Why lose your breasts to cancer?

Those women who have gone through breast conserving surgery followed by radiation therapy have similar long-term survival rates as women who have a mastectomy, writes Dr Mahesh B

Breast cancer is one of the most commonly found cancers among women and cancer can be hereditary among five to 10 per cent of patients because of their genes.
Studies show that in India, 28 per cent women are likely to develop breast cancer during their lifetime. Over the past few years, the trend of breast cancer in younger and middle-age women is on the rise, unlike earlier, when breast cancer was diagnosed in women above the age of 60.

Breast cancer is one of the curable cancers, when detected in its early stage. The fear associated with breast cancer patients is that of losing their breasts, the side effects of chemotherapy, and requirement of prolonged treatment which has a major impact on their psychosocial state.

Feminity has always been associated with certain attributes, nature and behaviour that is distinctive. Most women find it challenging to accept mastectomy when diagnosed with breast cancer. The thought of losing one’s breast to cancer treatment often results in psychological distress, causing lack of vanity and self-confidence. Over the years, with the advancement in breast cancer treatment, there is new hope of maintaining the quality of life of breast cancer patients.

One of the newer surgical techniques that have been in practice lately — Breast-Conserving Surgery (BCS) with onco-plasty (reconstruction) — removes cancer cells from the body while leaving the remaining part of the breast as normal as possible. Even the reconstruction with onco-plasty techniques, has better cosmetic outcome with minimal scars and excellent local control. This type of surgery is typically done as an outpatient procedure or overnight stay in the hospital. The procedure is performed by surgeons who are well-trained in the field of breast cancer and oncoplastic techniques to get better surgical and cosmetic outcomes which have a major effect on the patient’s sexual and social life.

One of the concerns might be that of recurrence, but breast-conserving surgery can work just as well as a mastectomy surgery. Multicentre studies, conducted across the world, show those women who have gone through breast conserving surgery followed by radiation therapy, have similar long-term survival rates as women who have a mastectomy.

Patients who are eligible for breast-conserving surgery should undergo the procedure without any fear of recurrence or of losing their breasts, as it can improve quality of life and their confidence.

(The author is consultant, surgical oncology, HCG Cancer Hospital)