Forrest General Hospital Urges Breast Cancer Awareness

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – (October 1, 2024) Chances are, you know at least one person who has been personally affected by breast cancer. Maybe it’s your best friend, a loved one – your aunt, sister, daughter, mother, or grandmother, your next-door neighbor, an acquaintance at work or church, or maybe it’s you yourself. Breast cancer knows no limits. It’s also not just limited to women; men can also be diagnosed.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and is an annual campaign to raise awareness about the impact of breast cancer. In Mississippi, which has one of the highest breast cancer death rates in the nation, an average of 400 deaths are reported each year. From 2016 to 2020, more than 11,000 female breast cancer cases were reported in the state. This year alone, an estimated 310,720 women, and 2,800 men across the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.

But there is hope. When caught in its earliest, localized stages, the five-year relative survival rate is 99 percent. Advances in early detection and treatment methods have significantly increased breast cancer survival rates in recent years, and there are currently more than 4 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.

“There are many phases of cancer, and each journey is different,” said oncologist, Bo Hrom, MD. “Here at Forrest General’s Cancer Center, it’s our mission to treat the whole patient, not just the cancer.”

Forrest Health provides a continuum of compassionate, high-quality cancer services for detection, prevention, and treatment. Forrest General's Cancer Center has a well-trained, multidisciplinary team that maintains a personalized focus on the needs of each individual patient.

The team of oncologists and clinical staff strive to improve the quality and length of life for their patients and continues to further research the cause, prevention, treatment, and cure for cancer.

Below is a list of risk factors and symptoms. Please share this information with family, friends and others who could benefit from knowing the signs to look for and what's available to keep them informed on courses of action they can take should a problem arise.

Genetic Risk Factors for breast cancer include:

These are risk factors that cannot be changed.

• Gender – Breast cancer occurs nearly 100 times more often in women than in men.
• Age – Two out of three women with invasive cancer are diagnosed after age 55.
• Race – Breast cancer is diagnosed more often in Caucasian women than women of other races.
• Family history and genetic factors – If your mother, sister, father, or child has been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer, you have a higher risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer in the future. Your risk increases if your relative was diagnosed before the age of 50.  
• Personal health history – If you have been diagnosed with breast cancer in one breast, you have an increased risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer in the other breast in the future. 
• Menstrual and reproductive history – Early menstruation (before age 12), late menopause (after age 55), having your first child at an older age, or never having given birth can increase your risk for breast cancer.
• Certain Gene Changes – Mutations in certain genes, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, can increase your risk for breast cancer. This is determined through a genetic test, which you may consider undergoing if you have a family history of breast cancer. Individuals with these gene mutations can pass the gene mutation onto their children.
• Dense breast tissue – Having dense breast tissue can increase your risk for breast cancer and make lumps harder to detect. 

Environmental and Lifestyle Risk Factors include:

These are avoidable risk factors.

• Combined hormone replacement therapy – Taking combined hormone replacement therapy, as prescribed for menopause, can increase your risk for breast cancer and increases the risk the cancer will be detected at a more advanced stage. Speak with your doctor about the benefits and risks of HRT.
• Poor diet – A diet high in saturated fat and lacking fruits and vegetables can increase your risk for breast cancer. Eating 3.5 to 5 cups of fruits and vegetables a day can help lower this risk factor. 
• Lack of physical activity – A sedentary lifestyle with little physical activity can increase your risk for breast cancer. Moving your body or exercising for even 20 minutes a day can help lower this risk factor.
• Being overweight or obese – Being overweight or obese can increase your risk for breast cancer. This risk increases if you have already gone through menopause.
• Drinking alcohol – Frequent consumption of alcohol can increase your risk for breast cancer. The more alcohol you consume, the greater the risk.
• Radiation to the chest – Having radiation therapy to the chest before the age of 30 can increase your risk for breast cancer. While radiation is often an unavoidable therapy for certain illnesses, it is still considered an environmental or lifestyle risk factor because it is not an inherited trait.

Every person should know the symptoms and signs of breast cancer, and any time an abnormality is discovered, it should be investigated by a healthcare professional.

Most people who have breast cancer symptoms and signs will initially notice only one or two, and the presence of these symptoms and signs do not automatically mean that you have breast cancer.

Symptoms

• New lump in breast or underarm
• Thickening/swelling of part of breast
• Irritation/dimpling of breast skin
• Redness/flaky skin in nipple area or breast
• Pulling in of the nipple or pain in nipple area
• Nipple discharge other than breast milk, including blood
• Any change in size/shape of breast
• Pain in any area of breast

By performing monthly breast self-exams, you will be able to more easily identify any changes in your breast.  Be sure to talk to your healthcare professional if you notice anything unusual.

For more information, visit www.forresthealth.org/services/cancer/.

About Forrest General’s Cancer Center

Forrest General Hospital Cancer Center ranks among the largest and most sophisticated cancer treatment centers in South Mississippi. It offers a place where patients can receive advanced care in a beautiful, compassionate environment. Forrest General operates the only comprehensive community Cancer Center in the 19-county service area and is accredited by the College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. The center features the services of a multidisciplinary team led by medical oncologists/hematologists and radiation oncologists, who provide high quality medical care in a continuum of settings.