O cancro é talvez uma das maiores causas de morte em Portugal, assim como no mundo. Já foi mais difícil de reverter, mas ainda hoje é um monstro que não agrada a ninguém, apesar das ajudas de várias tecnologias e dos vários conhecimentos que vão existindo na saúde.
Repare-se que o cancro da mama, não se restringe às mulheres, conforme se pode ler aqui: Although rare, breast cancer can also occur in men — in the United States, more than 200,000 women and around 1,500 men will develop the disease in 2005.
Nunca é de mais, contudo, alertar para a prevenção, mesmo antes de aparecerem os primeiros sintomas:
- A spontaneous clear or bloody discharge from your nipple
- Retraction or indentation of your nipple
- A change in the size or contours of your breast
- Any flattening or indentation of the skin over your breast
- Redness or pitting of the skin over your breast, like the skin of an orange
Há também alguns factores, que ajudam a uma maior predisposição para a doença:
- Age. Your chances of developing breast cancer increase as you get older. The disease rarely affects women younger than 25 years of age, whereas close to 80 percent of breast cancers occur in women older than age 50. At age 40, you have a one in 252 chance of developing breast cancer. By age 85, your chance is one in eight.
- A personal history of breast cancer. If you've had breast cancer in one breast, you have an increased risk of developing cancer in the other breast.
- Family history. If you have a mother, sister or daughter with breast or ovarian cancer or both, or even a male relative with breast cancer, you have a greater chance of also developing breast cancer. In general, the more relatives you have with breast cancer who were premenopausal at the time of diagnosis, the higher your own risk. If you have one close relative with the disease, your risk is doubled. If you have two or more relatives, your risk increases even more. Just because you have a family history of breast cancer doesn't mean it's hereditary, though.
- Genetic predisposition. Between 5 percent and 10 percent of breast cancers are inherited.
- Radiation exposure. If you received radiation treatments to your chest as a child or young adult, you're more likely to develop breast cancer later in life. The younger you were when you received the treatments, the greater your risk.
- Excess weight. The relationship between excess weight and breast cancer is complex. In general, weighing more than is healthy for your age and height increases your risk if you've gained the weight as an adult and especially after menopause. The risk is even greater if you have more body fat in the upper part of your body. Although women usually have more fat in their thighs and buttocks, they tend to gain weight in their abdomens starting in their 30s, which can increase their risks.
Finalmente, é preciso combater o cancro, antes de ele aparecer, ou sequer dar sinais disso.
