A Filipino Cancer Blog

I was looking through the usage statistics of the cancer blog just now.  Its interesting to note that 3/4 of all visitors access the site from the US, Canada, and Germany.  The balance hail from China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.  So what would increase local traffic?

Frankly, the blog was started out of a frustration with certain aspects of care as noted in my own Philippines-based oncology practice:  the lack of adequate health benefits & frequent misallocation of limited personal funds, the fairly low level of cancer awareness amongst patients, and the absence of true multidisciplinary professional interaction. It seemed to make sense to point the Filipino public to the peer-reviewed sites via links, overriding the impact of any primary physician biases by the weight of evidence. Its not working very well, as half-expected. Its easy to see why, but how can a government agency or NGO help?

• Write in Filipino & major dialects.  But how to describe breast cancer surgery in the vernacular? A pro job.
• Terminology & level of technical info.  Editor needed! I suspect that even my own patients think I’m glibly opinionated and nerdy.
• Improve access.  Can you imagine a typical Tarlac farmer resorting to the Net for info?   Perhaps print, video, or health center lectures would be more effective. Getting high-profile non-doctors to educate the public would be a dream scenario.
• Identify & target high risk populations. Cancer prevention is always the best & cheapest path.
• Neutrality.  I did say that I was opinionated.
• Focused agenda & constancy.  My life isn’t all oncology, much less blogging. Dissemination of cancer info for local consumption would be a major full-time undertaking, albeit a worthy one.

Dietary Fat and Breast Cancer

I have a sister who prefers to be described as Rubenesque.  Indeed, Peter Paul Rubens would have surely loved her, and we won't have her in any other way!  But...

R.Ventura, Instrument, 2004

Women (who serve as an inspiration to us all as our mothers, sisters, partners, daughters, friends, & associates) are still hounded by a deadly disease.  The big 2006 Breast Cancer meeting has just concluded, however, and a few new findings of great interest were presented, adding to our present understanding of our common enemy.

Notable among many others… The WINS Womens Intervention Nutrition Study interim analysis was reported & subsequently published in the JNCI.  This was a low-fat dietary intervention trial conducted among women diagnosed with early breast cancer after completion of surgery, postoperative hormonal &/or chemo treatments, with or without radiation, as indicated.  It seems that reduction in dietary fat to the point that sustains a modest weight loss may reduce cancer relapse rates.  While merely an initial report, these findings combined with the now-familiar fat phobias of the cardiovascular & metabolic folks speak for habitual caution from the general public.  A lifestyle shift may be needed for some– an overwhelming thought!– but, at the very least, its time that we started reading the nutritional facts on food jars.

 

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Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer in women and the second most common cause of cancer death in women in the U.S. While the majority of new breast cancers are diagnosed as a result of an abnormality seen on a mammogram, a lump or change in consistency of the breast tissue can also be a warning sign of the disease. Heightened awareness of breast cancer risk in the past decades has led to an increase in the number of women undergoing mammography for screening, leading to detection of cancers in earlier stages and a resultant improvement in survival rates.
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