Coping with Breast Cancer: Early Detection and Management Strategies

[헬스코리아뉴스 / 임해리] Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Korea. According to the National Health Insurance Service’s “Health Insurance Treatment Status for Breast Cancer Patients” announced on the 25th of last month, the number of breast cancer patients in Korea increased by 30.5% from 206,308 in 2017 to 269,313 in 2021. With the help of Professor Jeong Seung-pil of the Department of Breast and Endocrine Surgery at Korea University Anam Hospital, we learned how to cope with breast cancer. <편집자 주>

As with all cancers, early detection of breast cancer is an important disease. If detected in stage 1, the cure rate is close to 98%, but in case of stage 4, the survival rate drops to less than 30%. In the early stages, painless lumps are often felt, but lumps caused by breast cancer are hard and irregular in shape. As breast cancer progresses further, symptoms such as bloody discharge from the nipple, depression of the nipple or skin, eczema around the nipple, or palpable lymph nodes in the armpit appear.

Professor Jeong Seung-pil said, “There are no early prognostic symptoms of breast cancer.” At least, Professor Jeong’s advice is to have a breast cancer self-diagnosis test at least once a month on a regular basis.

If you have abnormal self-examination results or if you need regular checkups, you should get a breast cancer test. Breast cancer screening is mostly performed through X-rays. However, since Korean women have dense breasts with little fat and a lot of mammary tissue, mammography using X-rays alone is less accurate. Therefore, ultrasonography is required to increase the accuracy of the examination. For reference, 50% of women under the age of 50 in Korea have dense breasts.

If surgery is necessary, the scope and method of surgery are determined according to the location and distribution of the cancer. Mammoplasty is mainly performed to maintain the shape of the breast as much as possible and minimize scarring. Mammoplasty is a surgical method that removes cancer by making an incision around the areola or in the crease under the breast to minimize scarring that may occur during cancer removal. Depending on the type and stage of cancer, the incision range is also very narrow. Usually, the incision is made around 3cm, but the scar is not visible, and the original breast shape can be maintained as much as possible by using the remaining autologous breast tissue at the same time as the cancer is removed.

If the extent of the cancer is wide or distributed in several places, total mastectomy is required. In this case, breast reconstruction surgery can be performed at the same time as breast cancer surgery. Breast reconstruction is to restore the deformation of the body due to cancer resection to its original state, using implants or autologous tissue. When transplanting autologous tissue, tissue from the abdomen or back is removed and transplanted. Recently, hybrid breast reconstruction surgery that combines the advantages of implants and autologous tissue transplantation is being performed.

Professor Jeong Seung-pil said, “Patients who have had their breasts removed for cancer treatment experience difficulties in interpersonal relationships due to mental pain, or even fall into depression or a sense of loss.” It has a positive effect on the patient’s recovery and healing of disease by maintaining and restoring it.”

Breast cancer has a low recurrence rate. According to a study published in the January 2023 issue of the Journal of the Korean Society of Surgery (ASTR: Annals of Surgical Treatment and Research), recurrence occurred in 12.3% of all breast cancer patients, and recurrence occurred in 19.7% of patients 5 years after surgery. One in five patients had a recurrence after 5 years.

Professor Jeong Seung-pil said, “Breast cancer needs long-term management because there is a risk of recurrence and metastasis even after 5 years. said.

Breast cancer also occurs in men. Male breast cancer accounts for 1-2% of all breast cancers, but it is often diagnosed late and has a poor prognosis. Male breast cancer is similar to female breast cancer. Usually, a hard lump under the nipple is felt and comes to the hospital. In general, men do not have much breast tissue and are less aware of breast cancer, so many cases come to the hospital after the disease has progressed.

Breast cancer is not caused by a single cause, but by a variety of factors. Although a complete prevention method has not been proposed yet, since the incidence rate of young patients under the age of 40 is high in Korea, it is necessary to try to prevent breast cancer through regular checkups and lifestyles that avoid breast cancer risk factors.

Risk factors for breast cancer include obesity and alcohol consumption. Obesity, in particular, increases the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Even if you are not facing menopause, physical activity including exercise is good to maintain your weight properly through regular physical activity to suppress the occurrence of various diseases as well as breast cancer. In the case of drinking, care should be taken as it increases the incidence of breast cancer regardless of menopause.

According to the ‘2022 Breast Cancer White Paper’ published by the Korean Breast Cancer Society, oral contraceptives containing estrogen and progestin, or used from the age of 20 before the birth of the first child, can increase the risk of breast cancer. The risk disappears when you stop taking it. In some cases, BRCA gene mutations may congenitally increase the risk of breast cancer. In this case, it is possible to respond more actively by administering drugs such as tamoxifen or raloxifene or through preventive mastectomy like Angelina Jolie.

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