‘Pakistan has high rate of breast cancer’

More than 80 per cent of breast cancer cases are reported without a family history annually, and about 70% of women in Pakistan receive a late-stage diagnosis of breast cancer, said medical experts.

Training Resident Medical Officer (TRMO) at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Dr Rafina Soomro, speaking at the breast cancer awareness seminar said, "Many women waste precious time on unauthentic therapies because they are unaware of the symptoms, which significantly diminish their chances of recovery.

Dr Soomro explained that breast cancer initiates when breast cells uncontrollably proliferate, often forming a tumor that can be detected via X-rays or felt as a lump.

Read: Early detection crucial in the fight against breast cancer

She pointed out that women in the age from 40 to 70 years are at higher risk and in most cases if they start menstruation before the age of 12 and continue periods after the age of 50.], Family history of breast cancer [grandmother, mother, sister, aunt, or paternal aunt], is also a factor than can cause breast cancer in women besides having first child after the age of 30 and did not breastfeed their babies. Overweight women who use family planning drugs are also at higher risk of breast cancer.

Consultant and Breast Surgeon at South City Hospital, Professor Shaista Khan, highlighted, "Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer among Asian nations." One in nine women is at risk of developing breast cancer.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2023.