Every 4 minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer globally. It is one of the most frequent types of cancer among women.
The incidents of breast cancer in India is 1.6 lakh annually, and it is expected to increase to 2.50 lakh in 2026. The reason why the incidence of breast cancer in India is increasing, and is likely to increase further because of increasing life expectancy, industrialization, and our life styles.
According to Dr Ramesh Sarin – Senior Surgical Oncologist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital – the worrying part is that the incidence is increasing in the younger women who are less than 40 years old.
Only 5 to 10 per cent of breast cancers are hereditary. In the rest of 90 per cent of cases, it happens because of the gene defect.
According to Dr Sarin, the only thing that can be done to save lives is to diagnose it early with the help of various tests and techniques. “And if diagnosed early, let’s say in stage zero or stage one, it is almost completely curable to the extent of 91-92 per cent,” she said.
There has been a lot of advancement in the research of drugs and early detection, and with the help of both these things breast cancer mortality has come down in the developed countries. So, it is very important for women to know the early signs of breast cancer.
Watch the video to know the early signs of breast cancer
Dr Sarin also talked about breast-conserving surgery which is a smaller surgery and recovery in this case is much faster. Breast-conserving surgery is a very good option for women who are diagnosed with cancer at a very early stage.
This is because only cancer affected parts are removed in this surgery, leaving as much normal breast as possible. This surgery is the best option for those who have only one area affected by the cancer. Even if there are multiple areas affected by the cancer, they should be close enough to be removed together.
