Spring is the time when everything is reviving and the flowers and birds are singing. However, it is also the season of high incidence of malignant tumor of female breast. According to some data, the incidence rate of breast malignant tumor in spring is 30% higher than other seasons. Breast cancer is one of the common malignant tumors that seriously affects women’s physical and mental health and even endangers their lives.
The age of onset of breast cancer is mostly between 40-60 years old, with a higher incidence in women around menopause and rare in men. There are 1.2 million new cases of breast cancer in the world every year, and the incidence of breast cancer in China ranks the first among malignant tumors in women. The incidence rate has been increasing in recent years, and the trend is younger. With the continuous progress of various treatments, the mortality rate of breast cancer is decreasing. In order to provide the most professional knowledge of breast cancer prevention and treatment for women in the city, we interviewed the relevant experts of the only tertiary hospital in the city on the issues related to breast cancer diagnosis and treatment that patients are concerned about.
What is the current level of breast cancer treatment in our city?
Director of the Department of Oncology, thanked the general public for recognizing the work and achievements of our department in tumor prevention and treatment. Through the efforts of several generations, the Department of Oncology has institutionalized and standardized the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in terms of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and endocrine therapy. In terms of breast cancer surgery, we routinely perform traditional modified radical surgery, breast-conserving surgery and sentinel lymph node biopsy, and the postoperative radiotherapy, chemotherapy and endocrine treatment of breast cancer are also in sync with the national professional breast cancer prevention and treatment institutions.
Why the incidence of breast cancer increases in spring? How to determine whether you have the disease?
The high incidence of breast cancer in spring is considered to be related to the body’s hormone level in spring, and at the same time, people shed their thick outer clothes in spring, especially when bathing, they can easily find breast lesions.
In fact, breast diseases are mostly discovered by patients themselves and then diagnosed only after visiting hospitals, so it is extra important to make patients discover the disease and visit hospitals in time. You should go to the hospital promptly if you find the following conditions
1. Breast lumps.
A lump in the breast is the most common manifestation, and more than 95% of patients can palpate the lump.
2, nipple overflow :
The sudden appearance of nipple discharge (milk-like, blood-like, plasma-like) in non-lactating women should be noted.
3.Pain
Pain is mostly seen in breast enlargement, but breast cancer can also cause swelling and hidden pain to a certain extent.
4.Breast skin elevation:
“Orange peel-like changes”, nipple invagination.
5.Redness of the skin:
It is mainly seen in inflammatory breast cancer, accompanied by edema, thickening of skin and increase in skin temperature.
6.Lymph node enlargement in the axilla:
Lymph node enlargement in the ipsilateral axilla is the most common.
How should patients go to the hospital for further examination and diagnosis?
First of all, the patient should go to a professional oncology specialist in a large hospital, and the receiving physician should first take a detailed medical history and breast examination to have a general understanding of the patient’s condition, and at this stage most patients can actually be diagnosed, eliminating unnecessary examinations and medications, and the money spent by the patient may be a registration fee. We often see patients with mastocytosis who are mentally panicked and spend thousands of dollars outside to get irregular and also unnecessary tests and treatments. These diseases can often be solved for a few dollars tops a hundred or so.
Once again, if a mammographer examines a patient and finds a suspicious problem, he or she often chooses the following tests depending on the situation
1. Mammogram.
Its currently a powerful tool for early detection of breast cancer, especially for screening of some high-risk groups. It can detect early breast cancer, and early breast cancer can be cured! Therefore, mammography is very important. The new mammography machine in our hospital is an imported machine made by GE, which is very advanced and is in the forefront in the northwest.
2.Breast ultrasound.
The main role is to further examine the found breast masses, abscesses and axillary conditions, which can initially determine the benign and malignant nature of the lesions.
3.Breast infrared.
It has important reference value especially for the determination of the severity of breast enlargement and the determination of the benignity and malignancy of breast lumps.
Finally, the “gold standard” for breast cancer diagnosis is to obtain biopsies and examine them under the microscope. At present, the routine practice of our hospital is.
1.For patients with suspicious lesions that are considered to be advanced and require preoperative chemotherapy, preoperative puncture biopsy is performed;
2.For patients who are suspected of breast cancer and need immediate surgery, we use intraoperative complete excision of the breast mass and intraoperative rapid frozen pathology examination. If the lesion is benign, the surgery is over; if it is breast cancer, radical surgery or breast-conserving surgery is required. It is important to state here that patients are cautioned not to go to some non-specialized medical institutions for non-complete excisional examination of the mass or massage, which can easily cause tumor metastasis.
What is the difference between traditional modified radical surgery and breast-conserving surgery and whether the efficacy is the same
Director of the first ward of surgical oncology, your question is a good one, and it is also a question that the majority of patients have to choose before receiving surgery after admission. The traditional modified radical surgery is to remove the whole diseased breast and the axillary fat and lymphatic tissue on the same side; breast-conserving surgery is to remove a certain range of breast tissue and skin including the tumor, axillary lymphatic dissection or biopsy of the anterior lymph nodes. Here, two kinds of mistakes tend to happen: first, blindly expanding the surgery.
When patients are first admitted to the hospital, they are not aware of their condition and their family members are not willing to let them know that they have breast cancer, and most of them are terrified at this time for fear of delaying their condition and are too hasty in choosing treatment. Many breast-conserving surgeries that could have preserved the breast or even the armpit were rejected by the family members, who demanded the traditional modified radical surgery. In fact, at this time, the patient’s family should listen to the doctor’s professional advice, many patients should be exempted from the pain of mastectomy, and these recommendations of the doctor are the national and international guidelines for the standardized treatment of breast cancer. In western countries and around Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, breast-conserving surgery has reached about 80%.