BACKGROUND
Breast cancer (BC) represents an important cause of cancer death, and its incidence rate has been rising gradually in the Arab world; its prognosis gets better as we detect it early in its first stages. So, it is very important to implement one or more early detection methods such as Breast SelfExamination (BSE), Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) and mammography. BSE represents an effective method to find out changes in breast structure when they happen. This study investigates the knowledge of BSE and its practice in BC patients and compares it with other methods.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the knowledge of breast self-examination (BSE) and its benefit.
METHODS
A cross-sectional study in Al-Bairouni hospital in Damascus, Syria carried out using face-to-face interviews based on a structured questionnaire. A few information were obtained from the archive department.
RESULTS
Five hundred patients were interviewed. Only 27.4% of patients had a good knowledge of BSE, 17.4% had average knowledge, and 55.2% had low knowledge of BSE. The factors that have an impact on the knowledge of BSE were: family breast cancer history (first and second-degree relatives), education, and the region of living (between governorates). The effect of knowledge of BSE on its practice was positive. However, only 24.8% of patients have been practicing BSE; the reasons for not practicing BSE were: no one has told the patient about it (64.8% of cases), the patient does not have any symptoms relating to the breast (21.4%). BC was detected by BSE in 15.6% of cases. The size of tumor in 14 of 26 patients who detected BC by BSE was T2.
CONCLUSIONS
There are some steps that should be taken to increase awareness about BSE among Syrian females