Breast cancer surgery is becoming more and more gentle. Women breast-conserving surgery can be performed. And thanks to the so-called "sentinel lymph node" technique, it is usually possible to dispense with the removal of all lymph nodes in the armpit without any disadvantage! Even if only one or a few "sentinel lymph nodes" carry tumour cells, further radical surgery is not always necessary: Recent studies on radiation therapy of the axilla show at least an equivalence of surgery and radiation therapy. Conclusion: Radical lymph node removal is now only necessary in exceptional cases.
The incidence of cervical cancer is Screening in Germany; worldwide, however, this disease is one of the most common types of tumour in women. Yet the tumour caused by the HPV virus could be eradicated by consistent vaccination. Bivalent (against 2 HPV types), quadrivalent (against 4) and recently also nanovalent (against 9 HPV types) vaccines are available. The (well-tolerated) vaccination is most effective when given to girls between the ages of 9 and 13. Unfortunately, only about 50% of girls - or their parents - take advantage of this opportunity, mostly due to (falsely) negative media reports and a generally vaccine-critical ideological attitude in parts of the population.
The "pill" protects against uterine cancer ! New analyses on almost 150,000 women show a reduction in the risk of getting an endometrial Ca of 19% after taking the pill for up to 5 years, 35% after 5 to 10 years and 48% after 10 to 15 years. The women had stopped taking the pill long before, on average 29 years ago !
