Approximate 10% of the 3,000 women which were consulted free of charge, in the “I did not do enough” campaign carried out by the Federation of Cancer Associations (FABC) had suspicions of breast cancer.
In addition, according to FABC President Cezar Irimia, 80% of the women examined had not previously had a breast examination. Cezar Irimia also says that annually, in Romania, 8,900 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, of which about 30% lose the fight with life
“We had to go to the priest or the mayor to convince the women to come for control.”
Cezar Irimia: We are deficient at national screening. It could save lives and save the state budget. Unfortunately we do not have this screening. What the federation does is too little, but important at the national level.
Reporter: What exactly do the numbers say? What did this study reveal?
CI: We did an average of the three campaigns in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Eight out of ten women had not previously had any medical check-ups on their breasts. 10% of them have suspicions of breast cancer. It is about 3166 women in the three campaigns. One in ten women had painful nodules or other symptoms associated with breast cancer. 20% of those suspected are under 40 years old. The age barrier has dropped alarmingly. We find breast cancer in women aged 20 – 28 – 30 years. This scourge must be made aware among the population to have a breast check.
Rep: You said that eight out of ten women have never gone to such a check-up, as your study shows. I think it is quite clear that we still have the problem of lack of health education. Why do Romanians still refuse to go to the doctor for preventive reasons?
CI: First of all because they lack information. Secondly, in rural areas it is that false modesty, that they can’t go to the doctor to show their breasts, because it’s embarrassing, especially if the doctor is a man. We have faced these situations of refusal. We had to turn to the village priest, to the mayor of the commune to convince the women to come to this control. Most of those who volunteered in this campaign, final year medical students and resident doctors, were female, precisely to eliminate this false modesty. However, we had refusals during the campaign.
At what age should I go for a checkup?
Rep: What you say is sad, but true. For those who listen to us, how often should a woman go for breast cancer prevention checkup and at what age?
CI: Age is even recommended by the World Health Organization. Includes the range between 24 and 64 years old. The control in the case of ladies who did not have a family history is good to be at most two years old. For those with a family history, breast control is indicated annually. A touch of prevention is equivalent to a ton of medication. The chances of survival are high. We can even say the healing ones, if this form of cancer is discovered in the early stages.
Rep: This type of cancer, discovered in time, can be treated in most cases.
CI: Treated and even healed. Here we can even talk about healing, not just long-term survival. (This is due) to the treatments that have appeared on the European and world market and to the forms of modern investigations, to which, unfortunately, we do not have much access. But we have to take the first steps. They consist in doing a population screening, a correct information of the population in order to avoid the death of our wives, mothers, our daughters, our children.
Listen to the interview with Cezar Irimia, president of the Federation of Associations of Cancer Patients:
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