Breast Cancer: Therapy Gets More Sparing

MEDICA Congress: At the press conference at noon the latest developments concerning diagnostics and therapy of breast cancer have been discussed. 18/11/2009

Press conference of the MEDICA
Congress; © Messe Düsseldorf

"For a couple of years the death rate of breast cancer patients is constantly decreasing. This declining development is due to early diagnosis and the improved methods of therapy" - with these words Thorsten Kühn, chief physician of gynaecology and obstetrics at the municipal clinics Esslingen, opens the press conference of MEDICA Congress. He points out that one could work much more sparing in surgery. Also, the possibilities of plastic reconstruction have been evolved, according to Kühn.

Although there is a debate among experts how secure and useful mammography really is, Kühn emphasises that it is still the "gold standard of early diagnosis". For further diagnostics one could also use utrasound. "Especially because one can focus on different aspects, ultrasound in combination with mammography is the perfect match", says Kühn.

Another important aspect in breast cancer therapy is the medical treatment. Both hormonotherapy and chemotherapy get good results, says the expert. Most recent techniques of therapy work with drugs that specifically destroy tumour cells in the breast - yet without destructing the surrounding healthy tissue.

At the end of his presentation Kühn summarises, that breast cancer therapy combines a lot of disciplines and therefore is a very complex matter. "From everyday practice it gets obvious that the treatment of breast cancer has become much more sparing, effective and purposeful during the last years", says Kühn.

Nadine Lormis
MEDICA.de