Breast-conserving surgery using so-called oncoplastic techniques dominates the treatment of breast cancer at the Academic Hospital.
Nine out of ten affected women are operated on with advanced surgical techniques to remove the tumor in the breast, while maintaining as much as possible of the breast's function and shape.
- A woman with breast cancer does not have to lose her breasts, says Andreas Karakatsanis, chief physician at the University Hospital's breast clinic at Samariterhemmet and researcher at Uppsala University.
Instead of operating on whole breasts, today they try to preserve as much as possible.
- We have learned a lot about breast cancer in recent years and come closer to more effective treatments, says Andreas Karakatsanis.
Better quality of life
In breast surgery, there is talk of so-called oncoplastic methods that have their roots in plastic surgery, Andreas Karakatsanis and his colleagues can help patients to a better quality of life.
Andreas Karakatsanis emphasizes that development is a team effort.
Without better X-ray equipment and more knowledge about cancers and the risk of spreading, breast-conserving surgery, which replaces removed tissue with fat and skin from the back, flank or abdomen, would have been possible.
In order to develop the treatment methods, Akademiska, together with a couple of other hospitals in the country, is planning a large study of 800 patients who have undergone breast cancer surgery with oncoplastic methods.
- The goal is to establish the optimal surgical method for each patient.
The study, which is expected to last four years, would have been ongoing, but has been delayed due to the corona pandemic.
The clip: That's why oncoplasty has taken over