The management of metastatic breast cancer requires supportive care in parallel with medical treatments, in particular to relieve pain, fatigue, stress and improve self-image.
- Cancer care also requires support services
- Patients and their relatives need psychological support
- Meditation, yoga, physiotherapy, or music therapy are effective
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women: 58,459 new cases were diagnosed in mainland France in 2018. In stage IV, cancer cells spread to other organs, most often to the bones, lungs, liver or brain. Metastatic breast cancers have a 5-year relative survival rate of approximately 22%. In humans, it represents 1% of diagnosed cases and the risk of metastases is higher, in particular because of the lack of knowledge of the disease in humans.
The importance of supportive care
The management of cancer does not stop at the treatment of the disease itself, but requires supportive care, in particular to relieve pain, fatigue, stress, side effects of treatments, problems nutritional problems, digestive disorders, or even psychological suffering and disturbances in self-image. “Supportive care offers a global approach to the person and aims to ensure the best possible quality of life for sick people, physically, psychologically and socially.Explain the national cancer institute.
The High Authority for Health (HAS) confirm that “the therapeutic management is multidisciplinary and concerns in particular the general practitioner, medical oncologist, surgeon, gynecologist, radiation oncologist, pathologist, radiologist, plastic surgeon, algologist, anesthetist, occupational physician, nurse, physiotherapist, dietician, psychologist, social worker -educative.”
Psychological help, yoga, meditation, physiotherapy
A cancer psychologist for 20 years, Valérie Sugg has supported 17,000 people directly or indirectly affected by the disease. “I have often had patients in tears wondering what they had missed or done wrong to deserve this.she explained to us in an interview in 2018. Why them? Why now ? They need to find meaning in what is happening to them. My support work consists in helping them to understand where this idea of fault comes from.” Thirty percent of patients with metastatic breast cancer also have recourse to a physiotherapist and 16% to a socio-esthetician.
As explained Professor Mahasti Saghatchian, oncologist at American Hospital of Paris, in our program Questions to Expertsof Many scientific studies have also demonstrated the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation in the treatment of breast cancer, in particular to manage stress and anxiety related to the disease.
Others opt for yoga. “The woman who has breast cancer often has a hard time looking at herself in the mirror, she feels diminished and weakened both mentally and physically.explains to women’s diary Pascale Lutun, sound therapist and sound yoga teacher. The image of her body and her femininity are upset and accepting to live with this new body is not necessarily easy for her”. According to her, thanks to the yoga of sound, “they are more in listening to their body, in a calm and lucid way, and in the search for softness through sound.”
A low level of risk
Doctors encourage the use of these support services, aware that they present no risk to health or the effectiveness of current medical treatments. “The use of yoga, meditation, relaxation techniques and passive music therapy to address common health issues in breast cancer patients is supported by strong evidencesays Debu Tripathy, president of MD Anderson Medical Center in Texas. Given the indication of benefit coupled with a relatively low level of risk, these treatments can be offered as an integral part of care, especially when symptoms are not well controlled..”
.
