J Med Oncl Ther 2017 Volume 2 Issue 1 34 http://www.alliedacademies.org/medical-oncology-therapeutics/ Research Article The importance of obstetric(midwife) in breast cancer prevention and recurrence. Rossana Berardi 1 *, Clarice Ciarlantini 1 , Mariangela Torniai 1 , Mirco Pistelli 1 , Nicola Battelli 1 , Alessandra Pagliacci 1 , Tania Meletani 1 , Maria Giuditta Baleani 1 , Alessandra Lucarelli 1 , Stefano Cascinu 2 1 Oncology Clinic, Polytechnic University of the Marche - Hospitals of Ancona, Italy 2 Department of Medical Oncology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy Introduction Although the remarkable biological acquisitions and therapeutic advances of the last 30-40 year shave signifcantly modifed its prognosis, breast cancer still remains a leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality in women. The number of estimated new cases per year is about 296,620 in the United States including 2,190 cases in men, with an estimated mortality among U.S. population of 39,510 women [1]. Although breast cancer incidence rates seem to be stable among white American women, with a slightly increasing in African Americans [1,2], a survey on degenerative diseases performed by Hygiene and Health Permanent Committee of the Senate in 2011 has shown that breast cancer incidence is keeping to raise in our Country, with a global increasing of 13.8% and up to 28.6% in the 25- 44 age group. The etiology of this tumor is usually considered multifactorial and many factors have been demonstrated to infuence the individual risk of breast cancer development, such as menstrual and reproductive characteristics, familiarity, long-term hormonal therapies and lifestyle, including protecting factors, as daily vegetables consumption and aerobic physical activity, and risk factors, as high-fat diet and obesity, highly important especially in post-menopausal women [3-5]. Recently, the importance of modifying many of the aforementioned factors clearly emerges, thus enhancing healthy behaviors and encouraging various professional fgures, including midwives, to play an important role in the prevention of breast cancer through the identifcation of subjects with a major risk of disease and the incentive to determine a positive change in their lifestyles. The role of the Obstetric is to act his/her activities according to the need of health with the aims of the prevention, the care, the safeguard and rehabilitation of the individual and the common health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of the obstetric in breast cancer prevention especially among young women not included in screening programs. An anonymous survey was distributed to consecutive 50 patients who underwent surgery for breast cancer and were followed at a Breast Cancer Department. The patients fulflled the questionnaire immediately after the examination performed by both the oncologist and the obstetric. The survey focused on women’s perception on the potential role of midwife in breast cancer prevention and recurrence. Forty eight women fulflled the survey (96.0%) and they declared they had a previous contact with a midwife in their life. Thirty-two patients (66.6%) believed that midwife’s role could include competences in breast cancer screening. Although only 16 women knew about self-examination at the time of cancer diagnosis, 24 patients were responsible of the detection of a suspected lump; fnally, 28 patients (58.3%) believed that a clinical breast examination performed by a health care provider would have had a positive impact on their own history of disease. The results of this study confrm that midwives could be useful in breast cancer prevention. Collaboration between different professional fgures including obstetrics for teaching and performing self- breast examination may be particularly relevant in early diagnosis. Further investigation could confrm the role of obstetric for early diagnosis in young woman (<50 years) excluded by the current screening programs. Abstract Keywords: Breast cancer, Obstetric (midwife), Women, Breast self-examination. Accepted on May 12, 2017