Breast Cancer Types, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Prevention of breast cancer: early diagnosis remains the fundamental weapon to fight the disease before it manifests itself.

Breast cancer is the most common neoplasm in women worldwide, affecting one in nine women in their lifetime. In Italy alone, in 2019, about 53,000 new diagnoses were registered. Currently there is not enough knowledge about the causes of breast cancer. Today, women under 50 are increasingly affected and familiarity continues to be a decisive risk factor. So early and accurate diagnosis of the disease remains a fundamental weapon. When breast cancer is detected early and targeted, effective and tolerable treatments are available, there is a good chance that it can be cured. In fact, thanks to the continuous progress of research and the growing attention and awareness on the importance of breast cancer prevention, today the 5-year survival from diagnosis has increased, up to 87%.

October is the international month dedicated to raising awareness about breast cancer prevention, which this year becomes even more important, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM) has estimated that, as a result of the health emergency linked to SarsCov2, in Italy in the first 5 months of 2020 1.4 million fewer cancer screenings were carried out than in the same period of the previous year, with 2,000 fewer breast cancer diagnoses, which could lead to an increase in mortality in the coming years. In fact, these tumors have not disappeared, but will probably be diagnosed at a more advanced stage of the disease, when the necessary therapeutic path will be more complicated. So even in this particular period, it is necessary to raise awareness of the importance of prevention, through breast examinations and specific diagnostic tests.

UPMC has always been attentive to women's health and has been so even during the difficult lockdown period and continues to be so today, in this phase of coexistence with COVID-19, offering services for the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of breast cancer without interruption and in a safe environment, safeguarding the health of patients and health professionals.

UPMC Salvator Mundi International Hospital in Rome offers highly specialized breast screenings that offer an accurate and early diagnosis, providing a multidisciplinary team of specialists for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

At the UPMC Hillman Cancer Centers in Italy in Rome and Mirabella Eclano it is possible to carry out highly specialized radiotherapy and stereotactic radiosurgery treatments, which involve the use of high doses of radiation addressed to the tumor volume with millimeter (stereotactic) precision, saving as much as possible the surrounding healthy organs and minimizing side effects.