A Pink with a Capital 'H'

The survivors of breast cancer are living testimonies of the brave spirit of the females. Breakthroughs salutes them this Pink Month of October!

THIS Pink Month of October again reminds us the struggles of Filipinas against the deadly breast cancer. And I applaud the tenacity of those who survived the difficult battle for their lives. Such an indomitable feminine spirit!

The Philippine Cancer Society released last October the 2010 Breast Cancer Facts and Estimates—Philippines, noting that breast cancer remain the leading cause of cancer deaths among women (third among the genders). It continues its steady rise since 1980 at 0.9 percent yearly average.

The Philippines also continues to have the lowest survival rate (47%) among its Asian neighbors, a far cry from the 80-98 percent already achieved in developed countries.

Worldwide, women younger than 45 years constitute 10 percent of the diagnosed cases.

The battle towards a better survival rates remains; and it will be a very challenging one.

The Schover study in 1999 saw that men and women younger than 35 years who are childless at the time of diagnosis want to have children in the future. It may be disheartening to know that even a spread-out radiation therapy (RT) with an adult dose of 1.8-2 gray (Gy) daily, five days a week, cannot prevent permanent loss of oocytes (premature female egg cells) as it has a lethal dose of less than 2 Gy.

The same is true with chemotherapy. The alkylating drugs it uses damage the genetic materials in cancer cells. But unfortunately it does not distinguish the malignant from the normal cells. So the drugs too damage oocytes inside the ovary. The Meirow study in 1999 put the odd ratio for these drugs to induce complete ovarian failure at 3.98 times compared to that in unexposed patients.

According to the Wallace study in 2005, 97.5% of patients experience ovarian failure immediately after treatment. And as far as current science knows once all oocytes are lost, the female body can no longer generate new ones.

What deeply separates our dismal survival rate against breast cancer from those in developed countries... [READ MORE]

This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 12 October 2011.

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