No vaccine yet, docs stress early detection to cure breast cancer

The increasing incidence of breast cancer in Haryana and other parts of the country, especially among the young women, has become a big cause of concern for the medical experts and health administrators.

As per official data, one in 28 women in urban areas and one in 40 in rural areas of the country suffer from breast cancer.

Recent studies indicate that the incidence of breast cancer is increasing by about 11 per cent annually in Haryana — catching up with Delhi.

Doctors at the Rohtak PGIMS say nearly 600 cases of breast cancer are being reported annually at the departments of Surgery and Surgical Oncology of the institute, only one-third of which are reported in early stages.

“No vaccine has been developed to prevent breast cancer as yet. However, the silver lining is that early detection is quite effective in curing the disease. If detected in the first stage, as many as 95-99 per cent cases of breast cancer can be completely cured,” says Dr Nityasha, Senior Professor and Unit Head at the Department of Surgery at PGIMS, Rohtak.

An expert in breast-cancer surgery, Dr Nityasha points out that earlier, most women suffering from breast cancer used to be above 50 years of age, while now, cases of breast cancer among women in their 40s, 30s, and even 20s are being seen.

“Sedentary lifestyle, smoking, obesity, consumption of unhealthy food and alcohol are causative factors,” she says.

It is pertinent to note that as many as 23,600 cases of cancer were registered in Haryana between 2013 and 2019, of which 3,132 were of breast cancer. The number of deaths due to breast cancer increased from 1,572 to 1,771 between 2013 and 2023.

Haryana Health Minister Arti Singh Rao told the state Assembly earlier this year that, in the absence of population-based cancer registries, there was no clear pattern of cancer cases in the state, where about 90,000 new cancer cases were detected from 2020 to 2022 with 49,649 mortalities.

The minister conceded that most of the data on the number of cancer cases was based on estimated numbers worked out on the basis of cancer registries maintained by the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Cancer Registry Programme.

The issue had come up for discussion as Indian National Lok Dal MLA Arjun Chautala, via a calling-attention notice, drew the attention of the House towards the increasing number of cancer patients in the state.

Though breast cancer is largely seen in women, men also suffer from the disease.

Experts advise that women in their 20s should regularly examine their breasts, those in their 30s should go for clinical examination by medical specialists, and those in 40s must get their mammography screening done.

They point out that while mastectomy (breast removal) was largely employed to cure breast cancer, breast conservation surgery is now being preferred in order to ensure the emotional wellbeing of the patients after the surgery.

“Patients should consult only specialist surgeons and not quacks or general/indigenous practitioners,” a doctor cautioned.

Dr Sanjeev Prasad, Head of the Department of Cancer Surgery at PGIMS, said cancer was a dreaded disease, but early detection could completely cure it.

“Instead of waiting for symptoms to appear, all of us should get ourselves screened on our own,”

he said.

Dr Suhas Kirti Singla, an oncologist, noted that the month of October was observed as Breast Cancer Awareness Month globally — referred to as Pink October in this context.