Breast cancer most prevalent in women: Doc

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 21

Cancer helpline ‘IcanGuide’ founder Dr Surendra Gupta addressed devotees at Sidhpeeth Dandiswami Mandir.

‘ICanGuide’ team led by Dr Surinder Gupta, Dr Inder Sharma, Dr Anshul Mahajan, Dr Harmanpreet Singh Bhutani addressed a gathering of devotees on breast cancer awareness under the ‘Breast Cancer Month October Activities’ of helpline ‘IcanGuide’.

Dr Surinder Gupta, in his address, said one in five males and one in seven females suffer from cancer in their lifetime; while one in eight males and one in 11females die of cancer. As per the five-years survival index data, 43.8 million people are able to live beyond five years due to improvements in treatment facilities.

He said breast cancer was the most prevalent cancer in women. It kills 4.5 lakh women every year. Around 2.7 lakh women belong to the poor and middle income countries like India. It’s so because the disease is diagnosed quite late and is fatal.

Dr Gupta advised that women should self examine their breast, every fortnightly, while taking bath. Every nodule in the breast or in the axillary region should be tested and even the changes in breast nipple should be taken note of. Any pus or bloody discharge from nipple, too should be investigated.

If detected early, the treatment outcome is quite good in breast cancers. Surgical removal of the legion, followed by chemotherapy or oral pills, is the standard treatment in breast cancer. Regular follow up visits after the treatment completion ensure a disease-free life for the patient. Seeking opinions from multiple doctors is a cancer patient’s right and resolving of all querries of patients is the duty of the treating doctors, added Dr Gupta.

Financial constraints are not a problem in cancer treatment because the Chief Minister fund and the Prime Minister Fund are readily available at all the cancer hospitals.