Cervical cancer overtakes breast cancer as leading cancer in Guyana

Oct 03, 2017 News

… Early detection remains a key factor to combat breast cancer – WHO

Signs of breast cancer

Early detection in order to improve breast cancer outcome and survival remains the cornerstone of breast cancer control. This is the key message that is continually amplified by the World Health Organisation [WHO] when it comes to this disease.
This message is being particularly emphasised this month as Breast Cancer Awareness Month is being observed.
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, fluid coming from the nipple among others.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], approximately 200,000 women in the United States alone are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. About 40,000 of these victims are estimated to die as a result of the disease annually, CDC has noted.
However women are not the only ones who are at risk. This is according to local Cancer Specialist, Dr. Surendra Persaud, who disclosed yesterday that the majority of women are victims of breast cancer, males are also susceptible.
While this publication is yet to source data specific to the breast cancer state of affairs in Guyana, data published in the Ministry of Public Health’s Cancer Surveillance Report in 2015, suggest that between the periods of 2003 and 2012 breast cancer was the leading cause of cancer deaths in Guyana.
During the 10-year span [2003-2012] highlighted in the Surveillance Report, it was only in excess of 6,000 cases of the various cancers that were diagnosed. The Report sourced its information from the Cancer Registry, which garnered its data from both public and private medical institutions.
Based on the data available then there were 1090 cases of breast cancer, 1014 cancer of the cervix cases; 865 cases of prostate cancer; 440 cases colo-rectal; 325 cases of cancer of the uterus, 240 cases of stomach cancer, 233 cases of lung cancer, 219 cases of liver cancer, 212 cases of cancer of the ovary and 136 cases of lymphoma.
There have however been later reports that have placed cervical cancer in the lead.
The Ministry of Public Health has given credence to such reports. Information disseminated by the Public Health Ministry earlier this year revealed that Guyana has the highest incidence of cancer-related mortality when compared to the Caribbean Region.
Based on the Ministry’s data, Guyana ranks highest with an incidence rate of 46.9 percent and a mortality rate of 21.0 per 100,000 persons with cervical cancer alone killing an estimated 100 women every year, making it the leading cause of cancer mortality among local women.
The Public Health Ministry has noted that the global state of affairs is farther reaching with some 530,000 new cases of cervical cancer detected annually and killing approximately 266,000 women or 50.2 per cent of the total cancer victims.
Although the breast cancer cases have reportedly started to noticeably dwindle, there is still need to continue the fight against this disease. This, according to Dr. Persaud, will require that both men and women seek to be regularly screened.
But according to WHO, the only breast cancer screening method that has proved to be effective is mammography screening. However, it noted that “Mammography screening is very costly and is cost-effective and feasible in countries with good health infrastructure that can afford long-term organized population-based screening programmes.”
In fact, WHO has revealed that population-based cancer screening is a much more complex public health undertaking than early diagnosis. It noted that early diagnosis is usually cost-effective when done in the context of high-standard programmes that target all the population at risk in a given geographical area with high specific cancer burden, with everyone who takes part being offered the same level of screening, diagnosis and treatment services.
However, WHO has suggested that low-cost screening approaches, such as clinical breast examination, could be implemented in limited resource settings when the necessary evidence from studies becomes available.
WHO has also proposed that “Many low and middle-income countries that face the double burden of cervical and breast cancer need to implement combined cost-effective and affordable interventions to tackle these highly preventable diseases.”

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