CAMAGÜEY.- As part of the care and early treatment of cancer, a breast-conserving surgery was performed on a 17-year-old teenager from the Céspedes municipality, at the Marie Curie Provincial Cancer Hospital, with the aim of ruling out the development of a malignant tumor in the young woman's breast.

Dr. Leonardo Hernández Herrera, a specialist in first and second degree oncology, was the main surgeon of the multidisciplinary team in charge of the process, who explained that the surgical intervention was determined by the presence of a second nodule in the patient's left breast.

During surgery, a frozen biopsy was performed, which was negative for the presence of neoplastic cells. At this time, Lorena García Cruz is recovering from the operation and together with her family is waiting for the result of the paraffin biopsy, to receive a more accurate diagnosis in the post-surgical consultation within 15 or 20 days.

The hormonal influence in young patients can cause fibroadenomas, which are not surgical, requiring medical monitoring and intervention only when the patient wants to remove the nodule or when abnormal growth is perceived between one consultation and the next, the oncologist warned.

Since cancer is the second cause of death in Cuba and in this province, with a high increase in breast cancer in recent years, Hernández Herrera insisted on the importance of self-examination in the period established between seven and ten days after the first menstrual day. , and if any bulge is palpable, go to a specialized consultation, which goes through primary health care, secondary care and consultation at the Institution from Monday to Friday. Although in a lower proportion than women, men suffer from this pathology, so they should also perform self-examination, indicated the expert.

The oncology specialty at the hospital has national accreditation, where great feats are done weekly from radiotherapy, pathological anatomy and chemotherapy. In the first quarter of the current year, 141 operations for different types of cancer have been carried out.

Despite the negative impact of the economic, commercial and financial blockade on the Cuban Health System, surgical interventions are not stopped at the Camagüey's Oncological Hospital, and alternatives are sought for patients, because as the specialist assures, this disease is of relative urgency and time cannot be lost, which is why it constitutes a priority for the Government and health authorities.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez