Ha NoiWoman, 67 years old, right lower quadrant abdominal pain, thin weight loss, doctor diagnosed breast cancer with liver metastasis stage 4.
The patient felt pain and discomfort in the left chest for a year but did not go to the doctor and hid it from his family. In the last two weeks, she had severe pain in the right lower quadrant, was thin and lost weight, went to the hospital for an examination, an ultrasound found a liver lesion, thought to be a tumor.
The patient went to the Center for Nuclear Medicine and Oncology, Bach Mai Hospital, for re-examination. On June 7, Doctor Pham Cam Phuong, Director of the Center, said that the tumor in the left breast was 6×5 cm in size, bleeding, and was accompanied by a few small lesions. The patient was swollen, red and swollen around the skin and many axillary nodes on both sides, the doctor diagnosed stage 6 breast cancer with liver metastasis, which is the cause of right upper quadrant pain.
According to Doctor Phuong, this case is very unfortunate due to the early detection of abnormalities but hiding the disease. "If you go to the doctor early, the tumor will not ulcerate, bleed, metastasize, and the patient's survival time will be more assured," said the doctor.
X-ray image of the breast. Image: Hospital provides
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In Vietnam, breast cancer accounts for nearly 26% of cancer cases in women, with more than 21.000 new cases annually and more than 9.000 deaths.
Breast cancer can be completely cured if detected early, treated promptly and properly. The earlier it is detected, the simpler the treatment, the higher the cure rate, and the lower the cost of treatment. According to doctors, when the disease is still localized in the mammary gland, the 5-year survival rate of patients after treatment is up to 99%. Cancer has spread beyond the mammary gland, to the lymph nodes and surrounding tissues, this rate drops to 86%. Cancer has metastasized to other organs such as lungs, liver, bones, this rate is only 30%.
Breast cancer treatment has now made great strides such as surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, combined with hormonal therapies, biological therapy (targeted treatment). However, the key factor is still detecting the disease at an early stage.
Doctors recommend screening and early detection of breast cancer is very important. Periodic health check, screening to detect diseases early, thereby helping to improve treatment efficiency and reduce costs.
Minh An
