The pink ribbon is now back throughout October to bring awareness of breast cancer awareness month, with the goal of celebrating breast cancer survivors, their stories, promoting screening and prevention methods towards the disease.
Breast cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer death in U.S. women although the survival rate of the disease is about 90%. With studies showing that about one in eight women get breast cancer in their lifetime.
Professor and Chairman of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology and Director of the Institute of Cancer Immunotherapy School of Medicine Subhash Chauhan Ph.D. said that people can use multiple preventative strategies to detect if breast cancer is forming in their bodies.
Another strategy that Chauhan recommended, is that individuals regularly check their breasts for any abnormalities such as changes in the shape and size and the formation of lumps in the area. This can be executed by visually and palpating the breast area.
He said that another highly recommended option is for individuals to consider getting a mammogram. This process involves taking an X-ray of the breasts to get a more detailed examination.
“For women, right after maybe 22 or 25, they should go for a mammogram.” Chauhan said. “Usually they try to do it every year. But once you know, your two, three mammograms are normal, then you can take a pause for up to three or four years and then go back again.”
He said there are different kinds of breast cancers with one of the worst kinds being triple negative breast cancer, which is a very aggressive and invasive form of breast cancer that can affect other organs.
“Very frequently, it just gets into the lymph nodes which are close to our armpits, but it doesn’t stop there.” Chauhan said. “Later on it can go to the brain, It can go to even bones sometimes. It can very frequently and very fast. It can metastasize to other organs.”
Certified General Surgeon Vijian Dhevan has observed a significant increase in the number of patients with aggressive or advanced forms of cancer in the Rio Grande Valley. Due to patients waiting so long to finally go see a doctor that their disease has already done extensive damage to their body.
“We are being aggressive in our identification of patients that may have a lesion testing them and then recommending management.” Dhevan said. “Because we all know, all the medical professionals know that this is a curable disease. Let’s get ahead of it and make our patients cancer free.”
Over the years, he has heard people complaining about the cost of visiting a doctor and they often use it as an excuse to avoid going. However, he emphasizes that the cost of losing a loved one to a curable disease like breast cancer is far greater than medical bills.
“Losing a spouse, a mother, an aunt, a family member, that’s the emotional cost.” Dhevan said. “Is heavy too, sometimes we don’t take that into consideration the emotional toll on a family that has to go through this extensive treatment regimen with something that could be found early, dealt early, and then the treatment length is fairly minimal.”
For more information about UT Health RGV visit uthealthrgv.org
