NEW DELHI: Owing to late detection, 76 per cent women diagnosed with of breast cancer underwent mastectomy, according to a report by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Conducted by Dr Smriti Hari, Professor, Dept of Radiology, the study took into account of 550 patients who visited the AIIMS. It found that in the past two years, only 4 per cent cases were detected in the first stage.
“Most of the cases were reported in the second and third stage which is 33 and 44 per cent, respectively. In the fourth stage, 18 per cent cases were detected,” the finding stated.
According to Dr Smriti, the main reason why most breast cancer cases are detected in later stages is a lack of awareness and ignoring early symptoms. “The patients come to meet doctors very late, when the matter has escalated a lot. And many women don’t want to operate.
They are scared that if the breasts are removed, they will be abandoned. And, there have been such incidents,” Dr Smriti told The Morning Standard.The study found breast cancers are reported three times in cities more as compared to rural areas. While in cities it is 40 per 100 thousand cases every year, it is 12 in rural.
The maximum cases were reported from Delhi and Chandigarh — 44 per 100 thousand cases every year.
Apart from genetic reasons, a sedentary lifestyle is a major cause for the rise in such cases.
“Smoking, and liquor consumption among women is up in the past few years, owing to which the number of cases has gone up. Also mothers are not much into breast feeding, which also at times become a factor,” Dr Smriti said.
For early detection of breast cancer, women after the age of 25 should undertake mammography at least once in a year. While screening is done through Tomosynthesis for free of cost at AIIMS, it can cost anything from Rs 800 to Rs 3,000 at private institutes.
For breast cancer, both radiotherapy and chemotherapy are required. Chemotherapy is given in four to six cycles for four months. There are four stages of breast cancer and surgery is conducted depending upon the stage.
“If the tumor when detected is less than 1 cm, then it can be cured. But when it exceeds above 5 cm, then the chances of curing is much less. In some cases, chemotherapy begins before surgery and radiotherapy can also be avoided if detected at a very early stage,” Dr Smriti said.
44%cases detected in 3rd stage
40 per 1 lakh cases every year in cities
44 per1 lakh cases in Delhi, Chandigarh