“May 9 marks six years since the day my adventure with him began. mammary cancer. If you pass the six-year mark, doctors say you can consider yourself “clean” like cancer. You lets you say something like that,” says Dimitra to “K”. The 70-year-old woman was at first calm about the diagnosis. It was done on time and it would have saved her life.

According to a new OECD report: Cancer Country Profile: Greece 2023“, between 2011 and 2019, breast cancer deaths increased by 5%, while corresponding rates showed a decrease across the EU. The increase is considered especially alarming, given that significant progress has been made in identifying and treating specific disease. Dimitra notes that the reason she made the early diagnosis is twofold.

“I lost my mother because of cancer when I was 42 and what my it cost a lot,” he says. “She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977, when both diagnosis and treatment were difficult. He was diagnosed at such a late stage that the cancer ulcerated. However, she lived another 15 years after chemotherapy and a total mastectomy. Since then, breast cancer has remained forever in my memory.“.

However, in addition to having a burdensome medical history, Ms. Dimitra also had knowledge and access to information. The fact that she worked as a nurse before her retirement greatly enhanced her reflexes for random control. “I saw and learned a lot about cancer while I was working,” she emphasizes and notes that from a young age she “reverently” observed full gynecological control.

Finally, at the age of 66, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She found him at her annual mammogram. As soon as the radiologist told her during the examination that he saw something “suspicious”, her thoughts immediately switched to this. Fortunately, according to him, everything went well from the very beginning, because during the operation, which he did a week after the mammogram, a biopsy showed that a small nodule, only 5 millimeters, had not had time to develop.

She herself obeyed the so-called quadrectomy (SS removal of only the malignant node) and then followed a regimen of radiation therapy without chemotherapy, precisely because he contracted it very early.

Since then, he has conscientiously followed the protocol of examinations and treatment, which changes every year, which is “withdrawn” from the date he fell ill. He reverently follows their protocol cases exams and her own daughter, 42 today.

Dimitra advocates early diagnosis and stresses that it saves lives. “He saved me. I wish I had passed on this knowledge to my mother when I was still 20 years old, when I was still a nursing student,” she concludes.

The lack of a culture of early diagnosis is reflected in an OECD report that found significant differences in random control between social groups. The proportion of women with higher incomes who reported breast exams was almost twice as high (86%) as the proportion of women with lower incomes (46%).). Similar there is also a variance in educational attainment, with low-income women having the highest mortality rates.

Lung cancer: an open wound for Greece

Another form of cancer that “progresses” in our country and “prefers” mostly men is lung cancer with a frequency of 19% (in men), followed by prostate cancer (18%) and bladder cancer (14%). ).

In 2019, lung cancer was responsible for about 59 deaths per 100,000 people. At the same time, the average death rate from lung cancer in the EU fell from 55 deaths per 100,000 people in 2011 to 50 deaths per 100,000 people in 2019. cerebrovascular diseases, with an indicator of 5.7%.

OUR Stelios Loukidisprofessor of pulmonology EKPAresponsible intensive care unit in the hospital “Attikon“, and the president of the Hellenic Lung Society describes it as “very deadly in Greece.”

He claims that every yearwe have 9,000 new cases of lung cancer, with 8 out of 10 of them not surviving more than five years from diagnosis.”.

Why is this happening; “Why do we find cancer at a very late stage?” he replies, and continues: “Of course, it is not only the pathologies of the health care system that are to blame. We see people who us they report that they have had a severe cough for six months and have not dealt with the problem at all. They consider it a normal part of their smoking activity. Unfortunately, most of them come to us when the cancer reaches the third and fourth stages.”

The President of the Hellenic Pulmonary Society emphasizes here that his pandemic COVID-19 it had both positive and negative effects. As he explains, “many hospitalizations us they identified the same number of cancers in the advanced stage, the “date of birth” of which was the difficult years of the economic crisis. On the other hand, in a number of other cases, we did a CT scan, which is necessary for the disease. breast, us helped to “catch” many types of cancer at an early stage. It proved that with good symptomatic control, we can jump.”

At this moment Mr. Loukidis states that nine out of ten patients are regular smokers. According to the report, in 2019 almost one in four Greeks (24%) smoked on a weekday. base is the second highest rate in the EU after Bulgaria.

What can be done about all of the above? An experienced doctor notes that the Hellenic Society of Pulmonologists has already developed a protocol topical research control, which he will publish in a few days and offer the Ministry of Health to adopt. This will affect people from 50 to 80 years old, smokers, as well as former smokers.

A key test will be low-dose computed tomography. breast (low-dose CT), which should be carried out in a specialized center, and the person who will “read” this should radiologist-oncologist.

“From the results, a clear “algorithm” of what everyone should do next will emerge,” notes Mr. Loukidiswhich emphasizes that helping smokers quit is the second key tool in the fight against lung cancer.

As mentioned in the OECD report, in Greece the existing legal framework for smoking cessation is more focused on retroactive measures and sanctions than on prevention policies. One of these are smoking cessation centres, which, however, are extremely limited in number and their services have not been strengthened.

“What things – I mention this in Salvation, Attikon and evangelism – they are very good, but they are not enough for many Greek smokers, ”says Mr. Loukidis, adding that this is pushing many into the private practice of pulmonologists, but is not an option for citizens who cannot afford it.

Big problem in cancer treatment

Is everything so bad for our country? How can pathogens be defeated? What is the big problem that needs to be solved? “The big challenge is the currently non-existent primary health care, which is hopelessly behind by three decades,” the “K” notes. Alexander Ardavanispathologist-oncologist, scientific director Responsible A Pathological and oncological branch in Agios Savvas.

Commenting further on this key issue, he notes: “We tried them WHERE, we are now trying a personal doctor, and the efforts have not been successful, because primary health care needs staff in the first place. All cases end up in hospitals and are detained. However, well-planned primary health care can play a critical role in information, early diagnosis and prevention.. All this, that is, what is now being done by the scattered efforts of various non-profit associations.

An experienced oncologist who has worked at Agios Savvas for 32 years says the lack of specialized staff is also the population’s biggest problem. hospitals. “How long did it take for me to finally have an assistant curator at A Oncology, but the term of which ends in three years. You can’t work like that,” says Mr. Ardavanis and adds that most modern diagnostic machines are in the private sector.

It is noted that Greece had a total of 71 radiotherapy devices in 2019, i.e. about 7 devices per 1,000,000 people, below the EU average.. Most scanners are located in urban and semi-urban districts, while outpatient departments are almost exclusively the private sector.

“With all these shortcomings and the old and pandemic-weary ESHY, new fronts are opening up,” Mr. Ardavanis. And as he explains:pancreatic cancer “reaps”. I have seen more cases of pancreatic cancer in the last three years than in the previous 28 years combined.l – According to the report, between 2011 and 2019, pancreatic cancer deaths in Greece increased by 12%. This is a terribly difficult to treat cancer with poor pre-diagnostic screening. This is a problem that is hugely related to the quality of the diet and all these preservatives that now “overwhelm” it.