Does stress cause cancer? A conversation with oncological surgeon Oksana Garashchenko
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Kateryna Matsiupa spoke with Oksana Garashchenko, an oncologist, mammologist, plastic surgeon, and Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Sciences, about the development, treatment, and diagnostic features of breast cancer.
The impact of stress on breast cancer
According to oncologist Oksana Garashchenko, cancer has “become younger” in women. That is, now, according to her, this disease is the norm at the age of 20-30. Many young women who died, for example, in a traffic accident, are found to have stage zero cancer after an autopsy — cancer in situ.
In general, the mammologist says, mutations are normal in all cells. Especially in breast tissue cells, which are hormone-dependent. But what is the development of oncology connected with? Garashchenko says that there is a relationship here with stress, nutrition, and physical activity.
But the immune system plays an important role here. As the oncologist says, under normal circumstances, the immune system fights bacteria, viruses, and mutations in cells. But when the immune system switches, then uncontrolled tumor growth begins.
And the immune system switches to stress. For example, Garashchenko noticed that tumors in women who were under occupation or lost a loved one are more aggressive. It is difficult to confirm this relationship with statistics, because not much time has passed since the beginning of the invasion, but this relationship exists, according to her.
“Our immune system, which runs through the body and watches how the stomach works, how the brain works, sees that the woman is under a lot of stress, that this woman is simply dying, something has happened to her. And the immune system begins to look for what happened, what to neutralize so that this woman can come to life. Of course, under such conditions, the immune system cannot cope, it does not even think about such everyday problems for it as mutations in cells, some viruses that live on the skin, etc., "- says the mammologist.
That is, stress, according to Garashchenko, is a driving factor in the development of the tumor. It contributes to the fact that the immune system does not control the growth of the tumor, because it is busy solving other problems.
Breast cancer and lactation
Oksana Garashchenko explains that the mammary gland has 4 stages of maturation. The first stage is the gland at birth. The second is the gland that changes during the first menstruation. The third is the gland that develops for lactation during pregnancy. The fourth is the mature gland that has lactation.
According to the mammologist, in a mature gland, unlike a gland in the first or second stages, there is less activity, and there is a lower probability of mutations. That is, an immature gland with active cells can mutate under the influence of ultraviolet light, X-rays, hormonal attacks.
“And a cell that has already had lactation is calm. It has matured and does not let in external factors, cannot give mutation and breast cancer. Therefore, women who have had lactation are less likely to develop a tumor,” says the oncologist.
But at the same time, Garashchenko makes an important clarification. Pregnancy itself causes a very aggressive and long-term (9 months) hormonal background. Therefore, if a woman has some kind of nodular or precancerous formation, pregnancy can only provoke breast cancer. Accordingly, before pregnancy, you need to know about malignant formations. And for this you need to go for a breast screening. Because during lactation itself, it is not possible to adequately detect any formations in the gland due to lactostasis, compaction, etc.
All information discussed during the program is of an exclusively informational nature. For any questions regarding your health, prescription of any medications, treatment methods, etc., please contact your family doctor or specialized doctors.
Listen to the full conversation in the attached audio file.
