Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Portuguese oncology surgeon Emília Vieira guaranteed, in Lisbon, that 90% of breast cancer cases discovered at an early stage, during routine exams, are likely to be cured. Specialists follow Cape Verdean patients evacuated to Portugal.
The specialist, who follows many Cape Verdean patients evacuated for treatment in Portugal, at Santa Maria Hospital, gave this assurance on the night of this Friday, 11, during the presentation of her book “What do I do? I have breast cancer”, at the Cape Verde Cultural Center (CCCV), in Lisbon.
“What we know today is that a tumor discovered at an early stage, that is, discovered in a routine examination, has a 90% chance of cure (…). Breast cancer can be an intercurrence in our lives if it is discovered at an early stage. Hence, the great influence of never stopping talking about screening, because if it is the exam to find out, we know right away that those 90% are likely to be cured. Unfortunately, not everyone is like that.”
Emília Vieira assured that many women will be able to have another type of life and have a chance of cure, despite being a disease that requires surveillance for the next 10 years, because it has its stages in which it can reappear, that is, “it is a serious but treatable disease.
“The emotional impact of the discovery of this disease, in an organ that has so much to do with our identity as a woman, is enormous. Therefore, any breast pathology, whether benign or malignant, becomes emergent, requiring a very short-term consultation”, he stressed.
On the other hand, he underlined that, being the breast tumor the most frequent in women and in the world, it is not the one that kills the most, since lung cancer appears in the first place, mainly because of tobacco.
Illness affects men too.
Breast cancer also affects men, despite being little talked about and remembered, the doctor, who explained that it appears hereditary in males. According to Emília Vieira, “when breast cancer appears in men, it is because someone in the family has already had it”.
As a witness, Luís Costa was there, who was diagnosed and operated on for breast cancer four years ago, but who at the time of the problem did not give much importance, because “he did not believe that men had breast cancer”.
“I happened to be on time and was treated. It was difficult for me to accept, because my son and my mother had already died with cancer. For the rest, it all went well. It’s not the end of the line. You have to arrive on time. I advise everyone, men and women, to consult the doctors who are there to treat”, he warned.
The presentation of the book by Emília Vieira, a doctor since 1980 and who has performed more than 3,500 surgeries, about 2,000 in breast pathology, took place within the scope of the “March, women’s month” program, which the CCCV and the Embassy of Cape Verde in Lisbon organize annually, as a way of marking the 8th of March, International Women’s Day, and the 27th of March, Cape Verdean Women’s Day.
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