A little something about Breast Cancer. Breast Cancer
Cancer is a generic term for a large group of disease that can affect any part of the body.Cancer arises from a change in one single cell. The transformation from a normal cell into a tumor cell is a multistage process, typically a progression from a pre-cancerous lesion to malignant tumors. These changes are the result of the interaction between a person’s genetic factor and external agents.
Global Burden of Cancer
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. The disease accounted for 7.9 million deaths in year 2007 out of which breast cancer led to 5,48000 deaths.
Among women, breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer mortality, accounting for 16% of cancer deaths in adult women.
7% of global burden of breast cancer is borne by Indian women.
How can the burden of breast cancer be reduced?
About one third of the cancer burden could be decreased if cases were detected and treated early.
There are two components of early detection efforts
Education:
To help people recognize early signs of cancer and seek prompt medical attention for symptoms.
Screening:
- Screening programmes to identify early cancer before signs are recognizable, which includes Breast Self Examination, Clinical Examination and Mammography.
- There is sufficient evidence to show that mammography screening among women aged 50-69 years could reduce mortality from breast cancer by 15-25% But , unfortunately, less than 5% women aged 50-69% were screened by mammography in the 3 years preceding the World Health Survey (2000-2003).