Questions and answers related to prevention of recurrence after breast cancer surgery

  Breast cancer is one of the tumors with better treatment results. Among breast cancer patients, 80% of early stage patients can be treated with breast-conserving treatment without removing the whole breast, and only in the middle and late stage or when the tumor has spread extensively must they undergo total mastectomy. However, most people prefer to have their breasts removed for fear of cancer metastasis. But is mastectomy necessarily safer than breast conservation? Clinically, there is a possibility of breast cancer recurrence even after mastectomy. The following is the answer to your question about the prevention of recurrence after breast cancer surgery.  I. What exercises are better after breast cancer surgery?  1.Functional exercise of upper limbs; 2.Elimination of upper limb edema.  Local massage: Use the palm of the opposite hand to lightly press the upper and lower parts of the surgical scar and push the skin for massage to promote local blood circulation and loosen the tense skin.  Shoulder exercise: The upper limbs are naturally lowered, and the upper limbs are moved back and forth, left and right, with the shoulder as the center, and the degree of activity and the amount of movement is gradually increased to the extent that no local pain is produced.  Abduction exercise: Clench your fists with both hands, and do flat outward abduction exercise with both upper limbs, repeat for several times, then cross the fingers of both hands, place them behind the head, and vibrate the two elbows backward with great effort, so that the skin of the chest wall is stretched, one by one.  Touch the high movement: face the wall and stand, try your best to touch the wall with your hands and a certain height, do the next mark. In this way, the skin of the upper extremity can be made relaxed due to the stretching. Prevent the occurrence of edema in the upper limbs and promote the edema to subside.  Anti-infection treatment: reduce or avoid axillary fluid accumulation and wound infection.  Strengthen the functional exercise of the upper limb: promote lymphatic and blood return.  Avoid prolonged drooping of the affected limb: usually pay attention to elevating the affected limb, and use a pillow to raise the arm when sleeping. For patients with severe swelling, bandages can be used to compress the affected limb.  2. Is triamcinolone or letrozole better?  For postmenopausal breast cancer patients, either triamcinolone or letrozole is the right choice, or use triamcinolone for 2~5 years first and then switch to letrozole.  III. Can triamcinolone cause endometrial cancer?  There are different reports on this issue, and there will be different explanations. I once saw a report in the Chinese Journal of Oncology that it is a factor that causes breast cancer and also causes endometrial cancer because of the problem of gonadal axis, and I agree more with this view. In the process of using triamcinolone acetonide, it is important to check the thickness of the endometrium with ultrasound, and after it exceeds a certain value, it is necessary to have a hysteroscopy or stop the drug.  Triamcinolone has different endocrine effects when used before and after menopause. It is an estrogen receptor blocker before menopause and has estrogen-like effects after menopause. No calcium supplementation is required. While postmenopausal women who use Tridemet, must supplement calcium, otherwise osteoporosis will lead to severe bone pain and even fracture, affecting the patient’s quality of life.  Fourth, what can not be eaten in food?  Chinese and Western doctors have different answers. What is more consistent is that for post-operative breast cancer patients, placenta-like things cannot be eaten; ovarian-like things cannot be eaten, and things containing animal estrogen cannot be eaten. Soy milk can be drunk, and post-operative breast cancer patients should be encouraged to eat more soy products.  I once saw a patient whose health condition was a bit poor after breast cancer surgery and chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but her condition was very stable. Her daughter felt sorry for her mother and made a capsule from a placenta and gave it to her. After the medicine was finished, the mother had metastases in many places all over her body, but the good thing is that this kind of endocrine-related advanced breast cancer is treated very well. After giving her the treatment, she survived for a long time and had a good quality of life.  We have also seen many cases of menopausal patients who developed breast cancer after treatment with estrogen drugs. Therefore, we would like to remind menopausal women that they should take medication under the guidance of their doctors if they have menopausal symptoms, and they must pay attention to the dosage and duration of medication, and it is better to participate in more outdoor activities than taking medication when they have menopausal symptoms.  V. What else is recommended?  Gradually return to normal life (or work). Buy a wig and wear it, bring a shaped bra to fill the affected side, go out happily and beautifully, buy groceries, shop and go to the mall.  Keep a happy mood, have daily physical exercise time, and sleep at night without worries.  Do not because of the disease after they are not as good as others, do not because of the disease after they have to increase nutrition, rough food, radish and cabbage to keep safe. Be sure to control weight. There is a recent foreign study that the key to prevent recurrence of breast cancer after surgery is weight control.