OBSTACLES FACED BY BREAST CANCER PATIENTS: FROM EARLY DIAGNOSIS TO TREATMENT DIAGNOSIS TO TREATMENT

Resumo

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the factors that influence the early detection and initiation of treatment of patients with breast cancer Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study, conducted between January
and December 2020. A structured study was carried out with 102 patients from a tertiary service in the central region of
Brazil. Results: There was a prevalence of women aged 41–60 years (66%), of brown ethnicity (56.9%), and who had completed elementary school (52.9%). In total, 58.8% of women sought the health service annually and 50.0% had never realized mammography (MMG) before the initial symptom, being “nodule” the most cited finding (80.4%). Among the difficulties faced in making the first appointment, fear of the diagnosis was the most cited (83.3%). MMG and biopsy were
performed in 56.9% and less than 4 weeks in 56.9% of cases, respectively. In contrast, returns with the result of mammography and biopsy were 67.6% and 71.6%, respectively. In 77.5% of the cases, the specialist consultation after the biopsy
occurred within less than 4 weeks and the beginning of treatment in 53.9% of the samples. As for the tumor characteristics, 61.8% of the patients had a positive axilla, 48.0% had tumor stage (G2), and 21.6% with IIIB staging. We observed a
predominance of Luminal HER tumors (33.3%) and a mean Ki-67 of 33.46% (±21.22), with 8.8% of metastatic patients at
diagnosis. Conclusion: In this sample of women users of the public health service, low awareness and low MMG coverage
were observed, culminating in a higher prevalence of advanced stages at diagnosis. Confronting the obstacles related to
the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer can attenuate the socioeconomic differences and improve the oncological
outcomes in this population.