An easier diagnosis
Liquid biopsy is quick and minimally invasive. A blood sample is enough to know if there is cancer. The traditional biopsy, on the other hand, analyzes small samples of the tumor to evaluate if it has certain genetic mutations. This allows us to better understand the tumor and apply the most appropriate treatment from the beginning.
Not all lumps are bad
A lump in the breast is not synonymous with breast cancer. Don't be alarmed, but go to the doctor. Benign tumors can manifest as a palpable lump, pain, discharge from the nipple, or changes in the shape of the breast.
The most common cause of benign breast lesions is fibrocystic abnormality, which affects 60% of premenopausal women. If you have had a mammogram, we will tell you how to understand it here.
Chemo, more accurate
The combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy allows chemotherapy to be targeted only to cancer cells. This increases survival and reduces side effects.
The radio, very fast
Brachytherapy involves placing a radioactive source within or very close to the tumor to destroy cancer cells without damaging nearby tissues or organs. It lasts four days and the side effects are few, but it is just as effective as traditional radiation therapy in relapse rate, cure, and survival.
Brachytherapy is as effective as traditional radiotherapy in relapse rate, cure and survival
It is easier to prevent metastasis
Genomic tests of tumors provide valuable information on the prognosis of each patient and their risk of relapse, which allows changing the initial therapeutic decision in up to 50% of cases to find the most accurate treatment.
These tests help doctors identify patients who can avoid chemotherapy, since they are not at risk of relapse or metastasis.
There are more options for survival
Although breast cancer has spread to other organs, all is not lost. The most innovative treatments (target therapies, cyclin inhibitors or hormonal treatments) increase survival with a good quality of life.
Immunotherapy stimulates the immune system to fight cancer. It has been shown to be effective in melanoma and lung cancer and could be effective in the most aggressive breast cancer.
Fewer mastectomies are done
Currently, conservative surgery is usually chosen, which preserves the breast, rather than a mastectomy. Breast-conserving surgery is a safe option as long as the tumor and surrounding tissues can be completely removed, and adequate radiation therapy is planned. The postoperative period of conservative surgery is more bearable and has fewer problems than in mastectomy. The impact on self-esteem and quality of life is less than if the breast has to be removed.
In Spain about 26,000 cases are diagnosed a year, according to the AECC. About 90% of women survive
Pregnancy and cancer? There is no abortion
It is undoubtedly one of the latest and most hopeful developments. Although breast cancer during pregnancy is rare, today it is no longer synonymous with abortion. A study carried out at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology shows that breast cancer can be treated during pregnancy without putting the baby's development at risk.
Treatment is as similar as possible to that of a non-pregnant patient: surgery if necessary, chemotherapy from the second trimester. Radiation therapy and biologic drugs, which have not been studied in pregnant women, would be avoided.
Do you have cases in the family?
A genetic test allows you to know exactly if you are a carrier of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. These mutations pose a higher risk of developing breast (65%) and ovarian (40%) cancer than other women who do not carry these mutations.
Knowing the existence of the mutation helps to decide whether to follow frequent controls or to choose to undergo a prophylactic mastectomy, which, in these women, reduces the risk of breast cancer by 90%. This last option is the one taken by actress Angelina Jolie, whose mother and aunt had died of breast cancer.
