Breast cancer care in Angola

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Published: 20 Nov 2017
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Dr Fernando Miguel - Angolan Institute of Cancer Control, Luanda, Angola

Dr Miguel speaks with ecancer at AORTIC 2017 about breast cancer incidence in Angola.

He describes how the disease is often caught at a later stage than in other health systems, and the incidence of differing cancer subtypes.

The difference between breast cancer in Angola and the rest of the world, in Angola the breast cancer is diagnosed in late stage when compared with the rest of the countries, for example.

Why do you think this is?

First, our national health system does not cover the whole country and we don’t have a national cancer control, not yet. Why I think the women come to us in late stage.

What are the main molecular subtypes?

The main type of molecular subtype is Luminal A, about 25.7%, Luminal B HER2- at 19.2% and Luminal B HER2 7.9%, HER2 15.7% and triple negative are 31.4%.

What are the treatment prognostic implications for Angola?

The treatment is the same as everywhere in the world because we follow the guidelines, the guidelines are the same. The problem is that women come in late stage otherwise the treatment is the same. We have chemotherapy, we have surgery, we have already radiotherapy also.

How can the situation for women with breast cancer in Angola be improved?

We do our best to have the national cancer control, to train the young people in wellness, to improve the situation like today.