Risk factors, prevention and early diagnosis
ADDRESS BOOK – It is the most common cancer affecting women in industrialized countries and accounts for about 25% of all female cancers. It is the leading cause of cancer death in women, with a rate of approximately 25-30 x 100,000 inhabitants.
Every year in Italy there are more than 40,000 new cases and the most affected age is between 45 and 70 years and more than 11,000 women die each year from this disease.
Even in the ASL of Lecco, whose territory corresponds to the Province of Lecco, the data are superimposable: IT HITS ONE OUT OF 8 WOMEN.
WHO IS AT RISK
L’age: more than 80% of breast cancer cases affect women over 45 years of age. (it is exceptional under 20 years, rare between 20 and 29 years, it becomes more and more frequent starting from 30 years, reaching the highest values in the menopausal and post-menopausal period, between 45 and 60 years, showing an increase relative with advancing age).
Hormone Replacement Therapy: the results of recent studies on this topic have sparked a strong international debate, but most of the current indications converge towards a drastic downsizing of hormone replacement therapy, suggesting short cycles and oriented exclusively to some symptoms of menopause such as vasomotor ones. The relative risk after 5 years of use is about 2-3% for each year of use. The use of oral contraceptives is also associated with an increased risk, albeit of modest proportions and which disappears within 10 years of discontinuing administration. Excessive use of estrogen facilitates the onset of breast cancer.
Pregnancies decrease the production of estrogen for which they are a protective factor.
The early menarche, late menopause, late early pregnancy, non-breastfeeding and nulliparity constitute risk factors.
Familiarity: about 10% of women with breast cancer have more than one close family member who is sick, especially in juvenile cases. There are also some genes that predispose to this tumor: they are BRCA1 and BRCA2. Mutations in these genes are responsible for approximately 50% of inherited forms of breast and ovarian cancer.
Then there are gods environmental and diet-related factors: a diet rich in fats and proteins, low in fruit and vegetables, poor physical activity, excessive alcohol consumption and smoking are important risk factors.
DIAGNOSIS AND PREVENTION
The early diagnosis of the tumor allows a surgical and medical therapy such as to guarantee a real HEALING of the disease.
An early diagnosis can only be obtained through periodic and systematic examination of the breasts.
At what age, therefore, is it good to start undergoing a check-up? What are the signs or symptoms that highlight this oncological disease?
It is good that all women begin to perform SELF-TALPING every month from 20 years of age. With a careful examination of her breasts, a woman can learn about their normal structure and understand when any changes occur. It is important that the self-examination is performed correctly, once a month and always in the same period. Women of childbearing age can perform it at the end of the menstrual cycle, when the breasts are less tense and painful. Postmenopausal women can do it on the first day of each month.
From the age of 20, in addition to performing monthly self-examination, all women should undergo a breast examination by a specialist doctor EVERY YEAR. It will then be the specialist’s task to prescribe the execution of an ultrasound scan based on the risk factors and the clinical examination. ONLY for some risk groups it is even recommended to carry out a mammogram from 30-35 years of age.
It is, however, IMPORTANT that whenever a woman presents a symptom of any type affecting the breast, she should IMMEDIATELY contact her doctor, who will carry out the breast examination and possibly advise the execution of further diagnostic tests such as ultrasound or mammography, even if they have been made recently.
Dai 40 years MAMMOGRAPHY must be performed, together with ULTRASOUND4 which is able to detect the presence of punctiform lesions or a few millimeters in diameter (microcalcifications or very small nodules), therefore in the pre-clinical phase, that is when they have not yet given any sign of their presence . It will be the task of the breast specialist to program the ideal interval for each patient between the execution of a mammogram and the other, taking into account multiple factors, thus having the possibility of carrying out a “tailor-made prevention”.
It should also be emphasized the importance of continuing the checks even after the age of 74, when the screening programs end: the idea often prevails in women that it is no longer necessary to carry out a visit and mammography. In fact, there is always the possibility of getting sick, so these checks must be carried out as long as the general conditions of the woman allow it.
In addition to carrying out clinical and instrumental checks, it is of fundamental importance to follow a correct lifestyle: it has in fact been calculated that if everyone followed a correct lifestyle, the appearance of about one out of three cases of cancer could be avoided. Prevention, therefore, is in everyone’s hands!
In this regard we can recall the Decalogue of health:
- Stay slim throughout your life
- Stay physically active every day
- Limit the consumption of calorie-dense foods and avoid the consumption of sugary drinks
- Basing your diet mainly on foods of plant origin (a wide variety of fruit and vegetables at each meal)
- Limit the consumption of red meats
- Limit the consumption of alcoholic beverages
- Limit your consumption of salt
- Ensuring sufficient intake of all essential nutrients through food (importance of variety)
- Breastfeed babies for at least 6 months
- These recommendations also apply to those who have already fallen ill.
Dr. Carla Magni
Breast specialist
Receives at In Salus – Multi-specialty Medical Center
Lecco – Corso Carlo Alberto 17 / A
Tel. 0341 367512
PREVIOUS ARTICLES
20 October – Face to face with Health. When the heart hurts: myocardial infarction
September 28 – Face to face with Health. Endometriosis: symptoms, diagnosis and treatment
20 September – Face to face with Health. Back pain: main causes and how to treat yourself
06 September – Face to face with Health. Knee pain: understanding the causes and the right therapy
20 July – Face to face with health. Is menopause the end of sexuality?
07 July – Face to face with Health. Junk food: the risk isn’t just obesity
June 21st – Face to face with health. Obesity: the pain hidden in the extra pounds
June 4 – Face to face with Health. What is hearing loss and how is it treated
May, 20th – Face to face with Health. Hearing, the “social” sense to be safeguarded
April 20 – Face to face with health. Shoulder pain: symptoms, causes and remedies
April 8 – Face to face with health. Allergies in children: here is the fastest and cheapest test
