Amazonas has advances in the fight against cancer

Oncological Treatment

The most common types in the Amazonian population are cervix, prostate and breast.

Oncological treatment in the State of Amazonas has made progress in the last four years, with the reduction of the waiting time to treat breast cancer and the works for the construction of the Advanced Center for the Prevention of Cancer of the Cervix of the Uterus of Amazonas (Cepcolu). This is what the mastologist and director-president of the Center for Control of Oncology of the State Foundation (FCecon), Gerson Mourão, highlights on World Cancer Day, February 4th.

According to estimates by the National Cancer Institute (Inca), Amazonas should register 5,450 new cases of cancer in each year of the 2023-2025 triennium. The most common in the Amazonian population are the cervix (610), prostate (570) and breast (500).

Gerson Mourão highlights the announcement made by the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the increase in cancer cases worldwide.

“We have to be very attentive to what the WHO has already announced. If nothing is done in terms of public policies over the next 15 years, we will have a 50% increase in cancer cases in the world”,

Gerson Mourao.

In Amazonas, the oncological treatment offered at FCecon is advancing, especially in cases of cervical and breast cancer. The institution also carried out the modernization of sectors such as the Surgical Center, Image Park, Radiotherapy and Endoscopy Park.

One of the advances, according to Gerson Mourão, is the construction of Cepcolu, with an investment of R$ 2.5 million from the State Health Fund (FES). The center will be an exclusive hospital for the treatment of premalignant lesions in the cervix, which are caused by persistent inflammation of oncogenic types of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). It will be a day hospital for carrying out conizations, a small surgery that removes these lesions before they turn into cancer.

There will be four operating rooms and four offices for conizations and an amphitheater. The center is being built as an annex to FCecon.

breast

In the last four years, the waiting time to access breast cancer treatment in the public health network in Amazonas has reduced from 14 to 4 months, highlights Mourão. The reduction occurred after a new flow to perform biopsies, which were previously concentrated in FCecon, which resulted in high demand.

In the first months of 2022, the Municipal Breast Diagnosis Services (SDMs) of the Manaus City Hall were implemented, in partnership with the State Government, to carry out breast biopsies. Women have access to the result, on average, in 40 days.

Once diagnosed, patients are admitted to FCecon, where they have access to treatment for around 56 days. At the institution, new flows in the Mastology service and the implementation of the Patient Navigation Service also helped to reduce waiting times.

Guidelines

To avoid cancer, advises the director-president of FCecon, the population must adopt healthy lifestyle habits: not smoking; avoid alcoholic beverages; eating fruits, vegetables, greens, whole grains, beans and not eating processed meats; maintain body weight; practice physical activity regularly; and avoid exposure to the sun between 10 am and 4 pm, protecting yourself with a hat and sunscreen.

Other actions are preventive exams, such as the Papanicolaou for women, and digital rectal examination for men. HPV vaccines for boys and girls ages 9 to 14, and the hepatitis B vaccine are also important.

*With advisory information

Read more:

In Manaus, Hospital 28 de Agosto performed more than seven thousand surgeries in 2022

Purple February raises awareness of chronic diseases

Dengue vaccine has approved biosafety