The effect of chemotherapy can only be ensured by insisting on completing the full amount and full course of chemotherapy. To be able to implement such a simple truth in the practice of fighting cancer, for cancer patients, is to occupy a strategic high ground to save their lives. At the press conference of “Together with Hope – Focus on Breast Cancer”, authoritative experts called on the whole society to support the patient education of breast cancer, support patients to adhere to chemotherapy, let hope follow and care forever. Every year, about 1.4 million women worldwide suffer from breast cancer and 400,000 women die from it. As the number one killer of women’s health, the incidence and mortality rate of breast cancer in China are rapidly increasing, and the age of incidence is getting younger and younger. According to the data, the incidence of breast cancer in women starts to increase from the age of 20-25 and reaches its peak at the age of 45-50, which is 10 years earlier than that of western women! It is urgent to implement the concept of early detection and early treatment of the disease! Not to be careless – half yearly checkups and active “risk management” is one of the best ways to deal with cancers like breast cancer that can be treated well at an early stage. As a group with high risk of breast cancer, you should always take care of self-testing and go to the hospital for breast health examination at least once every six months. The composition of the high-risk group of breast cancer: family history of breast cancer; those who have their first menstruation before the age of 12; those who have children after the age of 30, those who are not pregnant above the age of 40, those who are celibate, those who are too old for marriage or have a short marriage; women who have had breast cancer on one side; those who have lobular hyperplasia or ductal hyperplasia of the breast, those who are excessively obese or have diabetes; those who were exposed to radiation when they were teenagers and have a long and frequent history of exposure to radiation. Not blind – chemotherapy, targeting, correct medication “Some patients, once diagnosed with breast cancer, panic and seek medical help indiscriminately, or even hope for certain ‘ancestral secret recipes’, missing the best treatment opportunity in vain”, said Professor Jiang Zefei painfully, “receiving scientific treatment in hospitals, through a combination of chemotherapy, new targeted therapy, gene therapy, etc. The best way to deal with breast cancer is to face the enemy head-on”. Breast cancer is a systemic disease from the very beginning of its development, and it takes 30 times to multiply from a single cell division to a lump of 1 cm in diameter, which takes more than 3 years. Therefore, chemotherapy as a systemic treatment becomes an indispensable part of breast cancer treatment. It has been proven that chemotherapy after surgery can significantly reduce the recurrence rate, and chemotherapy should be started as early as possible after surgery, usually requiring 6 courses of treatment. Chemotherapy regimens containing the only oral targeted chemotherapy drug, Siroda, not only significantly prolong the survival of cancer patients, but also enable chemotherapy at home, giving patients a better outcome against cancer. For the minority of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, who should be treated with HER2-positive basal therapy, the use of the targeted drug Herceptin (trastuzumab) can significantly improve survival in advanced (metastatic) cases, in addition to effectively treating early-stage breast cancer. The anti-HER2 base drug Herceptin does not have the toxic side effects of chemotherapy drugs, such as hair loss, which is common with chemotherapy. Also, the safety of each anti-HER2 drug varies greatly, for example, some drugs have severe diarrhea that prevents patients from adhering to treatment, while Herceptin’s safety has been proven for 600,000 patients worldwide. Not to give up – psychological construction Confidence is king From Audrey Hepburn, Chen Xiaoxu to Ye Fan, the “female killer” breast cancer keeps taking away beautiful lives and the figures are alarming. In the clinical treatment, experts found an interesting phenomenon: most of the early stage breast cancer patients are very confident in treatment, and through active cooperation with treatment, they often achieve good results – the cure rate of early stage breast cancer is as high as 75%. And once patients are found to be metastatic often their condition deteriorates quickly. A large part of them cannot pass their own psychological barrier, thinking that metastatic is equivalent to terminal disease and treatment is just “burning money” and dragging down family members, so they choose to give up psychologically before they go through treatment, and there are even extreme patients who end their lives early. There are also patients who are afraid of the toxic side effects of chemotherapy, mental depression, resulting in poor results, leaving the world early. Professor Jiang Zefei said, “The lesser of two evils. Although chemotherapy has toxic side effects, it is the key guarantee to suppress tumors and recover lost lives. You can’t waste food because of choking.” Professor Xu Binghe reminded patients that the performance and tolerance of chemotherapy toxic side effects vary from person to person, and there is no need to affect their own treatment because of the adverse reactions in other patients. Besides, there are many ways to alleviate the side effects.” — Gritting your teeth and persevering through a sufficient amount of chemotherapy treatment will get you out of the sky, this is the experience of authoritative experts who have treated thousands of breast cancer patients. At the same time, patients can encourage each other and transmit optimism to each other, which is also beneficial to the treatment of the disease. In the event “Together for Hope – Breast Cancer Concern”, the large scale patient education provides an opportunity for patients to communicate with each other and help each other. The experts concluded by saying, “Long-term survival with cancer is possible by adhering to adequate chemotherapy courses, having a good attitude and treating even metastatic breast cancer correctly!”