Breast cancer prevention starts from children, Zhang Mingshuai, Breast Surgery Department, Xinjiang Cancer Hospital
Breast cancer is mainly an adult disease, but it has shown a trend of younger age, and it is not an exception for teenage girls to get breast cancer. This problem must be taken seriously by parents.
How can such a young girl get this disease? After careful understanding, we found that most of the young breast cancer patients are sexually precocious and have their menarche at the age of 10. Usually, grandparents, grandparents and parents love her so much that they let her take nutrition and supplements one after another. In fact, this “baby” child is helping, the child may get this disease with eating too many supplements, excessive intake of sex hormones related.
Statistics show that the age of menarche for girls in Shanghai has advanced from 16 to 13 years old. The earlier the age of menarche, the earlier the breast tissue is exposed to the effects of estrogen. A year earlier age of menarche increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 20%.
Parents are advised not to blindly give their children supplements and to pay attention to a reasonable diet to prevent obesity and early sexual maturity.
— Professor Shen Zhenzhou, Breast Surgery Department, Cancer Hospital of Fudan University
The person who knows you best is always yourself
Yao Beina was killed by breast cancer at the age of 34. It is inevitable that some people are skeptical about early detection and treatment, and some even think negatively that it is better to know about it later than to be afraid of early detection, so as to maintain a relaxed life.
The results of a follow-up study of more than 3,000 breast cancer patients conducted by our Peking University Medical Oncologist showed that the 10-year survival rate for stage I (early stage) patients was 87%, 67% for stage II patients, and only 35% for stage III (late stage) patients.
It can be seen that the difference in survival rates between early stage patients and late stage patients is still very large. Women in general should raise their awareness of cancer prevention and do breast examination at different stages of their life journey.
Currently, the most common methods of breast examination include self-examination, ultrasound, mammogram and MRI. Ultrasound is more suitable for young Asian women, and after the age of 40, annual mammogram is recommended. Although MRI can detect breast cancer that cannot be detected by the first two, it is not a panacea. It can easily miss some subtypes of breast cancer, especially those with tiny calcified foci. It is recommended to do further MRI when ultrasound or mammogram detects lesions that cannot be diagnosed.
Although imaging means are becoming more and more advanced, breast self-examination still cannot be replaced. In fact, a number of patients have discovered signs of disease during self-examinations. Therefore, every caring woman should keep an eye out for a self-examination on the 9th to 11th day after her menstrual period.
— Professor Li Jinfeng, Peking University Cancer Hospital
The first treatment is related to the patient’s life
Once diagnosed with breast cancer, the first standardized treatment is directly related to the patient’s survival quality and treatment effect. For many patients, the first surgery is not appropriate, or the treatment plan is not reasonable, or even the diagnosis is wrong, which will lay the foundation for future “recurrence” and “metastasis”.
The treatment of breast cancer should include local and systemic treatment. The most common means of local treatment are surgery and radiation therapy. For patients who are able to undergo surgery, surgery should be applied first to remove and destroy the tumor cells in the primary site and then combined with radiation therapy if necessary to prevent local recurrence. Systemic treatment mainly relies on drugs, such as chemotherapy drugs and endocrine drugs, which can be used before and after surgery to prevent metastasis. For patients with advanced inoperable disease, systemic therapy is also mainly used.
The treatment of breast cancer has been standardized internationally and nationally and is constantly being updated based on new data. It is recommended that patients should choose a professional and qualified hospital for treatment at the first visit.
Generally speaking, the treatment of breast cancer generally has the following principles: for patients with early clinical stage (i.e., early stage I, II and some III), surgery is mainly administered. For patients with high risk of recurrence, postoperative adjuvant systemic therapy should be given; for some stage II and III patients, according to their condition, systemic therapy can be given first to shrink the lesions before surgery. Of course, patients with distant metastasis in stage IV who are not suitable for surgical treatment can be treated with drugs.
–Professor Shen Zhenzhou of Breast Surgery Department, Cancer Hospital of Fudan University
Don’t “demonize” chemotherapy
The rumor that breast cancer is prone to recurrence after chemotherapy has been circulating on the internet. Such rumors are totally unfounded and should not be believed blindly. Long-term clinical studies with tens of thousands of patients or even larger scale have confirmed that chemotherapy can indeed prolong the survival time for patients who need chemotherapy.
Following your doctor’s advice and following reasonable chemotherapy is one of the most important ways to fight against breast cancer. Many patients are afraid of chemotherapy mainly because of its side effects, such as hair loss, nausea and vomiting. In fact, nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy can be prevented by using a three-drug combination of NK-1 receptor antagonist, 5-HT3 receptor antagonist and dexamethasone. As long as these drugs are administered a few hours before chemotherapy and used consistently for two to three days after chemotherapy according to medical advice, most patients do not need to endure the nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy.
–Professor Hu Xichun of Cancer Hospital of Fudan University
Don’t believe in special foods to prevent and treat breast cancer
It is unrealistic to try to prevent or even fight against cancer by eating certain foods or herbs every day, and supplementing a large amount of certain nutrients alone may cause accumulation of poisoning.
Many breast cancer patients often ask whether they should eat snapper, black fish, loach, sea cucumber, etc. after surgery or during chemotherapy to make up for it. These foods are not untouchable, but it is not necessary to take a big tonic. A proper diet, especially controlling the fat intake, is beneficial to the treatment of breast cancer. It is more important to maintain a positive state of mind than to consume large amounts of meat and fish or take health supplements blindly.
— Professor Jinsong Lu, Breast Surgery Department, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine