Heading: “Health and beauty» Anna Vasilets, founder and President of Atlas Health group, Vice-President and Director of the Department for medical tourism of the International Womens Union , member of the General Council of Business Russia, international expert, speaker, consultant on import and export of medical services.
Breast cancer – what is important to know to stay healthy
Breast cancer is a malignant tumor of glandular tissue. It can develop in both women and men (quite rarely). In the world, today, it is considered the second most common disease after lung cancer, which affects people in General.
Causes of breast cancer
From a scientific point of view, it is probably one of the most studied forms of cancer, despite the fact that this process is not complete and is in active mode.
A single cause that causes the development of breast cancer has not yet been identified. It is believed that the growth is associated with a changed lifestyle in recent years in developed countries, fewer women have resorted to breastfeeding newborns. One of the important reasons is the adverse environmental conditions that lead to various genetic mutations. In recent years, there has been a huge research effort to identify new and new factors that indirectly or indirectly affect the development of tumors. Not only hormonal components are detected, but also certain proteins. But, unfortunately, it is not yet possible to say exactly and confidently what specific cause leads to the development of the tumor. Scientists from all over the world are looking for answers and will definitely find them, it’s only a matter of time.
Risk factor.
Risk factors can be divided into two groups: social and medical.
Social services include:
- starting nicotine use at a young age;
- lcohol abuse;
- abuse of direct exposure to sunlight on the chest area;
- frequent chest injuries;
- family members with cancer;
- girls who were not pregnant or gave birth;
- promiscuous sex life;
- employment in industries with high toxicity;
Medical services include:
- early start of the menstrual cycle (up to 12 years);
- late menopause (after 55 years);
- obesity;
- diabetes;
- hypertension;
- constant use of hormonal contraceptives (more than 10 years);
- past illnesses related to genital cancer in women;
- frequent respiratory viral infections;
Symptoms of breast cancer
If we talk about the symptoms of the disease, then as a result of the special structure of the breast, it is not possible to detect the beginning of the process at the early stages of the disease. For until the tumor is formed, small and insensitive masses may be present in the gland, which are not fixed and are in a mobile state. It is possible that one of the accompanying signs that will make a woman think, will be quite painful menstruation.
But already the growth of the tumor is accompanied by the following symptoms:
- the presence of a tumor that is not visible, but can be easily felt with your hands;
- the tumor is fixed in one area, i.e. it is stationary;
- discharge of liquid from the nipple of a pinkish or orange color;
- pain symptoms when probing the gland;
- retraction of the nipple due to the growth of the tumor in the skin;
- changing the color or structure of the breast skin;
- enlarged lymph nodes in the axillary fossa or above the clavicle;
- pain in the chest space (when the tumor grows into the chest wall);
It is important to understand that breast cancer has quite a lot of forms and varieties. This can be either a local lesion or a General one. The tumor can form exclusively in the ducts of the gland or in the area of the areola and nipple. Cancer can be caused by various cell changes. Therefore, it is important that when the first symptoms that cause doubt appear, the woman should contact a mammologist as soon as possible for diagnosis and further tactics for choosing treatment.
Diagnostics
Usually, breast cancer can be detected in the early stages, with the first symptoms of a slight seal in the breast area or discharge that is not associated with breast feeding or pregnancy. In addition, frequent symptoms of a tumor may be spontaneous edema and changes in the shape of the breast, an increase in the axillary and supraclavicular lymph nodes.
By contacting a specialist in breast disease-a mammologist and passing the procedure of primary screening (mammography), you can immediately determine the presence or absence of a tumor. But in order to recognize its structure, you will need to conduct a biopsy (take cells for analysis).
Principle of treatment
Due to the high degree of study of various types of breast cancer, today there are a number of modern high-quality treatment methods. Regardless of the stage of the disease, treatment in each specific case of the disease provides a personal approach to the choice of these methods, since it is necessary to take into account a number of General factors (age, the presence of concomitant diseases, the General physical and moral state of the human body).
Main methods of treatment of breast cancer:
- Surgical treatment is the main method for any type of cancer. It can be a radical removal of the entire gland with the underlying muscles and a group of lymph nodes, or a sectoral mastectomy (lumpectomy), when only this affected area is excised with a small volume of the tumor). The most modern type of lumpectomy, to date, is a cryomammotomy, in which a cryosonde with a tip temperature of minus 100-120 °C is brought to the tumor through a small incision. The tumor under the influence of ultra-low temperature is frozen and then removed through an incision. This method of treating breast cancer has almost no drawbacks. Criminologia – new in the treatment of this disease, but the precise and effective direction.
- Radiation therapy is not an independent method, but is used in conjunction with surgical treatment, in order to destroy possible remaining tumor cells in order to prevent the re-development of the disease and treat metastases of breast cancer.
- Chemotherapy is one of the independent methods of treating breast cancer. It can be used when surgery is not indicated or as a complex therapy after removal of a malignant formation. It is performed with special drugs that suppress the growth of cancer cells. In the treatment of stage 1 cancer and in the treatment of stage 2 cancer is preferred, provided there is no indication for surgery.
- Immunotherapy is a specific method of treating breast cancer. it is not an independent method, but is used in conjunction with chemotherapy. It is based on stimulating the patient’s own immune system in order to prevent the development of cancer cells.
- Targeted therapy is a very specific method that is used quite rarely, because it is closely associated with a type of positive tumor, in which a specific HER2 gene is produced, which contributes to the development of the cancer process in the gland.
Complex rehabilitation
Modern trends in the development of a civilized society dictate their own rules and conditions. More and more young and active girls and women are susceptible to this disease. This approach not only affects the physical aspect of their health, but also affects the further development of the professional component of business life. Therefore, it is very important that not only specialized medical specialists, but also psychologists take part in rehabilitation after successful treatment. It is important to understand that the outcome of treatment depends on how much a person is determined to fight the disease, how much morally they are involved in the fight.
Therefore, in advanced countries in the field of diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, such as France, a comprehensive approach to rehabilitation has been developed and successfully applied, in which during surgery, an implant is immediately installed in place of the removed tumor, selected according to the shape and structure of the breast. If necessary, the second gland is immediately corrected, in the case of a unilateral process. Why this is done – so that after the operation, the girl or woman does not experience moral and psychological trauma. This approach will allow you to leave this intervention unnoticed by others and thus get rid of annoying looks and unnecessary, inappropriate questions.
In addition, during the course of chemotherapy, the help of specialists in the selection and restoration of temporarily lost hair and eyelashes will also provide great moral and physical support, allowing you to avoid idle speculation and conversations.
The help of a sophrologist is the last word in the field of comprehensive rehabilitation after specific treatment of breast cancer, used exclusively in clinics in France. It is with the help of this specialist that a woman learns the correct breathing techniques in order to restore psychoemotional balance and learn not to be afraid and correctly perceive all the treatment that is happening.
Prevention of breast cancer
It consists not only in observing all the important conditions for maintaining a quality standard of life and giving up bad habits,but also in constantly monitoring the first symptoms of the negative process.
It is important not only to constantly palpate (feel) the gland, and if you have any doubts, contact a doctor, but also to pass a simple breast screening procedure every year – mammography, visit a gynecologist and a mammologist for preventive purposes.
All girls, starting from the age of 20, need to independently feel the gland on a monthly basis. Women from 35 to 50 years of age should undergo mammography at least once every two years, and women after 50 years of age – annually. In addition, for women of any age, if they have cancer in their direct relatives, or if they have benign breast formations, mammography should be performed annually.
In addition, complex diagnostic methods include breast ultrasound, neoplasm puncture and trepan biopsy under the control of ultrasound, MRI.
The most modern method for detecting a tumor at a stage when none of the above symptoms are present is the unique blood test for the presence of cancer cells (Iset test), developed and conducted only in France. Its peculiarity is that the information content is 95% in the presence of the process in its very beginning. It will be especially important and useful for women and girls who have a burdened family history not only for breast tumors, but also for any other cancer in a direct line. By conducting a screening once a year, you can absolutely know and not miss the possible onset of the disease at the stage of its origin, i.e. at the “zero” stage!
It is important for every girl or woman to know and understand that breast cancer is not a verdict, but just a diagnosis in which:
Quick examination and treatment will save your life!
Choosing a country, clinic, or specialist
Today, there is a lot of debate about where to get treatment. To use the services of local specialists, or to refer to Western doctors. Of course, there can be a long and much discussion, but not in the case when time is important and plays against the patient.
However, as in the 17th century, when the French doctor Jean-Louis petty was the first in history to develop a method for removing a breast tumor, so today, in the 21st century, when the world’s leading oncologist-mammologist from Paris, Klauf Krishna, developed and successfully implemented a method of intraoperative prosthetics for breast tumors and a new method of sparing chemotherapy.
France remains the undisputed world leader in the diagnosis and treatment of this type of cancer.
This is an indisputable fact, there is nothing to argue or discuss, and there is nothing to do, you need to make a decision and save your life!
How not to lose heart, not to lose yourself, to overcome the disease and remain a happy attractive woman-see the interview of the founder and President of the group of companies “Atlas of Health” Anna Vasilets with a Frenchwoman Natalie at the link :https://youtu.be/JWM-Qt2SZiM