From Surgery to Precision Care: The new face of breast cancer treatment

SHAH ALAM - Over the past decade, significant strides in breast cancer treatment have transformed the medical landscape, as experts increasingly prioritise tailored approaches over immediate surgery.

Associate Professor Dr See Me Hoong, an oncoplastic breast surgeon at UM Specialist Centre highlighted that contemporary treatment approaches differ from the past, with a shift away from immediate surgery.

The focus, she explained, now lie in determining the type of breast cancer before recommending the most suitable treatment, whether it involved chemotherapy, lumpectomy, or radiotherapy.

“We can see a lot of changes. We don't simply remove the patients’ breast like how it was treated last time.

“Instead, we check the type of breast cancer first only then we offer which one is the better one,” said Dr See in the latest episode of Sinar Daily’s The Life and Style podcast Evolving Trends in Breast Surgery and Breast Cancer Treatments.

Despite the relatively small number of around 60 breast surgeons in the nation, Dr See emphasized that the quality of treatment has shown remarkable improvement in the last decade.

Addressing the cost of treatment, she pointed out that treating patients in stages three or four incurs higher expenses compared to those in stages one or two.

This disparity was due to the intensive treatments required for advanced-stage patients, including chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and hormone therapy.

Dr See explained the challenges patients face, as those in stages three and four often need a combination of expensive treatments due to the aggressive nature of the disease.

In contrast, she said early-stage patients, such as those in stage zero or one, may require fewer and less costly treatments.

"For example, stage zero normally only need surgery, stage two maybe 15 per cent of them need targeted therapy.

“So, if they are in the early stage, their treatment is definitely a lot lesser and costs less compared to those in advanced stage," she said.

This variance in treatment costs can create financial burdens for patients, she said adding to the challenges they already face.