Doctors Share Ways to Lower Breast Cancer Risk This October

Moscow experts say some reproductive factors may lower breast cancer risk. Early motherhood, more children and long breastfeeding top their list.

Having a first child before age 30 may help cut breast cancer risk. So may having two or more children and breastfeeding for at least a year. Experts shared this view at a roundtable on prevention, early detection and patient care routes for breast cancer.

The event takes place every year in early October. It runs at the Rossiya Segodnya international media group. Leading oncologists, imaging specialists, reconstructive and plastic surgeons and radiologists join the talks.

Pink October lights up Moscow landmarks

Natalya Manturova opened the discussion. She is the chief freelance plastic surgeon of Russia’s Health Ministry and the Moscow Healthcare Department. She also serves as ROPREH president and heads a department at Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University.

Manturova reminded everyone that October is breast cancer awareness month worldwide. World Breast Cancer Day falls on October 15. On that day, Moscow will light up several landmarks in pink, she said. They include the Krymsky Bridge, buildings on Novy Arbat, the Ostankino Tower and the Krasny Oktyabr factory building.

“October is not just beautiful for us, it is consciously beautiful: this is a time when, through the efforts of doctors, landmark events take place to support the health of our women facing a formidable disease,” she said. She stressed that specialists from many fields now do everything possible to reduce stress and uncertainty for these patients.

“Every woman must feel that her case is not a death sentence. Yes, this is a bad event, but we will fight it not only with serious medical technologies, therapeutic and surgical options, but also return comfort to a woman’s life and brighten up her life,” she added.

Where Russia stands on breast cancer rates

Oncologist and mammologist Sergey Malygin spoke next. He heads the mammology department at the reconstructive and plastic surgery center of the Lancet clinic. He is also a ROPREH member.

Malygin said Russia sits roughly in the middle worldwide for breast cancer cases. The country ranks between South America and Eastern Europe. A woman’s chance of developing the disease is about seven percent.

He noted that cases found at the “zero stage” have almost doubled over ten years. “This shows that the efforts the healthcare system makes to detect early stages are not in vain,” he said.

Age, genes and family history shape breast cancer risk

Age is one risk factor, Malygin explained. Women over 50 face higher odds, and the average age of Russian patients is about 61. Western statistics show a shifting trend, though. Cases among women aged 20 to 49 grow by about 1.5 percent a year. Among older women, growth stands at one percent a year.

He also pointed to genetic changes linked to higher breast cancer risk. Mutations in the BRCA1/2, TP53 and PTEN genes carry a high risk.

“The presence among first and second degree relatives in family history of cases of breast and ovarian cancer, especially if they occur under age 50 or in several relatives at once, may be a sign of such a mutation,” the doctor explained. He advised women to take a genetic test in good time.

Other reproductive factors matter too. A first period before age 12 and menopause after 55 raise the odds. So does having no children, or no births because of infertility.

Lifestyle habits that raise breast cancer risk

Malygin also named outside factors tied to daily habits. “Eating high calorie food, red meat and alcohol is considered one of the most important factors in developing various malignant tumors,” the specialist stressed.

He urged everyone to follow a Mediterranean diet. He also advised quitting alcohol completely, keeping body weight in check and exercising regularly.

Moscow cuts the wait from diagnosis to treatment

Gurami Kvetenadze shared hands on experience. He is deputy chief physician for oncology at the Loginov Moscow Clinical Scientific Center. He also heads its breast oncosurgery department. “Today we use a multimodal approach that allows us to cut the time from first visit to start of treatment many times over,” he said.

He described a clear patient routing system in Moscow. Suspicious mammogram results, rated BI-RADS 3 or higher, send a woman to one of five anchor competence centers. There she gets further tests.

The main methods are mammography for women over 40, ultrasound and core needle biopsy. Doctors now call biopsy the gold standard for confirming a diagnosis.

Kvetenadze sees speed as the biggest gain. Confirming a diagnosis used to take about two months. Now 90 percent of patients go from first visit to treatment in 20 to 25 days. A patient sees an oncologist on day five after the biopsy. All needed tests finish within ten days. Then a tumor board meets, and treatment starts within seven days.

“This is seamless patient movement, shortening of timelines many times over. Such an achievement frees up resources of medical institutions and, no less important, minimizes the number of patient contacts with the healthcare system, reducing their psychoemotional burden,” Kvetenadze explained.

Treatment now depends on tumor type

Oncologist Evgenia Khatkova works at the Loginov center. She described a new drug strategy for breast cancer. Treatment is now personalized. Doctors first study the tumor’s histological passport from the biopsy. They check how sensitive the cells are to hormone drugs. Only then do they prescribe therapy.

“The basis for choosing treatment is not so much the tumor size, extent of spread and presence or absence of distant signs of the tumor, as its immunohistochemical subtype. We know today that breast cancer is not one disease,” she stressed.

Doctors sometimes give hormone therapy before surgery. This shows how the tumor responds and reveals its biology. The team can then adjust the plan. Treatment continues after surgery, guided by the new data on the tumor’s sensitivity.

What is new in breast reconstruction

Dmitry Melnikov covered the latest news in reconstructive surgery. He leads the Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery Center at the Lancet clinic. He also heads a department at IPHiK and chairs the ROPREH microsurgery section council. He is an associate professor at Sechenov University too.

Real patient stories show a major leap in quality, he said. Women now expect much more from the results. Melnikov listed five top trends. They are gentle one stage reconstruction with implants, restoring sensation and autologous reconstruction using the patient’s own tissue. The list also includes preventive lymphatic surgery and tissue engineering.