Cancer recurs in octagenarian, self examination saves her life 

By Express News Service

Chennai’s Kauvery Hospital announced the successful treatment of an 86-year-old woman with breast cancer. The woman was diagnosed for the second time after 27 years. Though it may seem alarming that cancer can relapse after several years, early detection and time appropriate management has given her a normal life.

Speaking on the condition, Dr Kirti Katherine Kabeer, consultant – breast specialist and oncoplastic surgeon, Kauvery Hospital Chennai said, “This lady had a breast cancer which was diagnosed in her late 50s. At that time she underwent chemotherapy followed by surgery mastectomy where her left breast was removed. She was then put on cancer protective medications for sometime.”

“Recently, she approached our team mentioning she was able to detect some nodules in the same region of the breast that had earlier been removed. An ultrasound was performed on her which showed the presence of five-six ill-defined nodules on her left chest wall, the largest measuring 13 mm. Ultrasound guided biopsy done from the nodule confirmed cancer recurrence,” she added.

The doctors then ran a PET-CT scan through her whole body which helped us to visualise and confirm the nodules. The disease was limited to the chest wall area and had not spread to the other parts of the body. The nodules on her left chest wall were removed through a revision surgery, where they removed the cancerous growth, old scar and some margins around the affected area.

“After a thorough discussion in the multidisciplinary tumour board, we decided not to put her through chemotherapy considering the early stage of detection, low grade features of the cancer and her age. She was once again prescribed cancer protective medications which block certain hormones in the body that can influence the growth of certain types of cancer,” she added.

The patient was relieved of her symptoms and radiation therapy was delivered to the chest wall in addition to the medications. “The radiation therapy was continued for five weeks through Image-Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT) technique, as we had to keep in mind her advanced age, fragility and the tolerance levels of her heart and the left lung which would be exposed to the field of radiation during the therapy,” she noted.

Self-breast examination helped the woman not once but twice and she was able to detect subtle abnormalities in her body. Early detection and time appropriate management has provided a good quality of life for her. Women should be encouraged to perform self-breast examination periodically, firstly to know what is normal for them and then to report any lump or change at a very early stage.

“Women can also utilise the cancer screening facilities in the nearby hospitals so that cancerous growths and pre-cancer changes as small as 1mm can be detected and treated early. Today there are different approaches to treating breast cancers such as preserving the breasts, cosmetic surgery and advanced radiation therapy,” added Dr AN Vaidhyswaran, director and senior consultant radiation oncologist, Kauvery Hospital Chennai.