Pre-op chemotherapy could help cancer patients keep their breasts, report by Hong Kong support group shows
Treatment shrinks tumours to more manageable size before operation
Early chemotherapy before surgery is the “new hope” for breast cancer sufferers, as it reduces tumour size and allows patients a better chance of saving their breasts, according to a local support group.
A report by the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation stated that 46 per cent of breast cancer patients could keep their breasts if medicine were given in neoadjuvant setting, meaning treatment done as a first step to shrink a tumour before the main treatment – the operation, in this case. This was compared to just 30 per cent of those who received the chemotherapy after surgery.
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has also been proven to bring overly large tumours down to a size that could be handled by an operation, the NGO said.
It advised breast cancer sufferers to be aware of their right to ask about the treatment options available to them.
Breast cancer patients fare better with oestrogen-blocking therapy
“Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a new hope for women with breast cancer,” said Dr Carol Kwok, the group’s steering committee member.