To mark this year’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Chamber held a panel session with several individuals who play a key role in diagnosing, treating and supporting women and men with breast cancer.
The session focused on raising awareness of the importance of early diagnosis, attending regular screening and the latest developments in treatment. It was hosted by Paul Sheriff, a former MP and Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities who is also a breast cancer survivor after being diagnosed in March 2020. Paula was joined by five guests who she quizzed on a variety of key breast cancer topics relating to symptoms, treatment and screening.
The importance of breast cancer awareness
The session started with each panellist explaining why breast cancer awareness is so important. Doctor Philippa Whitford, an MP who was previously a breast surgeon, spoke about how early diagnosis results in more options for patients. She said:
“One of the biggest changes I noticed over the 33 years of working as a breast surgeon was how early people presented. At the start of my career, more people would present with advanced cancers where they’d either ignored signs for a long time or were too afraid to come forward. That is now a rarity thankfully.
“The surgical options a woman has relates directly to how early it is found, how small it is in relation to the breast and whether it’s spread anywhere else such as the lymph nodes. The earlier you find it, the better we can treat it but also we can treat it with less invasion and fewer side effects.”
Sally Kum, an Associate Director of nursing, healthcare professional engagement and health information at Breast Cancer Now, spoke about the TLC system that Breast Cancer Now encourage. She said:
“From Breast Cancer Now’s perspective, Breast Cancer Awareness Month is really important for messaging and instilling habits and behaviours in women and men to check themselves because from our latest research, 44% of people don’t check themselves.
“We would encourage our TLC messaging – touch, look, check to understand what’s normal for you and then if you notice any differences report them them to your GP to get referred if necessary.”
The significance of early detection and screening methods
Like most cancers, early detection is absolutely vital when it comes to survival chances. Using data from Cancer Research UK, nearly 100% of women and men will survive breast cancer if they are diagnosed when the cancer is contained within the breast.
Breast cancer screening is a good way of identifying cancer early in women who are considered high risk. Explaining this, Sarah Vinnicombe, a Consultant breast radiologist, said:
“For most women, if they are at average risk, they are offered screening with mammography every three years from the age of 50 until they are 70. There is good evidence out there that women who attend regular screening are much less likely to die from breast cancer.
“MRI scans are also useful. In women who have a high risk of cancer, they are more likely to be offered regular screening from an earlier age. If you have a really high risk of cancer then you will also be offered regular MRI screening.
“However, the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer who do have a family history of it is actually very low. This means that the vast majority who do have it don’t have a strong family history so even if you don’t think you have an increased risk, you should take up the opportunity for regular mammograms.”
Deborah Wyatt, an Engagement Manager at IQVIA and breast cancer survivor, spoke about her journey to being diagnosed and how screening helped her to keep on top of any changes to her breast. She said:
“My story is quite typical. I’m in my late 50s so I’d already had two regular mammograms that I’d been called up for. Both were clear and everything was fine but then I felt a thickening and then went through the system of getting referred by my GP and then having mammograms and ultrasounds.
“The mammogram programme is vital, women should be taking up this opportunity. It is a good way of catching breast cancer early.”
Latest advancements in treatment and research
Over time, breast cancer survival rates have improved considerably. In the 1970s the general ten-year survival rate for people with the disease was 40%. In the 2010s, this had shot up to 78%, indicating that advancements in treatment and research have come a long way.
Speaking about some of the drugs that are now available to patients, Rebecca Roylance, a Consultant medical oncologist said:
“It’s been so positive being an oncologist in breast cancer recently. Since 2017, 20 new drugs have been developed and seven of those have been approved in the last year so progress is certainly being made.
“One of the most exciting new treatments relates to what we give women who are trying to prevent re-occurrence due to being high risk. We can now give those people additional medical to endocrine therapy to make it more effective. It extends the treatment, and not without side effects, but it’s making a huge difference to overall survival.
“Breast cancer is really treatable, we know so much more about it now. We know there are loads of different types, and how these different types behave. So, even if you don’t present early in the process or your tumour is bigger than first believed, then it is still very treatable.”
Meanwhile, Sarah Vinnicombe spoke about how Covid actually helped to fast-track certain treatments. She said:
“Covid helped because it fast-tracked short courses of radiotherapy. It also enabled us to move away from how we help surgeons – when we pick up small cancers we used to get women to come in on the day of operation to have wires put into breasts and then they’d have to leg it across to the operating theatre which is so stressful.
“Covid enabled us to move away from this wired system and generally, the process is now more patient-focused than it was pre-covid.”
Final thought
This session was an incredibly thought-provoking one particularly as it featured two women who have experienced breast cancer and therefore know the importance of early detection and raising awareness for what remains an incredibly cruel disease.
The advancements in treatment are certainly encouraging, as are the ever-improving survival rates. However, the fight against cancer is far from over so regular self-checks remain absolutely vital for early detection and non-invasive treatments.
Watch the full video here: