KUCHING: Breast cancer can be prevented if it is detected and treated at an early stage, said deputy state health director Dr Asmah Nazahiyah Zaid.
“In Malaysia, breast cancer is the primary case affecting women as well as the major cause of cancer-related deaths, and the number of cases keeps increasing from year to year.
“The factors resulting in breast cancer are still unknown but we are aware that it can happen to anyone regardless of race, age and social background.
“Thus, it is important for everyone to understand that early detection is important as it would allow for early treatment,” she said when officiating at a breast cancer awareness programme held at Vivacity Shopping Mall here, yesterday.
In the United States, one out of eight women has a high risk of getting breast cancer while Malaysia records one out of 20 women.
Although there is no official number of cases reported, Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) Breast and Endocrine Surgeon Dr Adibah Ali implied that the increasing number of breast cancer cases in the state is contributed by increasing awareness of the disease.
“Before this, the awareness is not there so our data is not really complete considering that Sarawak is a big state (with difficulty reaching rural areas). With more awareness campaigns being conducted, we have more registration of cases,” she said.
When prompted on the number of cases, she stressed that data collection is still ongoing but it does show an increase in the number of cases.
“As of last year, SGH alone has recorded over 140 cases, but the data does not represent the whole state since many breast cancer patients also went to private hospitals.
“Of that number of cases, 14 per cent of the patients were in Stage 1 while 40 per cent were of Stages 3 and 4,” she stated.
Adibah added that the good thing about breast cancer is that it can be easily detected at an early stage.
“If compared with other cancers, breast cancer can be detected through external symptoms. You can get your breasts examined every month to detect the cancer as early as possible where it has not grown into a palpable lump yet,” she explained.
Adibah further stated that a patient navigation centre in the hospital will be established, which is an integrated system to keep track of data.
“It is still in progress,” she revealed.
Also present were SGH general surgery department head Nik Azim Nik Abdullah, SGH consultant general surgeon Dr Rokayah Julaihi and Breast counsellor nurse Norija Sapiee.
