October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month

This month the whole world is dedicated to raising awareness and fighting breast cancer. The Israeli Cancer Association published a report about breast cancer epidemiology and treatment in Israel for the previous year.

Early diagnosis is key to a positive outcome

According to the published data in 78% of breast cancer occurrences in 2016 the disease was diagnosed at the earliest stages. This high level of early breast cancer detection is the result of the efforts made by the Israeli Ministry of Health to make women at risk aware of the importance of periodic mammography.

This simple and fast procedure allows early-stage detection in 98% of cases.

After the age of fifty, it is important to undergo mammography once every two years. If there is a family history of breast cancer, then the recommendation is to undergo a mammogram once a year starting at the age of 40.

Israel is a leader both on the incidence and survival in breast cancer

Thanks to the high early detection rate breast cancer survival rates in Israel are also very high:

• Survival in a 5 years perspective in cases of detection at the earliest stage, before the disease has spread to adjacent soft tissue and lymphnodes, reaches 100%.
• Survival in a 5 years perspective in cases of detection at an invasive stage, when the disease has spread to adjacent soft tissue and lymphnodes, reaches 85%.
• Only in the last stages of the disease when metastases have spread to distant organs, the survival rates decrease to 21%.

The World Health Organization has published data on breast cancer incidence in 2016. According to published data, Israel takes an honorable seventh place among more than 30 countries of the OECD (when the 1-st place means the lowest incidence and last place – highest).

Breast cancer in men

Breast cancer in men is rare and is only 1% of all diseases. Unfortunately, due to the lack of information about this disease in men, it is often detected too late. Men ignore the initial symptoms of the disease and do not get medical attention in time.

Generally, breast cancer is diagnosed in men aged 60-70 years, and the tumor is most often located directly behind the nipple.

As well as for women, cases of breast cancer in the family history are a risk factor for men. Men, like women with a family history of the disease should undergo genetic screening for mutations in BRCA2, which increases the risk of breast cancer in almost a hundred times!

Prevention and treatment of breast cancer at Herzliya Medical Center

Herzliya Medical Center offers an effective and rapid diagnosis using the most advanced equipment. All the necessary procedures can be completed in one day, and the results obtained by e-mail.
Read more about check-up in Israel at HMC.

Breast cancer treatment at HMC is provided be a team of professionals, each specializing in a different field:

• Oncologists who specialize in breast cancer
• Breast surgeons, specializing in breast cancer surgery
• Specialists in oncology and genetics, specializing in the identification of specific genetic mutations and setting an individual treatment plan for each patient.

Read more about our doctors