SAN ANTONIO – October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and doctors at the START Center for Cancer Care in San Antonio say talking about breast cancer for women and men is important.
When it comes to examining yourself for lumps and bumps, doctors recommend doing it once a month. It is recommended that women over the age of 40 years old get a mammogram annually.
“I would like to emphasize the importance of early screening for detection of cancers early on so that way it can be treated and cured,” said Divya Asti, Hematologist Medical Oncologist at the START Center.
On top of yearly screenings, it’s also important to pay attention to your risk factors.
Modifiable: Things you can control or things you already know:
- Family history-already know
- Genetics-already know
- Your health:
- Are you a smoker?
- How much alcohol do you drink?
- How much do you exercise and eat healthy?
Non-modifiable: Things you cannot change:
- Age of first menstrual cycle
- Age of menopause
- Age of when you have children
“If you have an earlier onset of periods and late menopause then you have a higher estrogen exposure which means you’re at a higher risk of breast cancer,” said Dr. Asti.
If you have multiple members in your family who have been diagnosed, doctors recommend you get genetic testing.
Genetic testing looks for mutations and variants in your DNA that could me you are more likely to get cancer.
Doctor DeBerry recommends getting genetic testing done if you have two or more family members on the same side of your family diagnosed with breast cancer or if you have a family member who was diagnosed with it before the age of 50.
There are many signs and symptoms to look out for when it comes to having breast cancer. Those include:
- New lumps
- Changes in texture
- Dimpling or redness of the breast skin
- Retraction of the nipple
- Discharge from the nipple
- Pain in the breast
“Only one-third of patients with breast cancer are diagnosed by symptoms. Most breast cancers are caught by early screening,” Asti said.
The CDC says nearly 240,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women each year and about 42,000 women die from it yearly.
“When compared to other cancers, breast cancer as a whole is about 30 percent of cancers every year that is being diagnosed in the United States,” said Doctor Prathibha Surapaneni, Medical Oncologist at the START Center.
Men can also get breast cancer. The CDC says about 2,100 men are diagnosed with it each year and 500 die from it.
“In most men, this will happen directly behind the nipple and not at the periphery just because their breast tissue is focused into a much smaller area,” Doctor Brittany DeBerry, Breast Surgeon at the START Center.
Since breast cancer isn’t talked about as much for men, they are less likely to do self-examination and get checked.
“I don’t know how much men like to go into their doctor and say, ‘Hey I’ve got a lump on my breast’ or whether they’re even looking at that,” Maryam Elmi, Breast Surgical Oncologist at the START Center.
When it comes to the treatment of breast cancer, there are options including radiation, chemotherapy and surgery.
There are two different types of surgery for breast cancer:
- Partial Mastectomy or lumpectomy
- Take out part of the breast affected by cancer
- Radiation recommended after surgery
- Day surgery
- Typical recovery of two to three weeks
- Removal of the full breast
- Most of the time this eliminates the need for radiation
- Breast reconstruction is offered at the same time as surgery
“Thankfully with good reconstruction techniques and good plastic surgeons we can offer breast reconstruction to the vast majority of our patients who are required to undergo mastectomy,” Dr. DeBerry said.
Patients who undergo breast reconstruction surgery are sometimes kept overnight in the hospital. The recovery typically takes four to five weeks.
The doctors at the START Center emphasized the importance of getting checked yearly and to keep talking about Breast Cancer Awareness.
“It’s much more talked about now than it has been in the past. I think there’s much more publicity about getting screened and I think people feel more comfortable talking about diseases in the breast now than they did in the past,” said Dr. DeBerry.
You can check out what the START Center does when it comes to treating patients by clicking here.