ARMENIAN WOMAN ADVISED TO BE SCREENED FOR EARLY DETECTION OF BREAST CANCER
ARMENPRESS
Jul 13 2007
YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS: Every thirteen Armenian women has a
breast cancer. UN studies have shown that the number of women with
this disease has been on rise since the collapse of the former Soviet
Union. Experts attribute it to the ravaging effects of a devastating
earthquake that hit Armenia in 1988, the blockades by two of its
neighbors , economic hardships of the first years of independence
and genetic cancer susceptibility.
Deputy director of the National Cancer Institute Tatiana Hovansbekova
and Khachanush Hakobian, director of the Armenian-American Wellness
Center in Yerevan (formerly American-Armenian Mammography Center),
told a news conference today that more young women are being affected
by breast cancer.
Unlike in developed countries where it affects women after 60 or 70,
in Armenia women of 40-50 are at risk. There are cases when breast
cancer was diagnosed with girls aged 18-20, they warned.
Both women urged mandatory annual examination saying the Center has
modern equipment and examination is available to all as the price is
not high.
Hachanush Hakobian said experts of the Center make two regional visits
a month to offer free examination to women in provinces.
She said the stereotype that cancer is a deadly disease should be
broken as in the 21-st century people do not die of this disease in
case of early detection and treatment.
She said the more deliveries the woman has, the longer it breastfeeds
her babies, the less abortions she has the less the chance that she
may have a breast cancer.