ST JAMES, Jamaica— Clinical Coordinator at the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), Dr Delroy Fray, is advising the public that herbal medicines are not a proven cure for breast cancer.

Speaking with JIS News, Dr Fray expressed concern about the rising cases of late-stage breast cancer diagnoses despite widespread information on early detection.

He attributed this, in part, to some patients seeking treatment from herbal practitioners.

“A lot of patients might detect that there is something wrong with the breast and go to herbal doctors who are treating them with herbal medicine, which I can categorically tell you doesn’t work,” he said.

While acknowledging that herbal remedies may complement conventional treatments like radiation, Dr Fray emphasised that these methods should not be used in isolation.

He said the results of a five-year Yale University study on cancer patients, which compared individuals who used conventional treatments only, alternative treatments only, and a combination of the two, indicated that herbal remedies are only effective when combined with conventional care.

“The death rate among those who use alternative methods of treatment only was five times greater than those who took conventional treatment and the patients who took both conventional and alternative methods fared better,” Dr Fray pointed out.

The WRHA clinical coordinator further dispelled some common misconceptions, which he noted, are causing women to delay or shun breast cancer screening.

Among them is that mammograms, which involve compressing the breast, can cause cancer, noting that no scientific evidence supports this claim.

Another common belief is that radiation worsens cancer or causes tumours.

“The amount of radiation you get and the benefit you get from early detection with mammography can pick up a lesion as small as a pinhead in your breast,” Dr Fray pointed out.

In addition, he said, some women are so fearful of losing their breasts that they delay seeking medical attention, even after noticing abnormalities.

“The fear of losing the breast is another issue but what I try to tell them now is that you can remove the breast and replace it immediately with your own tissue from your body or to put an implant in. So, you really don’t have the psychological impact of looking down and not seeing the breast,” he noted.

Dr Fray assured that the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) is adequately equipped to offer the highest level of care for breast cancer patients, noting that the treatment is “comparable to any First-World country”.

-JIS