Doctors have said that a number of young women don't schedule regular screenings, and many women don't pay attention to warning signs as according...
Doctors have said that a number of young women don't schedule regular screenings, and many women don't pay attention to warning signs as according to them they are quite young to suffer from breast cancer. As per Dr. Meenu Walia, Director (Medical Oncology, Max Super Specialty Hospital), a person is never quite young to suffer from breast cancer.
She added, "Though almost 90 per cent of breast cancer cases occur in women above 50 years of age, an increasing number of young women are being diagnosed with the disease - especially in urban areas and metropolitan cities".
Dr. Walia said that breast cancer had surpassed cervical cancer for becoming the main cause of cancer-related deaths among Indian women.
She explained that besides from its increasing incidence, the profile of patients and the disease has also altered in the last few years.
According to doctors, they have now noticed a trend where in breast cancer in younger women has become aggressive and less likely to respond to treatment.
Doctors said that the women who get diagnosed at a younger age are more likely to have mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes that show a poor prognosis.
Researchers in America analyzed cancer registry data between 1976 and 2009 in 2013. They concluded that there was a steady increase in the number of young women that have more aggressive forms of cancer.
Dr PK Julka from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has been working in the cancer field for many decades, and has said that all cancers both in male and female have come to India around 10 years before western countries.
