Dr Rufina Soomro reveals breast cancer statistics in Pakistan

KARACHI: Dr Rufina Soomro has expressed serious concerns over the rising incidents of breast cancer in Pakistan, saying that breast cancer has become the commonest cancer in Pakistani women.

She said that statistics revealed that one in every eight women had a lifetime risk of breast cancer. In contrast, almost 30 per cent of cancers in women were breast cancers, adding that a chance that breast cancer would be responsible for a woman's death was about one in 36, which is 3 per cent.
 
Dr Rufina Soomro, the professor of Surgery at the Liaquat National Hospital, delivered a lecture at the 68th Public Awareness Seminar on "Breast Cancer Awareness" held at the Dr Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD), the University of Karachi.
 
Dr Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research and Sindh Innovation Research Educational Network (SIREN) jointly organised the seminar.
 
Dr Rufina Soomro said that various alternate unscientific methods misguided many people. Still, the fact was that delay in treatment could lead to an advance in the cancer stage, causing a challenge in treating the disease.
 
She rejected the myth that alternative therapies were effective without Surgery and chemo, as a cancer treatment was usually worse than the disease.
 
Talking about risk factors, she said, "Being a woman is the main risk factor for breast cancer, which is 100 times more common in women than men."
 
She mentioned that the risk for breast cancer increases with age, as around 77 per cent of women with breast cancer are over the age of 50 at the time of diagnosis.
 
A person with one first-degree relative with breast cancer, like a mother, sister, or daughter, has doubled risk for breast cancer, adding that 80 per cent of women with breast cancer have no family history.
 
Dr Rufina Soomro said that breast cancer risk factors included women over 40 years, early menarche, late menopause, late first child, alcohol use, radiation, geographic location, diet, obesity, cancer in another breast, family history, etc.
 
Following the rising incidents of breast cancer in Pakistan, Prof. Soomro stressed the need for breast self-examination and said that a simple check was imperative for every Pakistani woman. A simple check includes an unusual increase in the size of one breast, one breast lying lower than the other, puckering or dimpling of the skin, a rash on or around the nipple, recent turning in of the nipple, fluid or blood coming from the nipple, orange peel appearance, and enlarged axillary lymph nodes.
 
She mentioned that good breast health is a three-step approach, including self-examination, clinical examination and mammography.
 
Dr Rufina Soomro urged Pakistani women to stop smoking, limit alcohol intake, eat a well-balanced nutritious diet, and do physical exercise.