Knowing what your breasts look and feel like is an important part of maintaining breast health. The earlier breast cancer is detected, the more likely you are to have a successful treatment. Knowing what to look for is always important, but this does not take the place of regular mammograms and screenings. It is important to check your breasts often and just as important to ensure that you go for screenings at least once a year.
We got in touch with Mrs Sherma Mills-Serette the Clinic Manager/Education Lead at the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society to answer a few questions. Here’s what she had to say:
The common signs of Breast Cancer
According to the American Cancer Society (2017), one of the most common symptoms of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. Also, a painless, hard mass that has irregular edges is more likely to be cancer, but breast cancers can be tender, soft, or rounded. Sometimes they can even be painful. Due to the above mentioned symptoms, it is important to have any new breast mass, lump, or breast change checked by a health care professional experienced in diagnosing breast diseases.
There are other possible symptoms of breast cancer, which may include:
Swelling of all or part of a breast (even if no distinct lump is felt)
Skin irritation or dimpling (sometimes looking like an orange peel)
Breast or nipple pain
Nipple retraction (turning inward)
Redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
Nipple discharge (other than breast milk)
There are even cases when breast cancer can spread to lymph nodes under the arm or around the collar bone and cause a lump or swelling there, even before the original/primary tumor in the breast is large enough to be felt. Swollen lymph nodes should also be clinically assessed.
Although many of these symptoms can be caused by things other than breast cancer, if you have them, they should be reported to a health care professional/medical doctor. This way, the cause can be found by diagnostic testing.
The standard screening for breast cancer and its importance
The research worldwide has indicated that mammograms alone do not find every breast cancer. Therefore, it is important for you to be aware of changes in your breasts and to know the signs and symptoms of breast cancer.
The research according to the National Cancer Institute has stated that regular high-quality screening mammograms and clinical breast exams are the most sensitive ways to screen for breast cancer.
The use of regular Breast Self-Examinations (BSE), which is checking one’s own breasts for lumps or other unusual changes, can save your life. Early detection saves lives, so the more information about breast awareness the greater the likelihood of catching the disease in its early stages. The major importance of breast screening is early detection. Early detection means detection of breast cancer in its early stages when it’s easy to treat.
The younger woman and breast cancer
We know here in Trinidad and Tobago that Breast cancer continues to record the highest figures in terms of incidence and mortality. This is also the case worldwide with breast cancer being the most common cause of cancer in women.
This disease has been most present in the postmenopausal and elderly age group with approximately, 5.6% of breast cancer patients 40 years or over. They are characterised by less hormone sensitivity, higher human epidermal growth factor receptor two expressions and aggressive clinical behaviour with poor outcomes, as compared to the elderly group (Sharma & Singh, 2017).
There have been continued national initiatives, which place great importance on breast cancer awareness and performing self-breast examinations. These initiatives are at the primary health care facilities, family planning institutes and in campaigns by The Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society. Most clinicians promote breast awareness for women under 40 years old and even teenagers.
Our mission at The Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society continues to keep us focused and guide our efforts to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours, screening and advocacy as it relates to our fight against cancer.
Our mission:
“To create and promote greater awareness of the need for early detection and preventative measures to reduce the incidence of cancer through education, service and advocacy”.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October
The Breast Cancer Awareness Month, marked in countries across the world every October, helps to increase attention and support for the awareness, early detection and treatment as well as palliative care of this disease (WHO, 2018).
The research has not presented sufficient knowledge on the causes of breast cancer, therefore, early detection of the disease remains the cornerstone of breast cancer control.
We, at the TTCS, continue with this mantra; “When breast cancer is detected early, and if adequate diagnosis and treatment are available, there is a good chance that breast cancer can be cured”.
If detected late, however, curative treatment is often no longer an option. In such cases, palliative care to relief the suffering of patients and their families is needed.
The majority of deaths (269 000) worldwide occur in low- and middle-income countries, where most women with breast cancer are diagnosed in late stages due mainly, to lack of awareness on early detection and barriers to health services (World Health Organization, 2018).
We firmly believe that this situation that can be reverted if adequate public health programs are put in place, with the continued collaboration with our partners in health and corporate T&T each doing our part and our social responsibility.