LIFESTYLE Journey through Breast Cancer ... in times of Covid-19
Now 11 years ago, Yo Dona and El Mundo embarked on a Journey through Breast Cancer. A trip that has been making stops to accompany, motivate, inform, comfort and give hope to women who suffer from this disease and their relatives. In this difficult autumn, marked by the second wave of a pandemic that has turned our lives upside down, we could not stop missing our appointment. Thus, in digital format and with all the excitement in the world, the 11th edition of this trip was held online, sponsored by Lilly and with the collaboration of MD Anderson Cancer Center, Palex, La Roche-Posay, Pfizer and Roche.
The title of this day made it clear where the meeting was going to take place: 'Cancer and COVID-19: how to overcome the two Cs'. In her welcoming remarks, Marta Michel , director of Yo Dona, wanted to be the speaker of a worrying situation: "If every year this trip is very opportune to address key messages, in the middle of the second wave I want to be the speaker of another essential message: that women do not leave cancer check-ups, tests or treatments for fear of contagion. Oncologists are telling us about late diagnoses, about women who do not come to the clinic out of fear, about hospitals that are stopping their screening. negative consequences in the future. " After remembering that Yo Dona will continue, year after year, giving the battle,
One more year, Dr. Laura García Estévez , director of the Breast Unit at MD Anderson Cancer Center, has been the technical director of this very special trip. "This year we have to do it online. We may have the right to tantrum, but we must accept it and try to enjoy it with the same enthusiasm and joy. Along with her, journalist Paz Rubio, a former breast cancer patient, acted as moderator of the day.
The first table was entitled 'From the scientific to the practical, through Covid-19'. In it, Dr. Gema Moreno , biologist and head of the Translational Research Laboratory of the Biochemistry department of the UAM, did not miss the occasion to recall our shortcomings in research funds: "The investment is the same as 10 years ago; yes to that we add the pandemic ... we are going to lose generations. It has not been committed to research. " Something positive? "This situation has served to make us realize that research, in any area, is necessary. I trust that the pressure from society will continue once we have defeated the virus."
With regard to the advances, Dr. Moreno wanted to send a message of hope to patients with a triple negative diagnosis: "We are putting all our effort and dedication to investigate this type of tumor. We are behind bringing out new markers and new therapies. In this sense, Dr. García Estévez recalled that "being triple negative is not a death sentence. Behind this diagnosis there is a range of diseases, more or less aggressive, but not necessarily fatal." And a tip from both experts: "The Internet is very bad. You have to ask the doctors, not Google."
Returning to the concern shown by the director of Yo Dona, Dr. Silvia Pérez, head of Breast Radiology at MD Anderson Cancer Center Madrid and member of the Spanish Society of Breast Imaging, wanted to insist that they do not stop going to a review out of fear contagion. "Hospitals and health centers are safe places. The problem is that many screening tests have been paralyzed. In many centers the check-ups and follow-ups in healthy patients at risk have stopped. Right now, in the Community of Madrid there are many patients on the waiting list. All of this contributes to their arrival with larger tumors. "
Reconstruction is another topic that always interests women who have been operated on for breast cancer. Dr. Emilio Tutor, head of Plastic Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center Madrid, spoke about this , explaining that "there are multiple reconstruction solutions, and the most appropriate one must be chosen for each patient; not only according to their morphotype (more or less thin , athletic ...), but you can also choose one or another technique according to your wishes. They have the last word ".
