Today is World Breast Cancer Day, and the HC Marbella International Hospital explains in detail what this disease is all about.
Breast cancer is one of the most common pathologies today. About 5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants are diagnosed every year, which means that 22,000 women in Spain are diagnosed with this disease every year. Breast cancer is a disease that is very present in our society, making it a health and social problem to be taken into account.
Risk factors for breast cancer
Most cases are diagnosed between 45 and 65 years of age, and have been related to the presence of obesity, sedentary lifestyle, alcohol, delay in the age of the first child and, in a minority of women, to genetic aspects.
How to prevent breast cancer
There are two very important aspects when it comes to reducing the risk of suffering from breast cancer, and which must also be taken into account to improve the evolution of this pathology in case of suffering from it.
- Physical exercise Doing sport helps to tolerate hormonal treatments and chemotherapy in the long term. On the one hand, there is endurance exercise, which consists of frequent movements to improve cardiovascular capacity: running, walking, cycling… On the other hand, strength exercise helps to increase the musculature. The ideal is to combine both modalities and divide them into 3 days of resistance and 2 days of toning, for example.
- Nutrition Eating a healthy and balanced diet is essential for the body to function properly. It is very important to eat a varied diet to avoid nutritional deficiencies. Carbohydrates provide energy, proteins provide structural elements, fats provide structural nutrients and energy, and vitamins and minerals structure and regulate the body. HC Marbella International Hospital recommends the consumption of certain amounts of each of these foods at every meal.
However, there are a number of myths about the relationship between diet and breast cancer that need to be clarified:
– Red meat: there is no scientific evidence to confirm that red meat increases the risk of breast cancer, but it is recommended that they be cooked grilled or stewed and that they be consumed between 1 and 3 servings a week. – Soy: it is not recommended to consume it in tablets, but it can be included in the diet in small amounts, such as soy milk, for example. – Dairy: calcium and vitamin D have been found to play a role in reducing cancer risk, but it is important not to consume dairy products that are dominated by fats and sugars. – Dietary supplements: these should be completely discarded. The ideal is to eat a varied Mediterranean diet. – Sweeteners: there is nothing confirmed yet that sweeteners are carcinogenic. – Extra virgin olive oil: it should be very present in the daily diet, since there is evidence that it favors the prevention of the development of breast cancer and other tumors. – Refined sugars: it is very important to try to avoid them, as they favor overweight and obesity, risk factors for this pathology.
Early detection of breast cancer
The hospital has a Breast Unit within the Medical Oncology Unit that deals especially with this pathology. Early detection of breast cancer by mammography is very important. This diagnostic system is the most common for detecting breast abnormalities up to two years before they can be palpated. Between the ages of 25 and 40, it is recommended to undergo cytology and gynecological ultrasound. After the age of 40, it is advisable to undergo cytology, gynecological ultrasound, bilateral mammography and breast ultrasound.
Breast cancer treatments
The treatment of breast cancer is constantly evolving, and there are frequent new developments in terms of cure and survival of patients. Tumors are generated by mutations in the DNA of normal tissue cells. These mutations cause the cell to transform and divide uncontrollably, giving rise to cancer.
Dr. Hernán Cortés Funes, Specialist in Medical Oncology and head of the Oncology Unit at HC Marbella, explains that there are various treatments for cancer.
Curative treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy are evolving in such a way that there are increasingly better results in therapy and mortality is reduced, giving the patient a better quality of life.
Surgery against cancer is becoming less and less aggressive, and in many cases it is not necessary to completely remove the organ in which the tumor develops, as it is complemented by other treatments after surgery:
- Radiotherapy has become almost as effective as surgery, since thanks to technological advances the tumor is destroyed by selective irradiations without causing great effects on the surrounding tissues.
- Chemotherapy is the third most widely used treatment for cancer, consisting of a hormonal treatment administered to the patient parenterally or orally. This treatment has often achieved definitive control of advanced tumors.
- Immunotherapy. It is now possible to create “tailor-made” drugs according to the mutation that has occurred. These are “targeted therapies” depending on the tumor, leaving all other treatments behind. Immunotherapy acts directly on the immune system by administering drugs that activate and produce T lymphocytes, whose function is to kill the abnormal cells. T lymphocytes are activated by the presentation of antigens (molecules that stimulate the immune system and produce responses through antibodies) by presenting them through dendritic cells (those that present the activation antigens). The T lymphocytes act directly on the tumor cells, destroying them, this being the most efficient way for our organism to defend itself against aggressions.
One of the most innovative procedures for the treatment of cancer is the liquid biopsy, available at the HC Marbella International Hospital, which consists of the infiltration of neighboring tissues of a tumor during its growth, so that they are detached from the tumor and introduced into the bloodstream. These cells (circular tumor cells) can be detected and quantified, which allows us to know the variations of the tumor and to monitor the situation when the tumor relapses. Therefore, liquid biopsy allows us to:
– Detect if there is a tumor.
– To know the variations that this anomaly presents.
– To know what treatment possibilities there are for the tumor.
– To have a forecast of the evolution of the disease.
The impact of breast cancer on a woman’s self-esteem and breast reconstruction.
Dr. Pietro di Mauro, of the Reconstructive Surgery Unit, explains that breast reconstruction once the cancer has been cured is one of the safest and most rewarding surgeries for the patient, whose mental health is usually greatly affected by exposure to a serious illness and a radical transformation of her body.
Thanks to current techniques it is possible to create a breast very similar to the woman’s “original” breast, and it is even possible to proceed with the reconstruction in the same intervention in which the breast is removed, so that the patient does not have to be mastectomized.
It is important to bear in mind that breast reconstruction has no effect on the recurrence of the disease, nor does it interfere with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, nor with subsequent studies carried out in check-ups.
Research against breast cancer
The Breast Unit of the HC Marbella International Hospital, of which Dr. Hernán Cortés-Funes is a member, sets out four reasons to be optimistic about the future of cancer research, directly related to advances in cancer treatment:
- Precision medicine will offer patients personalized treatment based on their genes.
- Immunotherapy harnesses the power of the immune system in the fight against cancer.
- The existence of new drugs that allow cancer cells to return to normal instead of destroying them directly.
- Increasing scientific advance
s in the genes and pathways that lead to metastasis.
For these reasons, we are now considered to be at a high point in cancer research and treatment.