The fifth edition of the traditional “Pink walk” It will be held this Sunday 30 October from 9 am. will start in bv Orono and Cochabamba and will circulate along the recreational road to the Davis silos and then settle in Sunchales Park. A stage will be set up there and there will be an exclusive participation of Hilda Lizarazu and several groups of female bands that will have their own song solos and with Los Brillantes as a band. Among the guests there are Sabina Chiaverano, Flor Croci, Mica Racciatti y Luna Sujatovich, entre otras.
To discuss breast cancer, the surgeon and the mastologist, Dr. Eduardo Alvarado was in the studies Radio Boing and chatted with Russian nacho and members of Everything happens.
“Fortunately, many women go to the walk, it is the fifth edition, during the pandemic we made it virtual and now, fortunately, ‘back to pink’as they say, “he began commenting.
The doctor left a message: “Medicine is not an exact science. The percentage, to make people understand, is that 1 in 8 women who reach the age of 80 will have cancer in her life. It is an international statistic, with its small variations in each region, but the biggest risk factor is being a woman and getting older, getting older and a higher chance of breast cancer, but if we arrive in time, this is what the studies we do allow us, mammograms, ultrasound scans, clinical checks. Self-examination also helps“.
In this context, she said self-examination is important so that women know what their anatomy is like and if there is something different coming up. “Basically, a tumor is diagnosed as being small, about 1 centimeter, 90 percent of whatever it is, there are many different cancers, if you arrive early, more than 90 percent will cure them, by doing the right treatment. What we do of course is to twist the fate that would befall any woman and continue her life. Life first and then the quality of life next door, very close “. On the other hand, she commented on her family history, that both her grandfather and her father have dedicated themselves to the same thing about her.
“The sooner we get there, the fewer tools we will have to use, that’s the message. The idea is to lose the fear of control. A mammogram, an ultrasound, is a very simple study. The woman you go with once a year is fine. ‘
Then, he commented on the different opinions they have about the age at which the checks should begin: “We have the one from the American School of Radiology, which recommends, at the age of 35 the first mammogram and from the age of 40 one a year as long as the woman is in optimal health conditions. If you have a family history of breast cancer, those families will take a different approach. If there are inherited genetic mutations, we will check those families in advance, 10 years before the youngest family debut ever. Let’s check those capable women from family age, from the age of 25, capable, and you will make more adequate checks ”.
“Most breast cancers are diagnosed in women after age 50, but from the age of 28, 29 or 30 they can start to appear. so ultrasound is a great tool because mammography in a young patient is not that sensitive, so basically this is like a tailored suit. We have rules, but we will adapt the patient who consults them to each specific case “.
On the other hand, he debated whether breast implants have an impact on breast cancer. “The breast implant didn’t show an increase in breast cancer, it didn’t increase the incidence, there are theories. They even say that they could reduce it but there are no studies that can prove it, they say that the prosthesis atrophies the breast a little and would decrease a little but there are no certainties “synthesized.
Additionally, he revealed another belief: “It is a myth that if a woman has larger breasts, she is more likely to get cancer. Small breasts and large breasts showed the same incidence ”.
The listeners joined in the interesting speech
– My wife has the problem of being “moderately flat” and has difficulty undergoing mammograms. How can this be done in these cases?
– “The fact that it is flat also depends a little on the technique and, with a good technique, something will surely catch on. We do it in boys and if the mother is a girl, you can do it. Yes, it is uncomfortable, sometimes it is sensitive and the patient feels a little uncomfortable. These are situations we need to think about in other studies if that doesn’t pay off at all. MRI or contrast mammography can also be done, but it will have the same problem. In a place that has good technicians and that she has patience, the ideal would be that she can do it, but integrating her with an ultrasound would be ideal ”.
– My wife had breast cancer in one and then due to a check of that breast she had something in the other. Now they will remove the entire breast and you will see the other. If so, is it worth removing the other one also because it has already caused cancer?
– Everything in life is a benefit-risk assessment and these are individual cases that are subject to interdisciplinary discussion, we always say that we operate as a mastology unit. There are mastology units all over the country and this is a case worth discussing, there are many details. I learned that the genetic mutation was discovered after treating the first breast with conservative surgery and now they discover it in the other breast and propose a mastectomy. When this is proposed, there is a national law that always obliges us to offer an immediate reconstruction and there we are talking about prostheses, expansions or tissues. The other possibility of causing a new tumor, ‘this must be said’: conservative surgery + radiotherapy = possibility of local mastectomy recurrence, that is, if the treated breast is healthy, it can go to check and not necessarily do it, which will have a slightly higher risk of losing the prosthesis, but it is an individual evaluation. But if the patient wants to do this or fears that the same thing will be done in the other breast, it could be done, but these risks need to be explained, and it must be understood that the chance of having a relapse is relatively low.
– I am waiting for the result of a biopsy which I hope is negative, but what I wanted to comment is: Why isn’t it done under general anesthesia? It was so invasive, so painful.
– In general, local anesthesia avoids surgery and avoiding it is nothing less. In the past, we did not perform punctures and all patients who had a lump went to the operating room. Lthe puncture, in expert hands, is a great tool and what happened here is rare, but exceptionally there are women who have a very low pain threshold and that is why the anesthesia did not go well and only affected this experience.
– Many times I have heard of cases of women having breast cancer and attributed it to taking birth control pills. It’s true? Is it myth?
– He is a myth. No studies have shown a higher incidence of breast cancer. But if there was a study called “the study of nurses in the United States,” that when estrogen started being used, more than anything many years ago, it was for women going through menopause. It began to be administered at higher doses, its design was not as accurate as it is now, and the patients it was administered to showed a higher incidence of breast cancer in the United States. This was statistically significant. After this study, they stopped using them in general, only for those who had a risk-benefit condition where they have a better quality of life thanks to this, and on the other hand, More precise synthetic drugs were made that did not increase the risk of breast cancer. In the contraceptive question, this risk has not been proven.
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