King Abdulaziz Hospital - Al Ahsa held a medical seminar for health workers about the risks of breast cancer and its development, and according to Dr. Ahmad Al Arfaj, the Regional Executive Director of the Ministry of National Guard -Health Affairs in the Eastern Region, the seminar’s goal was to raise the level of awareness about this disease, in addition to following up with the latest developments related to it and assess the extent of the problem in the region.
He further explained that the main objective was to encourage health workers to conduct early detection tests, he also pointed out that many scientific papers were covered during the seminar that were mainly about latest diagnostic measures, treatment methods, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgical intervention, along with patient rehabilitation after undergoing surgical interventions.
During the seminar, participants focused on the complications of chemotherapy and how to overcome them and supporting cancer patients. Dr. Al Arfaj also noted that Recent studies confirm that a healthy lifestyle through exercise and incorporating more fibers and antioxidants in everyone’s nutrition reduces the chances of this disease, along with breastfeeding, which significantly contribute to the reduction of the breast cancer.
Moreover, the event have shown that working women are more susceptible to breast cancer more than others as a result of five reasons: lack of breastfeeding, delaying pregnancy, work related tension and psychological stress, exposure to environmental pollution and last but not least, lack of sleep and fatigue. The organizers stressed on the importance of breasts periodic screening as early detection offers women with more treatment options and the need for surgical intervention is then less likely.