 Hello friends, I am Dr. Poonam Patil, medical oncologist from Manipal Hospital, old airport road, Bangalore. So this is the month of October and as you all would be aware, October is breast cancer awareness month. October is chosen as breast cancer awareness month so that at least for that one month of the entire year, we devote some time towards ourselves to look after ourselves, especially the breast. Breast cancer as you would be knowing is the commonest cancer amongst women worldwide. Breast cancer presents as a lump in the breast and that lump is often painless. Women tend to ignore that lump because they feel no pain and it does not disturb their activities so they do not feel the urgency of going to a doctor and seeking medical attention and that is why in many women, they present late with breast cancer. But friends, if you have a lump in the breast which is painless, please visit the doctor as soon as possible. Cancer is more common in elderly age group but even younger women can get it. If one is around the age of 25 or 30, the frequency would be probably one in 2500 but if one is around the age of 50 years, then the frequency is one in 50 and by the age of 80 years, one in 10 women would have suffered from breast cancer in their lifetime. So aging is a natural risk factor which none of us can ignore and if there is a breast lump and not just breast lump, sometimes it can also present with nipple discharge or change in the contour of the breast, there may be skin thickening, there may be something that looks like a rash around the nipple or sometimes there is a swelling in the underarm that is the armpit, please visit a doctor and rule out a malignancy. Most of the times the lumps present in the breast are benign and if it is diagnosed in an early stage, then it is curable most of the times but as the stage increases or if there is a late diagnosis, then the cure rates come down drastically. So all efforts should be put towards prevention but if prevention is not possible then look towards early detection because if it is detected early, the person is cured most of the time. If we have to detect breast cancer early, what do we do for it? We have to do breast self-examination which starts around 20 years of age and in the first week after periods, the woman herself examine the breast and there are proper videos that are available I think on the internet which you can all have a look how to do breast self-examination but remember to do breast self-examination because once you know what is normal for you only then you will be able to pick what is abnormal for you. Once in three years also have a clinical breast examination which is actually done by a health professional so they will be able to make out some changes in the breast which may be missed by the woman herself because as I told you earlier if the age increases the risk of breast cancer also increases. The most important thing is mammogram which is actually an x-ray of the breast and this is done again in the first week after periods when the breasts are a little less painful. It's often done once in a year if you are beyond 40 or 50 years of age and the breast is examined by the mammogram specialist and to look for any changes that are visible in the x-ray which may not be felt yet by the patient or doctor. So mammogram really picks up early breast cancer and this is helpful in saving lives. In this October month which is the breast cancer awareness month Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bangalore has launched a special package for mammogram please avail this opportunity to check yourself.