TNBC Day - 3rd march

[sumeet_shah]

I was not aware there was a TNBC day too! Here's the link:

tnbcfoundation.org/tnbcday2...

TNBC's are surely on the rise, especially in the young. I was seeing my audit for the last year, and realized that, except for one lady of 76 years, majority of my TNBC patients were in the 24 to 45 age group, with the youngest being 24 years old. Also, there is a higher chance of a genetic mutation in young TNBC patients, as compared to other groups. There is no need to panic and jump to test BRCA (as it's too prohibitively costly here as yet and not supported by insurance) but it is essential to guide all the relatives about methods of early detection and just to brief them of symptoms so that they remain aware.

[Hidden]

thats' great TNBC Day.

[sarika_7]

Hi Dr. Shah. You have been very helpful to everyone here. I joined here a little back and have done a lot of reading but never actually posted. I live in Houston, Texas and was recently diagnosed with Triple Negative before the holidays in December. I am 35 years and have two little ones. I had my surgery in January and have presently started chemo treatment. As we all know Triple Negative does not have a targeted treatment but I was wondering in India, is anything recommended for patients after all treatment is over - like curcumin or anything else? You mentioned that most of your patients are between 24-45 years...that is very young.

[sumeet_shah Administrator in reply to sarika_7]

Hi sarika_7. Apart from routine treatment of surgery / chemo / RT, nothing else is recommended as such. Routine follow up is all that is needed. One test, that I do for all my patients is Serum Vit D3 levels, and normalize it, if it is low. I insist on a proper balanced diet. No dietary supplements as such, but everything in good moderation. I insist on eating at least one fruit a day.

There are trials going on on curcumin, but no outcome as yet. Curcumin can be taken in some form in the diet, but no need to take any tablets as such.

Yes, most of my TNBC patients (and in fact, even other patients), are young. SOmetimes, even I feel at a loss to understand what's happening. Why do I see so many cancers at an early stage. Why? And not only breast cancer. I have many oral cancer patients between 20 to 40, most of them males. In my GI (Gastro Intestinal) surgery audit, more than half the patients I treated for rectal cancers, are below 40 years of age. Some of them are like, 26 years, 28 years etc.

If ever you have nay doubts, feel free to ask. You will get a lot of support here.

[kontak TeamBCI]

Thanks doctor for sharing

[greenbear]

yes. cancer is catching the young. at the day care centre where i go to 12 out 14 beds are usually occupied by women with breast cancer, mostly young. I do not think the food habits and lifestyle are any different from what our mothers and grandmothers had. so why is everything going haywire in our case? is it the pollution in the air, the pesticides in the food, the allopathic medication we have since childhood? someone needs to find an answer so that the next generation does not experience this .

[kontak TeamBCI]

Greenbear its time to think - why no a definite solution for this cancer inspite of science so much developing. Why all the cells have to die while taking chemo? Why can't only the cancer cells be targetted? There are lots and lots and questions coming to the mind when we see any one suffering

[sumeet_shah Administrator]

greenbear and kontak, I think the same.

Sometimes, I just sit and wonder what is going wrong.

Actually, India has a huge potential for understanding of cancers. Each and every patient of breast cancer is a source of information. We could even prepare a questionnaire to understand the patient more, about food, habits, residences, exposures of pollutants, etc. Only then, we will have a hint of what could we possibly think of as causing cancer.

However, all this needs a will, and it is painful to see that Indian docs and health agencies spare no time of this or think of this, to do further research and understand possible causes of cancer. It is just not happening in India. Even in the big institutes. I wish it changes.