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Prevention is the best strategy against breast cancer. An annual or biannual mammogram can detect it, but in addition, some external signs can reveal the presence of a tumor in the breast.
The delays caused by the saturation of healthcare due to the covid pandemic have revealed the importance of prevention as a strategy for early detection of diseases such as breast cancer.
This Tuesday, International Day Against Breast Cancer, the Spanish Breast Cancer Federation (FECMA) calls to raise awareness of the urgency of recover normality in primary and hospital care. In their manifesto for this year's anniversary, they ask for more staff and a greater budget for this field.
From Quironsalud they bet on him annual or biannual control through mammograms and 'screening', as a secondary prevention measure that consists of carrying out diagnostic tests on patients, a priori healthy, to detect cancer early. Furthermore, follow-ups must be exhaustive in women with a family history, considered at risk.
In recent years, breast self-examination has left the prevention manuals of health professionals. "Self-examination as a breast cancer prevention strategy comes from a time when mammography screenings were not carried out in an institutionalized manner," explains the doctor. Fernando Colmenarejo, head of the gynecology service at Hospital Quirónsalud, Zaragoza. "There was no better way to detect it."
However, "with the development of prevention programs that include annual or biannual mammograms and the generalization of regular personal hygiene, it has been seen that self-examination has less preventive performance," explains Colmenarejo.
The head of gynecology at Quirónsalud believes that it is not good to become obsessed with self-examination to avoid confusion, fear and saturation of consultations with unnecessary tests. "This does not mean that, if we notice something on the chest, we are not going to consult our doctor. We should act the same as when we detect a strange mole," he clarifies.
There are some external signs that can reveal the existence of a tumor in the breast. The following graph distributed by the group GEICAM of Breast Cancer Research during the last campaign, points out some of them:
