Europeanized lifestyle and lack of physical activity are also recognized to increase the rate of breast cancer.
5. Women past menopause and taking hormone replacement drugs for a long time also need to pay attention to measures to detect cancer early.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hong Quang, currently, in Vietnam, we recommend that women aged 40 and older have screening and early detection of breast cancer. High-risk cases from the family should be proactively screened even earlier.

Patients should believe in science

"With the situation of using traditional medicine to cover or using unorthodox methods that have not been scientifically proven, we advise patients to immediately give up this thought. You should only believe into mainstream treatment methods , " he emphasized.

Head of Breast Surgery Department, K Hospital, said that in practice over the past two or three decades, we have seen achievements in surgery, chemicals, radiation, endocrine, targeted treatment. in breast cancer. Significant improvement, completely changing the perspective on treatment compared to before.

Regarding nutrition, breast cancer patients will also follow the diet of cancer patients in general. We should have a healthy, balanced diet, not restricting any foods too much. Particularly with breast cancer, patients with positive endocrine function should control their weight and avoid obesity. Fat metabolism will cause unfavorable factors in disease treatment.

Doctors at K Hospital performed surgery on the patient. (Photo: BVCC).

According to Associate Professor Le Hong Quang, breast cancer treatment is typical of multi-modality cancer treatment, doctors will skillfully combine surgical measures, radiation treatment and systemic treatment (chemotherapy, chemotherapy). hit the target).

The decision to use which measures and when is decided by a team of specialists and based on each patient's specific situation.

Regarding breast cancer surgery, in previous decades, when patients were at a late stage and science was not yet developed, most of them would have to have their breasts removed. However, recently, as science has made more advances in breast cancer treatment, patients with early stages can preserve their mammary glands. They can still cure cancer and preserve the patient's mammary glands.

"This is very important, because in modern society, especially women who are young or have a social life, need communication and diverse activities, preserving body shape is very important. affecting the patient's psychology. Maintaining the patient's quality of life is also a very important goal in addition to curing the disease ," the expert analyzed.

In addition to conservative surgical measures, for cases of breast cancer that do not have conservation indications or have had a mastectomy, doctors also develop breast reconstruction surgery for women. This is also an area of ​​surgery that has seen many advances in recent times. Reconstructive surgery helps women a lot, bringing confidence and increased quality of life.