PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar called upon women to perform self-examination on daily basis to be able to detect breast cancer at earlier stage and get effective treatment.

“We have treated more than 1,000 breast cancer patients at hospitals and 40 per cent of them are below the age of 45,” Prof Abid Jameel, head of medical oncology department at Hayatabad Medical Complex told the seminar held here to mark breast cancer awareness month.

He spoke about surge breast cancer cases among young women, according to a press release.

Quoting data on the recent advances in treatment of breast cancer patients even in advanced stages, he said that a free treatment cancer programme by the health department at HMC saved many serious patients in the last stage of the ailment. The programme helped patients to continue free treatment, he said.

Experts say 40pc of patients are below the age of 45

“More than 90 per cent of patients were not able to afford costly treatment and could have passed away had they not been provided with free treatment through the project,” said Prof Abid.

He said that HMC had highly professional and trained staff to provide best possible cancer treatment facilities to patients. “Currently eight doctors are undergoing postgraduate training in medical oncology and five have passed FCPS examination to become oncologists,” he said.

Prof Mah Munir Khan, chairperson of surgery department at Khyber Teaching Hospital, informed the participants of the seminar that a multi-disciplinary team including oncologists, pathologists, radiologists could lead to better management of breast cancer patients at the hospital.

She said that proper cancer management required more meetings among different consultants to ensure standard care of the patients. There was no reason for offering less than what was being offered internationally to cure patients’ breast and other types of cancers, she added.

Prof Mah Munir also talked about the positive and encouraging results of cancer treatment at Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar. She said that breast cancer was detectable and curable at the early stage. Therefore, women should examine their breast on daily basis and consult the doctor in case of any issue, she added.

She said that women should be trained on performing self-examination followed by their clinical assessment and breast ultrasound.

Doctors, paramedics and nurses attended the seminar that was followed by question and answer session for trainee medical doctors regarding specialisation in medical oncology.

Dr Ishaq Ahmad Shah highlighted the latest trends in management of elderly women having breast cancer. Other speakers spoke on topics relating to latest advances in management of breast cancer.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2022