Breast cancer lecture targets schoolgirls

More than 70 schoolgirls and young women, participating in the summer programme at Khor Fakkan Women's Club, were advised to have their breasts examined periodically and to learn preventive procedures to avoid breast cancer.

The schoolgirls had the chance to attend a lecture on breast cancer last week. It was conducted by Fatima Mohammed Khamis, in charge of the Maternity and Child Care Unit at Khor Fakkan Hospital. She talked about the symptoms, discovery and treatment of breast cancer.

She said: "Schoolgirls from 11 years of age and above are targeted in this lecture on breast cancer to enable them to have a clear idea about the disease in this age while their bodies are growing."

She said girls are taught how to examine their breasts by themselves and what to do if they feel something unusual and the necessity to go to a doctor to determine whether they have this disease or not.

"The lecture is aimed at enhancing the awareness of girls in this age to realise the importance of medical examination and the preventive ways to avoid this disease, in addition urging their mothers and young women to examine their breasts once a year or once in two years."

She noted the early discovery of breast cancer is very important and helpful in applying the best treatment.

"First we teach girls to examine their breasts with their own hands on the sixth and seventh day of their menstruation. Breast cancer usually affects women between 35-40 years of age.

"When they feel some kind of tumour, they must come to the hospital and have themselves checked up by doctors or go for mammography which gives very clear images of the breast and its infected tissues."

She said a woman with breast cancer can notice some changes in her nipples which turn into dark pink or dark red with some other traces on the breast itself. And when she squeezes it with hand, it produces some kind of pus and blood.

"The medical history of a woman's family, suffering from breast cancer, being over 30 years of age, having been infected with another kind of cancer especially after menstruation stops and being fat and overweight are some of the major factors which lead to breast cancer."

"Between 1984-1992, a total of 266 cases of breast cancer were registered at Al Mafraq Hospital in Abu Dhabi. Twenty-three per cent of those women with breast cancer have died."

Fatima said in the UAE 30 per cent of women ages 30 to 39 suffer from breast cancer, 37 per cent of women between 40-49 and around 29 per cent of women above 50.

Sometimes a self-check is not enough to determine if there is cancer or not, so a mammography examination is highly recommended.

"But a woman who is suspected to be suffering from breast cancer should only go for one mammographic check-up when she is between 35-39, once every two years in her 40s and once each year during 50s."

She said there are four main kinds of treatment for women who suffer from breast cancer. They include chemical treatment, treatment with certain rays, hormone treatment and surgical treatment.

"We through our lectures try not to make girls and women panicky or be afraid because every disease has a treatment, especially with the rapid advancement in medicine worldwide," Fatima added.