Some thoughts on breast cancer through the case of Yao Beina

  The famous young singer Yao Beina passed away on January 16, 2015 at the age of 33 due to a recurrence of breast cancer at Peking University Shenzhen Hospital. She endorsed the Pink Ribbon campaign in 2013, telling her experience of fighting cancer, helping women to understand breast cancer and encouraging more breast cancer patients to build up their confidence to overcome the disease. However, in June 2014, she developed recurrence and metastasis, and eventually died of lung and brain metastasis. We were shocked by this news, and while we were sorry for her sudden death, it also made us think more deeply about breast cancer.  First, about the early diagnosis of breast cancer. Many breast cancers can be diagnosed at an early stage, but the reason why many of them are not detected in time is that patients do not have a good understanding of the disease, and many of them think that my breasts do not hurt or itch, so they will not get cancer. Therefore, many middle-aged and elderly patients have never even had a breast checkup. Furthermore, some patients have routine annual checkups, but some of them still delay the diagnosis and treatment because routine checkups do not mean specialized checkups. For patients under 35 years old, breast ultrasound examination should be performed once every six months or once a year, and if there are irregular nodules or blood flow signals, mammography or MRI may be performed once every three months, and for patients over 35 years old, mammography should be performed once every one or two years in addition to ultrasound examination.  Secondly, about the standard treatment of breast cancer. After breast cancer, you must go to an experienced breast specialist for professional treatment. Breast cancer is not scary, we should belittle it tactically and pay attention to it strategically. Compared with lung cancer, esophageal cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, etc., breast cancer has a slow progress, many treatment means and good prognosis. A relaxed mood and release of stress will improve the immunity of patients and enhance the treatment effect. As long as patients receive surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, endocrine therapy, gene therapy, etc. according to the standard, they have a good chance to survive for a long time and reduce recurrence and metastasis. There may be some discomfort in the treatment process, heavy or not, in one way or another, but it is important to realize that this pain is temporary and persistence in treatment is victory.  Again, about the follow-up of breast cancer. Many patients do not go to the hospital for regular follow-up as required, so they are not able to detect some recurrence and metastasis at an early stage, and they may miss the opportunity of early intervention. It is important to emphasize the compliance of patients here. Patients may have various reasons not to go for regular review, such as busy work, many performances, fear of spending money, etc. In fact, they do not understand that life is everything, and body is everything, keep the green hills in fear of no firewood, do not lose a lot because of small.  When some names like Yao Beina, Chen Xiaoxu, Anita Mui, etc. flash from our mind, we have to associate with breast cancer. But let’s not be intimidated by it, we have to understand it correctly, find it in time and treat it scientifically so that its damage can be minimized.