Is there current data? So how many women get breast cancer in Turkey?
It is a disease that occurs as a result of breast tissue cells starting to multiply abnormally and uncontrollably. Like other types of cancer, it can spread first to neighboring tissues, then to the surrounding lymph nodes and the body
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women. It ranks second in cancer-related deaths in women, after lung cancer. . One in every 8-10 women has the risk of developing breast cancer in her lifetime, and this risk increases with age. According to the latest published data of the Ministry of Health, approximately 25% of cancers seen in women in Turkey are breast cancer. . Approximately 17,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in a year.
>> What is Turkey's situation in this disease?
According to the data of the Turkish Breast Diseases Federation National Breast Cancer Database. The average age of breast cancer in Turkey is 51.6 and 17% of patients are under the age of 40.
Another important data is that the rate of mammography in women in Turkey is 34.5%. This rate is quite low compared to European countries.
In our country, breast cancer treatment can be performed at world standards, especially in advanced centers. For this reason, the more we can expand screening programs, the more we can reduce the death rate due to this disease. Because breast cancer cases, especially those diagnosed early, continue their lives after treatment as if they had never had the disease. Our usual slogan is 'be afraid of being late, not of cancer'
>> How did Covid affect breast cancer?
On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the pandemic due to Covid 19 worldwide. More than 5 million cases were recorded worldwide in less than 4 months, and with Covid-19-related hospitalizations and 10-15% of these hospitalizations requiring intensive care, there was a huge burden on the healthcare system worldwide. With this load, non-Covid health problems had to be postponed except for emergency cases.
This process affected all non-covid health problems, as well as cancer patients and, of course, breast cancer patients.
A conference was attended by more than 300 centers from 41 countries in Europe. This situation was revealed in detail in the study.
Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, the most important problem was that patients could not apply to a health institution even if they had complaints. Both the density of health institutions and the fear of Covid-19 led to this situation.
Screening programs had to be largely postponed.
As the pandemic progressed, hospitals became 'clear' for the treatment of cancer patients who were in the priority group. They started to create areas. Some hospitals were determined as clean hospitals. Emergency hospitals where Covid-19 patients will be intensively treated were opened and some improvement was noted in the situation.
Unfortunately, in this process, a significant increase was observed in the time it took for patients to receive treatment after diagnosis.
The pandemic, which is approaching its second year, has caused significant changes in the practice of healthcare practices, as well as in all social areas, all over the world and in our country. opened. Nowadays, with increasing experience, new strategies are being developed and these negative effects are being tried to be reversed. One of the important developments was the conduct of control interviews or preliminary interviews over the internet. However, in medical practice, the patient-doctor relationship must be carried out largely face to face. There is no substitute for a patient examination and a doctor's close observation of the patient. For this reason, while the system is doing its best, I hope we all fulfill our duty in the war by following the recommendations of science (vaccine-mask-distance-hygiene) to end the pandemic.
>> What are the risk factors in breast cancer?
The most important risk factor is being a woman. Having your first menstrual period before the age of 12, entering menopause after the age of 55, having your first birth after the age of 30, having never breastfed a child, receiving long-term hormone replacement therapy, having previously been diagnosed with cancer in a breast, having some risk-increasing cell changes seen in a breast biopsy, Having a family history of breast cancer, having some genetic mutations such as BRCA1 and 2, previous radiation therapy to the chest wall, a high-fat diet, alcohol consumption, and excessive weight gain in the post-menopausal period can be considered among the risk factors. The magic of patients diagnosed with breast cancer It should not be forgotten that some of them do not have any risk factors
So when should women specifically go for examination?
A mass in the breast and/or armpit, retraction on the nipple and skin, orange peel appearance on the skin, non-healing wound or crusting, bloody discharge from the nipple, eczema-like rash on the nipple may be symptoms of breast cancer. Pain is not usually seen with cancer, but the presence of pain does not mean that the mass is not cancerous. As is the case with breast cancers detected in screening programs, sometimes the patient has no complaints and the breast examination is completely normal.
>> What is your advice to women? Is it possible to be protected from breast cancer?
My most important advice to women is not to skip their screenings. So, if we ask how the screening should be; Breast cancer screening is performed on women who have no complaints. Women in the average risk group between the ages of 20 and 40 should have a clinical breast examination every 1-3 years and their awareness of breast cancer should be increased. Mammography and clinical breast examination should be performed once a year starting from the age of 40.
There are situations that we cannot change in preventing breast cancer; such as age, gender and genetic characteristics. This is why screening is important.
What we can change is our lifestyle. The most important thing is to pay attention to our nutrition by reducing stress factors. Overweight and obesity are the most important modifiable risk factors! It is really important to exercise regularly, at least walk, and avoid pre-packaged foods, foods we call fast-food, and excess sugar.
As a final word, let's remind each other by wearing our pink ribbon this month and all months of the year and get our scans done. Let's not forget once again that our slogan is 'Fear not cancer, but fear being late'…
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