Doctors urge women to get early tests for breast cancer

Doctors on the frontline of the local breast cancer fight are urging Vincentian women as well as men not to wait until they encounter problems to seek medical care.

This was the view shared by Dr. Mark Cumberbatch, Registrar at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH), during a recent discussion on VC3’s RoundTable Talk on the topic of breast cancer.

Dr Cumberbatch said he considers breast cancer to be an epidemic, considering the changing lifestyles and increased numbers of diagnoses.

“Yes, it is. Because given our lifestyles, 20 years ago, the type of food we ate…all these things increase our risks of cancers and because of all of that, the frequency and incidence of these diseases are increasing so yes, we are talking about an epidemic and you see it in younger and younger persons.”

Senior Registrar at the MCMH, Dr Erica Jordan, said the latest statistics for St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), show that one in every eight females is being diagnosed with breast cancer, numbers that she described as “high”.

Dr Jordan said the majority of persons who are diagnosed are presenting for care only when they have found visible issues with their breasts.

“Unfortunately, the general reaction of the population is more reactive than proactive. This means that we are diagnosing a lot of breast lumps. When persons take responsibility for their health, they go out and screen,” she pointed out.

“ The difference between screening and diagnosing is that you go healthy, or apparently healthy, to make sure that you are still healthy. However, the majority of our diagnosed cancer patients want to be diagnosed because they already notice

that something has gone wrong. They come in with a palpable lump or an ulcer because they have noticed changes in the breasts.”

Stressing that early detection saves lives, Dr Cumberbatch said there is also economic advantage to ensuring that breast checks are done so issues can be dealt with in the early stages, and the government will spend less on treatment.

“Early detection, yes, it saves lives but there is an economic part of this, ranging from more expensive in terms of treating the cancer, radiotherapy, travelling for different reasons. That is a lot of money that you end up spending, whereas early detection with mammograms can pick up the problems at an early stage,” he said.

“Interventions such as surgery or chemotherapy can make a difference

It means the government spends less money, and you end up with more money in your pocket to take care of your family.”