Lack of awareness hampering breast cancer prevention, treatment

BY COREY ROBINSON Observer staff reporter robinsonc@jamaicaobserver.com

Saturday, October 29, 2011

DESPITE the advancements in breast cancer treatment and prevention, a lack of awareness and late detection continue to hamper measures to combat the disease locally.

The disclosure was made Thursday by United States-based Dr Donna-Marie Manasseh, the co-director of the Women's Breast Centre in that country.

"The incidence of breast cancer is actually a lot higher in the US. However, the mortality of breast cancer in Jamaica is a lot higher than it is in the US. Why is this?" asked Manasseh, who was guest speaker at the Keeping Abreast Luncheon 2011 held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston. The function was put on by the Jamaica Cancer Society.

"We can think of a number of different reasons: one being awareness. Is it because people have screening concerns? The mammogram machine hurts? Or [is it] that they don't have time to do a mammogram?" she queried. "[Is it] access to care? The availability of facilities? Or is it that the type of breast cancer that women of African descent get is different from a lot of other women?"

She urged local authorities to look into these questions as they are key to the treatment and prevention of breast cancer.

She said that while awareness had improved because of increased support for breast cancer initiatives and that more women were having mammograms, more still needs to be done to emphasise the importance of early breast cancer detection.

This, she said, will aid in preventing the disfigurement that results from surgery.

"The surgeries that we use to do for breast cancer was very disfiguring because the tumours were a lot bigger. So we had to take not just the tumour itself but the breast tissue, a lot of the skin, and a lot of the lymph nodes in the armpit area," explained Manasseh.

"But we found that as we picked these [tumours] up smaller and smaller, we don't have to take as much of that tissue, and we don't have to be that much disfiguring," she added.

She said breast cancer treatment is more complicated in women of African descent and that these persons are many times unresponsive to certain drugs or chemotherapy treatment.

Persons with this problem tend to be younger and their conditions more severe.

As such, she noted: "Time is what matters... We need to find the cancer in an individual [from it is] as small as possible, as the earlier something is found the more curable it is."

"Breast cancer is curable; the earlier you can find it, the better it is," she said, noting that not only victims but the society on a whole had a part to play in breast cancer treatment.

Thursday's breast cancer luncheon was held under the theme 'Strength in Numbers'. The function was attended by representatives of several organisations with interest in the fight against the disease and breast cancer survivors.

Chairman of the Jamaica Cancer Society, Earl Jarrett expressed gratitude for the large turnout, and thanked the sponsors of the event.

He praised the success of the organisation on its decade-long existence, and committed to do more to tackle the disease locally.

Jarrett was also awarded for his contribution to society.

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Lack of awareness hampering breast cancer prevention, treatment