HYDERABAD, Feb 4: The second commonest cancers causing deaths among women after lung tumour is breast cancer, said gynaecologist Dr Hameeda Jagirani.

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among Pakistani women, she said, adding that its prevalence among rural female population was on the rise because of lack of awareness and education, she said.

She expressed these views while talking to APP on the eve of World Cancer Day being observed on Thursday.

Breast cancer is treatable if diagnosed at an early stage but in the majority of cases, the disease is diagnosed in the last stages, Dr Hamida said.

This affliction can strike at any age but heightens with increasing age as one in every 280 women of 30 years stands on the threshold as compared to one in 70 among 40 years old and one in 40 among 50 years old while a 60-year-old among 30 women faces the risk of developing breast cancer in next 10 years, she said.

She further said that women with the history of cancer in one breast had three to four-fold risk of developing in the other breast or in another part of the same breast. This refers to the risk of developing new tumour and not the recurrence of the first one, said the doctor.

She said that the use of alcohol was also an established risk factor in developing breast cancer.

Dr Hameeda said that this was a serious health problem but timely and proper treatment helps in recovering patient from the initial trauma.