Diet Tips for Patients with Breast Cancer before and after surgery

Some people are unfortunately suffered from breast cancer and need to undergo surgery. What should they pay attention to before and after surgery? Here are some tips following published in www.asaincancer.com

Reasonable diets for patients with breast cancer can play a supporting role for the treatment, especially before operation, and can promote the smoothly undergoing of treatment and also lay a foundation for postoperative recovery. Patients and their families need to know the relevant dietary notice. With improper diet, it will influence the effect of operation.

The first Dietary Tip

Taking carbohydrates. Carbohydrates can provide sufficient heat energy for patients to reduce the consumption of protein, preventing hypoglycemia and also protecting liver cells from damage by anesthetic. In addition, carbohydrates can also strengthen body’s resistance, increase heat energy, so as to make up for the heat consumption caused by insufficient food intake after operation.

The Second Dietary Tip

Taking high-protein food. Patients with breast cancer must have adequate intake of protein, because deficient intake of protein can cause nutritional edema, which is harmful to postoperative wound healing and recovery. High-protein diet can relieve excessive over consumption of protein caused by certain diseases, reducing the postoperative complications so as to boost recovery of patients with breast cancer as soon as possible.

The Third Dietary Tip

Taking food rich in vitamins. Vitamin A can promote tissue regeneration and wound healing. Vitamin K is primarily involved in the coagulation process and can reduce hemorrhage during and after operation. Deficiency of Vitamin B can cause metabolic disorders and affect wound healing; vitamin C can reduce capillary permeability, reduce bleeding, promote tissue regeneration and wound healing. Therefore, patients with breast cancer must eat fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins or take vitamin tablets.

Other points that patients need to pay attention to

Diet should adjust in accordance with treatment, patients with breast cancer should try to dine and supplement nutrition before and after operation. During radiotherapy, patients should eat light and palatable diet, while greasy and highly seasoned food should not be eaten too much.

After finished the treatment plan, patients with breast cancer should properly choose food that is good for preventing the reoccurrence of breast cancer. The following is the recommended food for the patients:

　  Seafood: jellyfish, sea cucumber, seaweed, kelp, mussels, oysters, etc.

　　Bean: mung bean, red bean, mungbean sprouts and others.

　　Vegetables: taro, water chestnut, water bamboo, Chinese watermelon, dried mushroom, hericium erinaceus, mushroom, tomato, etc.

　　Fruit: orange, apple hawthorn, fresh kiwi, etc.

　　Others: soft-shelled turtle, snakehead, Coix Seed, jelly fungus.

2-1 Focus on Anticancer Technology, Chairman of Boai Medical Investment Group Meets the Press of Bangladesh

       In the evening, Mar. 6, 2013, the popular media of Dhaka, Bangladesh gathered in Bamboo Shot to express their welcome to Mr. Lin Zhincheng, the Chairman of Boai Medical Investment Group.

　　Boai Medical Investment Group is the biggest medical investment group in China and a top 100 global medical group as well, who has more than hundreds of large medical institutions, such as Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou, Shenzhen Humanity Hospital, Shanghai Yodak Cardio-Thoracic Hospital, Changsha Sunshine Hospital and so on. Those hospitals possess both experienced doctors and leading medical technologies and devices. Among them Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou specially enjoys the great reputation both at home and aboard for its technology in treating cancer: minimally invasive target therapy integrated with traditional Chinese and western medicine.

　　As early as 2012, the medical specialists from Gonoshasthaya Kendra University, journalists of Prothom Alo, NTV and Banglanews24 and so on had come to visit the headquarter of Boai Medical Investment Group China and its subsidiary hospital, Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou, and had closely learned the real condition and development of Boai Medical Investment Group. For this visit to Bangladesh, Mr. Lin Zhicheng, the Chairman of Boai Medical Investment Group replied to local media elaborately about the questions they cared the most on group development, like medical technology, treatment effect, etc, while Mr. Lin also revealed the development trend and investment strategy plan of Boai and Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou in 2013, which attracted the attention of media.

　　

Breast Cancer and Other Benign Breast Diseases

How to detect breast cancer early? Most of the cases breast cancer were already in middle or late stage when they had been diagnosed since most of them ignored or didn’t realized the signs body sent. So what signs should you pay attention to? See the following picture here: 

You should notice that having the symptoms doesn’t mean you have breast cancer; further tests should be needed for diagnosis since there are some other diseases, such as Fibroadenoma of the breast, fibrocystic breast changes, breast nodules, etc having the similar symptoms. On other hand, people may also be misleading by those diseases and delay the diagnosis of breast cancer. Therefore, it’s a good idea for women to have regular breast exam once every year. 

There is some brief information about breast diseases.

1. Fibroadenoma of the breast: it is noncancerous tumor in breast and commonly seen among females younger than 30 years. Fibroadenoma are lumps composed of fibrous and glandular tissue with an appearance of rounded in outline and easily movable clear boundary, active but slow developing. Biopsy is suggested for patients above 40 to exclude breast cancer.

2. Fibrocystic breast disease: it is most seen among young females too. The changes in fibrocystic breast disease are characterized by the appearance of fibrous tissue and a lumpy, cobblestone texture in the breasts. These lumps are smooth with defined edges, moveable. Patient may have periodical breast swelling pain and breast lumps in accordance with menstrual cycle.

3. Plasma cell mastitis: it is characterized by indurated masses containing numerous plasma cells, usually resulting from inflammation of breast tissues, 60% of which appear as acute inflammation in clinic. Big lumps will show orange-like skin and appear around the nipple, unclear boundary, skin adhesion and nipple indentation can be seen. However in some case, it can be the secondary disease of breast cancer.

Other benign conditions

Due to great pressure of work, which affects the level of internal secretion, all kinds of breast diseases emerge and get closer and closer to people.  These diseases sometimes are difficult to distinguish from breast cancer. Once People find out something abnormal, they should have test for sure.

Self Examination Helps to Find Cancer Early

　　Cancer is a disease starting from gene mutation and when those mutant cells develop to certain extent can they form a malignancy. Therefore, cancer latency is long and hard to notice in early stage. When symptoms present obviously, it has developed to middles or late stage already. So we should be alert to the abnormal changes occur on our body so as to prevent cancer.

 

There are many hidden troubles of many parts in our body, but what should we do to detect them?

　　Skin
 
　　Carefully check your skin from head to toe, including the skin of chest, back and butt to see if any abnormal changes on size, color and surface of scars, or some wounds and ulcers on skin are hard to heal, or color changes on some parts of skin and even if pain or numbness develop.

　　Face
 
　　Check that if your face is bilateral symmetry, any pimples or spots increase or reduce. After that is to see if the white of eyes becomes yellow or red and the eyes look like dull. Push up your nose tip with your forefinger to find if any special like swelling in nose. The last is to use your thumbs, forefingers and middle fingers to pinch your ears gently to see if pain or hard mass of ears.

　　Head
 
　　Touch all the lymph tissues arranging in preauricula, bilateral neck, tonsils, clavicles, post aurem, or around occipital bone, shallows of neck, posterior nape and so on to mind if any abnormality on size and shape. You must go to hospital for examinations and treatment if any irregular changes touched and you also develop the symptoms like unilateral nasal obstruction, bleeding in nose and earplug at the same time.

　　Mouth
 
　　Check the color, activity and shape of lips and if any lumps on them. To feel if any tenderness, deviation or murmur in facial joints when open and close mouth. Keep your mouth open to see whether there are red swellings, hardness, thickness or spots of inner capsule of cheeks and dental caries (especially the white spots or scars). Observe if any dissymmetry, difficulty in movement or color abnormality by extending and turning your tongue, as well as if any varix or swelling on surface, tip and edge of tongue.

　　Breasts
 
　　Female must check their breasts one week after their menstruation (Any day can do if the menstruation finishes). First keep your breast in natural status, watch if any changes in size, shape or breasts and nipples. Press on nipples to confirm if any fluid comes out. Lift up your arms to have the same examination again. After that, lie on your back with one hand under your pillow, use the fingers of the other hand to touch your breast in clockwise from inside to outside to detect the lumps, thickness or pain. Then repeat the examination on another breast. Please also mind that if any irregular changes of the lymph nodes of upper lateral aspect of breasts and hypogastrica.

　　Abdomen
 
　　Inspect the shape, texture, color and hair of abdomen, any changes or discharge of bellybutton. And then lie on back with your feet bending and abdomen relaxing, use your fingers together to touch the abdomen to feel if any hardness or pain.

　　Private parts
 
　　Some man in middle or old age would touch their testicles and penis to confirm if any lumps or other problems. When touching the testicles, can a man use forefinger, middle finger and thumb together gently. If any special is found, then you may have to be alert.

　　Secretion
 
　　Observe the color, thickness and smells of sputum and whether it is mixed with blood streaks. Notice the color, speed and volume of urine, as well as any blood mass and shape change in stools.

Some Side Effects of Radiotherapy

Nausea or vomiting:

Some patients find that  they may feel sick (nausa), or sometimes may actually  vomit. This seems like the most common side effects of radiotherapy, since the treatment sites are just close to the stomach.

Fatigue:

External beam radiotherapy is a non-invasive treatment with some side effects, which may last either a short term or long term. Patients who have undergone  weeks of diaotherapy will genrally experience fatigue. The fatigue is usually caused by the self-repairing of the healthy tissues.

Hair loss:

“Having chemotherapy and radiotherapy will cause hair loss.” , this seems has become a common concern of all cancer patients.  Since the treatments will affect the whole body, hair usually begins to fall out after 2-3 weeks. Even takes some time,  hair is supposed to grow back after treatment finishes.  

Changes in the eating habits:

Diet is always the most important part of patients’ rehabilitation. However,  during the treatment period, patients may loss of appitite or just find that their eating habits have been changed, especially  when they are  having radiotherapy to the head or neck area.

Dark skin:

In some condition,  many breast cancer patients may develop a dark skin color as if they are browned by the sun after being treated with radiotherapy. However, a suntan skin usually returns to normal in a   certain time, while in some breast cancer cases, this change in color or even texture of the skin will be permanent.

Delay the breast reconstruction surgery:

Also, radiotherapy has significant potential effects if the patient  wants to have  breast reconstruction surgery. The chest wall skin may become fibrosis  after radiotherapy, which negatively  depletes skin elasticity and makes the tissues difficult to expand. As a result that  patients are advised to  undergo breast reconstruction later after. 

Other side effects that may occur with radiotherapy:

    muscle and joints stiffness

    mild swelling

    tenderness in the lesion area

    lymphedema

    changes of the blood

    dry mouth

    diarrhoea

 a lack of interest in sex

Studies suggest that interventional target therapies may reduce the side effects, because it treats only the affected tumor and  surrounding lesions, and do nearly no harm to the normal tissues.