Breast Cancer Treatment

Dr. Gonzalo Galofré Pujol is a general surgeon and belongs to Top Doctors, the select circle of top doctors in Spain. As an expert in breast cancer, he will explain the details of its detection and treatment.

What is breast cancer and what is its incidence?

Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that originates in the breast. Initially the tumor is located in the breast and the natural history is the growth of this tumor, the possibility of spreading and affecting the lymph nodes in the armpit and later, if no treatment were given, this tumor would spread to a distance, which would be metastasis. The incidence of breast cancer is very high, after skin cancer, breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women and in fact it is the number one cause of death in women between 50 and 60 years of age. In general, the incidence is 10 to 12%, which means that 1 in 10 women, if they live to the age of 80, will develop breast cancer.

What signs can alert us to the presence of this disease?

The signs that should alert us are fundamentally the appearance of a tumor, a lump in the breast. Any lump that appears in a woman’s breast should be studied because any lump in a woman’s breast can be breast cancer, especially if these lumps are lumps that do not hurt, they are lumps that have appeared recently and especially if they are accompanied by a retraction or an alteration in the shape of the skin or the nipple, when we see that a nipple sinks, goes inwards, or that the skin sinks a little, that should alert us that we may have breast cancer. Most breast cancers are diagnosed by screening, prevention, mammography, ultrasound and physical examination on an annual basis, and in this way we will discover small tumors that have not yet given warning signs and that have a high cure rate.

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Once the treatment has been carried out, how long does it take for the woman to be considered cured?

Several professionals intervene in the treatment of breast cancer: surgeons intervene to remove the primary tumor and the lymph nodes, radiotherapists intervene in case radiotherapy is necessary, and oncologists also intervene to indicate hormonal treatment, chemotherapy and sometimes monoclonal antibodies. In general, treatment lasts between 8-10 months after the diagnosis of breast cancer and up to 5 years if hormones are indicated. It is then, after the fifth year, when we consider that the woman is cured of her breast cancer, despite the fact that in this particular type of cancer, as in some others, recurrence can appear 10, 12 and even 20 years after the initial diagnosis.