PUBLICATION DATE:
Diario EL PAIS
Throughout the month of October and under the slogan "The best protection is early detection" the British Hospital carries out a series of informative and breast cancer prevention activities, which involves its departments of Gynecology, Mammography and Oncology.
October is the month of breast cancer awareness and within that framework the British Hospital intensified information activities which are focused on disease prevention.
It is possible to detect it at an early stage and it can be curable if timely treatment is carried out, those were the communicational axes of the informative contents that were shared with members and users of the Hospital.
Breast cancer is the most frequent or most prevalent malignant disease among Uruguayan women. Approximately 1800 cases are diagnosed per year, 5 per day, and it causes the death of 650 women every year.
According to information from organizations that monitor the disease, approximately one in 11 Uruguayan women could develop breast cancer at some time in their life.
In this context, the medical and non-medical professionals of the British Hospital claimed regular performance of mammograms, the early diagnosis and the proper planning of the treatments to be applied, as pillars to confront and control breast cancer.
Uruguay has a very high incidence of breast cancer, linked to the "western lifestyle" of its population, although since the mid-1990s it has been registering a "slow but steady" decline.
The improvement of treatments, prevention campaigns and the growing awareness of the importance of early detection would explain this improvement, said Dr. Cecilia Castillo, British Hospital oncologist.
The specialist stressed the importance that “changes in lifestyle” have in that sense and pointed out to performing physical activity, reducing alcohol consumption, keeping a healthy weight in the menopause stage, using alternative therapies to hormonal replacement in order to treat symptoms of menopause and breastfeeding as a "protective factor."
Castillo admitted that sometimes there may be fear or other types of resistance to studies for early detection of breast cancer, but she pointed out that in return there are many benefits that are obtained. With a timely diagnosis both mortality and the sequelae of the procedures are drastically reduced, due to a lower need for mastectomies or cancer treatments, she graphed.
She insisted that the mammography is the main tool for the early detection of breast cancer and explained that the starting age, as well as the frequency, for doing such test should be evaluated with the treating physician of each patient, because The risk factors vary for each woman.
Accordingly, the specialist pointed out that both the self-examination through breast palpation, and the mammograms, should not replace the periodic consultation with the trusted gynecologist.