30/08/2020
31st Aug 2020:
Welcome to my Facebook Journal.
We face with diseases of all kinds and with time and years of research science has been able to cope with as many. Today, we face the grave and aggressive enemy in Covid-19. Science will still prevail but until such a vaccine is found, morbidity and mortality is a reality that the human race has to address. Prevention of transmission is hugely the way to go forward!
As a Breast Surgical Oncologist and a practicing surgeon over the last 40 years, my primary concern is still about cancer, specifically Breast Cancer.
The incidence of cancer prevails, affecting men and women, young and old and it is predicted that there will be a dramatic increase in incidence in the next 10 years.
Breast Cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women worldwide (24.2%¬), it means that about 1 in 4 of all new cancer cases diagnosed in women is breast cancer. This is truly worrying as science has not been able to come out with a similar solution, such as a vaccine, to prevent breast cancer!
Approximately 2.1 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 worldwide and approximately 7,500 women in Malaysia. The numbers continue to rise every year and significantly affecting younger women across Asian Countries, including Malaysia.
Every year, breast cancer kills more than 500,000 women around the world. In countries with poor medical resources, a majority of women with breast cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage of disease; their five-year survival rates are low, ranging from 10-40%; however, in countries where early detection and basic treatments are available and accessible, the five-year survival rate for early and localized breast cancer far exceeds 80%.
Between 30–50% of cancers can be prevented by understanding some of the many mechanisms that can result in carcinogenesis and cancer, including:
i) avoiding risk factors and ii) implementing existing prevention strategies.
Similarly, the cancer burden can also be reduced through:
i) early detection of cancer; ii) adequate management of patients who develop the disease.
Today, breast cancer incidence has increased because modern life has changed the environments we live in, both on the outside and the inside of our bodies. Modifying or avoiding key risk factors can significantly reduce the burden of cancer. These risk factors include a) to***co use, including ci******es and smokeless to***co; b) being overweight or obese; c) unhealthy diet with low fruit and vegetable intake; d) lack of physical activity; e) alcohol use; f) urban air pollution and g) indoor smoke from household use of solid fuels.
I will share some of my views and suggestions for all to consider in terms of healthy lifestyle, healthy diet in reducing risks and cancer prevention.
