supportive care is essential

THE ESSENTIAL

• The management of cancer also requires support services
• Patients and their loved ones need psychological follow-up
• Meditation, yoga, physiotherapy, or music therapy are effective

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Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women: 58,459 new cases were diagnosed in mainland France in 2018. At stage IV, cancer cells spread to other organs, most often to the bones, lungs, liver or brain. Metastatic breast cancer has a relative 5-year survival rate of around 22%. In humans, it represents 1% of diagnosed cases and the risk of metastases is higher, in particular because of the ignorance of the disease in humans.

The importance of supportive care

The management of cancer does not stop with the treatment of the disease itself, but requires supportive care, in particular to relieve pain, fatigue, stress, side effects of treatments, problems nutritional, digestive disorders, or mental suffering and disturbances of self-image. “Supportive care offers a comprehensive approach to the person and aims to ensure the best possible quality of life for sick people, physically, psychologically and socially ”, explains the National Cancer Institute.

The French National Authority for Health (HAS) confirms that “the therapeutic management is multidisciplinary and concerns in particular the general practitioner, medical oncologist, surgeon, gynecologist, radiotherapist oncologist, pathologist, radiologist, plastic surgeon, doctor algologist, anesthesiologist, occupational doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, dietitian, psychologist, social worker -educative. ”

Psychological help, yoga, meditation, physiotherapy

A cancer psychologist for 20 years, Valérie Sugg has supported 17,000 people affected by the disease, directly or indirectly. “I have often had tearful patients wondering what they missed or did wrong to deserve this, she explained in an interview in 2018. Why them? Why now ? They need to find meaning in what is happening to them. My support work is to help them understand where this idea of ​​fault comes from.. ” Thirty percent of patients with metastatic breast cancer also use a physiotherapist and 16% a socio-esthetician.

As explained Professor Mahasti Saghatchian, oncologist at the American Hospital of Paris, in our program Questions to Experts, from Numerous scientific studies have also demonstrated the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation in the treatment of breast cancer, in particular to manage the stress and anxiety linked to the disease.

Others opt for yoga. “The woman who has breast cancer often has a lot of trouble looking at herself in the mirror, she feels diminished and weakened both mentally and physically, explains to Women’s Journal Pascale Lutun, phonotherapist and yoga teacher of sound. The image of her body and her femininity are upset and accepting to live with this new body is not necessarily easy for her ”. According to her, thanks to the yoga of sound, “they are more in the listening of their body, in a calm and lucid way, and in the search for softness by the sound. ”

Low risk level

Doctors encourage the use of these support services, aware that they do not pose any risk to health or the effectiveness of current medical treatments. “The use of yoga, meditation, relaxation techniques and passive music therapy to address common health problems in breast cancer patients is supported by strong evidencesays Debu Tripathy, president of MD Anderson Medical Center in Texas. Given the indication of benefits coupled with a relatively low level of risk, these treatments may be offered as an integral part of care, especially when symptoms are not well controlled. ”

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