With October being the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I was recently invited by the PanAsia Surgery Group to find out more about the latest treatments and tips on prevention of breast cancer.

A talk by PanAsia’s Dr. Jendana Chanyaputhipong

The session was in the form of a talk which was conducted by PanAsia’s Dr. Jendana Chanyaputhipong, who shared more about how forms of treatments for breast cancer have come a long way, from the original days of radical mastectomy, which is the removal of the entire breast, to progressing to a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

Cryoablation

Now, the latest treatment for breast cancer is the usage of cryoablation, which is a form of minimally invasive treatment that uses extremely cold temperatures to destroy diseased tissues including cancer cells.

Says Dr. Chanyaputhipong, “Cryoablation is not like the current surgeries where we remove the diseased tissue from the body. There is, in fact, no cutting or removal of breast tissue.”

Compared to surgical methods, cryoablation will save the breast and at the same time, prevent the presence of disfiguring scar tissues on the breast, which remains as a sensitive organ for many women.

“Instead, cryoablation uses extreme cold temperatures to destroy normal and diseased tissue, including cancer cells, with minimal surgery needed. It has been used for primary and secondary malignant diseases as well as in cases where surgical methods pose as a high risk procedure, but because the breast is a highly accessible organ, nobody thought of doing it for breast cancer, until now,”  Dr. Chanyaputhipong adds.

Because any living tissues cannot withstand extreme cold temperatures, the cancerous tumours in the breast die, leaving the body to then dispose of the dead cancer cells via the immune system, to enhance its response against recurrence.

Besides being another method of treatment, cryoablation offers an alternative cancer treatment for groups who are not fit for mastectomy or lumpectomy. These include elderly people with cancers or those who have multiple conditions that make them unfit for other modes of treatment.

An alternative, not standard form of treatment 

At present, though, the doctor pointed out that cryoablation is not considered as a standard treatment, but an alternative one, and that the long-term effects of this method of treatment have not yet been studied thoroughly because it is still new.

In fact, only one patient has undergone this procedure in Singapore so far and today, the lady has no sign of recurrence six months after the surgery.

This procedure, which had involved a total time of 1.5 hours, was a day surgery involving a 5mm incision into her breast. Immediately after the surgery, the patient reported a heavy, burning sensation in her breast when she awoke from the surgery. This went away within 12 hours. 

However, she was able to feel a slight hardness in her breast up till three months after the procedure. Nonetheless she remains happy and satisfied with the procedure, which has an estimated price tag of USD 6,000.

Prevention is better than cure

In spite of the improving technology and improved methods of treatment for breast cancer though, prevention of any type of cancers is still better than cure.

To reduce your risk against breast cancer, the doctor explained that there are some measures that can be taken.

In terms of lifestyle, these would be maintaining a heathy lifestyle where you eat healthy, exercise regularly, avoiding or minimising the consumption of alcohol and not smoking.

Genetic Factors

While these are the environmental factors that you can control,  Dr. Chanyaputhipong, however, pointed out that there are some genetic combinations that may pre-dispose a woman to a higher chance of breast cancer than her peers, and of which nothing can be done.

As well, some other uncontrollable factors that may increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer can include family history and backgrounds, the ageing process, as well as a lady’s personal menstrual cycle and oestrogen.

Be breast-aware and go for screenings

So ultimately, the doctor advised all women to be breast-aware, and to go for age-appropriate screenings and mammograms. 

She said, “While we continue to find the cure to the various types of breast cancers for every patients, it is still important for all women to do their part.”

And taking both of the above measures, will help women to increase their chances of detecting any possible breast cancers, as early as possible. After all, the earlier the cancer is detected, the higher are the chances of a cure and a full recovery.

As a whole, I would say that even though the talk had been rather technical at times, I nevertheless learnt a lot from the session, about breast cancer.

Lunch and a Calligraphy Session

The informative talk had been preceded by a healthy yet delicious lunch compliments of PanAsia Surgery Group and comprising of pasta with side dishes of fish and chicken.

As well, we also spent time experimenting with English calligraphy, which might appear deceptively easy at first glance, but as I found out the hard way during the session, it requires plenty of patience and practice in order to get the strokes correct. But for a first attempt, I suppose that I didn’t do too badly!