Instances of breast cancer rise by three-fold in Kerala

Thiruvananthpuram: With comprehensive cancer awareness programmes among targeted sections few and far between, incidence of breast cancer in the state has shown a threefold increase over the recent years causing serious concern in health sector.

Thiruvananthapuram has already emerged as the country’s breast cancer Capital, recording incidence rate of 40 per 1 lakh women as per the latest estimation of population breast cancer Registry for Thiruvananthapuram at the RCC, said experts here.

Incidence of  breast cancer among women have gone up from 12/lakh population in 1980’s to 35-36/lakh population. More than 1,500 new cases of breast cancer are reported at the RCC annually and majority of these require surgical intervention.

According to radiologic technologists who perform diagnostic imaging procedures, 90 per cent of the breast cancer cases were coming for diagnosis at a late stage when the tumour is enlarged. They present with palpable lump or even a stage when it has formed into a lump. Some come at a stage when it has resulted in secondary changes such as local skin, chest wall changes or even distant metastatis.

“During the past 15 years I have been witnessing that in most cases patients come to us when the tumour size is more than 2.5 cm. Many of them have no idea that if detected early on, the problem is 90 per cent curable. In other words if they come for screening when tumor size is only 1 cm the chances of total cure is more than 90 per cent,” said Dr Manoj, president of Indian Radiological and Imaging Association.

The growth of tumour from 1 cm to 2.5 cm takes a longer period but the enlargement from then on is at a faster rate. Experts say the most common symptoms seen are lump in the breasts, discharge from nipple, skin ulcers, swollen lymph nodes weight loss. About 90 to 95 breast cancers are curable if detected early.

Apart from genetic susceptibility, life style problems like lack of exercise and obesity are also responsible for the onset of the disease. Late marriage is also considered to be a triggering factor.