Breast Cancer

Symptoms, causes and treatment for Breast Cancer Patients

Hello friends. My name is Dr. Gayatri Juneja. I’m a practicing gynecologist in Model Town for the last 20 years. I’m a visiting consultant in Apollo Cradle Hospital Moti Nagar, and Fortis Hospital Shalimar Bagh, and Sunder Lal Hospital Ashok Nagar. It’s a great pleasure for me to talk to you about certain problems which I think is becoming very important for all of us to know. I am going to talk about Breast Cancer.

Unfortunately, even in India, cancer breast is becoming very common. And it is not that it is a cancer which we cannot pick up at time. The only thing we need is to be aware of it. Only if we know what is happening with our body, is only then we can do what is normal, only then we can see what is not normal, right? It is one of the breast cancer is one of the easiest cancers to pick up. How? My body is my own. I should know what’s happening to me. So minimum a lady can do is do a self examination. Teach your daughters how to do a self examination for the breast. If you find any lump, any time, if you feel there is some pain, which was not there, if you see the nipple is not in the normal position, it is retracted inside, if you see there is skin changes on your breast, if you see any size difference. See minor size difference will be there. That is a natural thing. But if you see there is drastic change, and if you are not comfortable with something, do not neglect it. It’s not at all a normal thing. Go, see a gynaecologist.

It is a confidential thing between you and your doctor. Let her examine you. Let her guide you. You give her a proper history, if you have taken any contraceptive pills, even I-pill is very dangerous. I’ll come to it later how. The thing is…your doctor has examined you, then she will guide you what has to be done. There are various ways of diagnosing cancer of breast. First step is, you do a self examination. First step is over. You find the lump, you go to a doctor. Your doctor will ask for a sonography, that is ultrasound of the breast. And another part of it is an x-ray of the breast. Sometimes in younger age group the breast is very dense, and you cannot diagnose anything on mammogram.

You still are suspecting something, then your doctor might ask for an MRI. MRI is very effective in diagnosing, but we do not suggest it as first line treatment, first line of diagnosis. Once it is confirmed that yes, there is a lump, then what we do is, we ask for a biopsy. Now biopsy can be in 2 forms. It can be taken through the needle, which we call FNAC – Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology, and other is open biopsy, where we remove the whole lump, and send it for testing. If the test comes negative, good, fine, everything is fine. If it comes positive, then further treatment depends upon the type. Then they will do a special CT scan for you, where the will diagnose if any lymph nodes are involved.

Depending on preliminary staging, your doctor will ask for a surgery. Now the surgery will…it is better that the whole breast gets removed. Or what has to be done will be diagnosed, because it is not a single person specialty, it is going to be a multi-specialty treatment then. Now let’s come down to who are the people who are at higher risk. Why should I consider that I am at higher risk? What…who are those people? First, specially after menopause, obesity. If your lifestyle is not at all healthy, your food habits you eat lot of non-veg and processed food, like pizzas and burgers and frozen food, yes you are at risk. Then comes genetics.

If you have a family history of cancer in your nani, dadi, your bua, maasi, cousin, ya sister ya brother, or even cancer of ovaries, you are at high risk. But that doesn’t mean who all have had the history of cancer will also develop this. You are at higher risk, but it is better only to be careful. Then comes very tall ladies it has been seen they are also prone for diabetes. Obesity, and people who have had hormonal replacement therapy with…and once you’re diagnosed don’t get scared. It is a curable cancer, and life expectancy with variable modalities these days is quite good.The quality of life is also good.

So my suggestion would be, to conclude, that please be aware of what is happening with you, and take good care of yourself. If you are healthy, only then you can look after your family. Thank you so much.