Tailored Treatment of Breast Cancer Patients Prevents Chemo or Unnecessary Drugs | Health

Some women don’t have those immune cells, or they have some. Immunotherapy can help with this group. According to Linn, this therapy ensures that one’s immune system kicks in to destroy cancer cells. The treatment method is already being used successfully against other forms of cancer, such as lung, colon and skin cancer.

Breast cancer immunotherapy is not yet standard treatment in the Netherlands. “At the moment it only happens in combination with chemotherapy. In the future we want to see if immunotherapy alone is enough and therefore patients do not have to undergo chemotherapy.”

A pathologist can see under a microscope who has many, few, or no immune cells. In order to select even earlier and better who benefits from immunotherapy, a test for this should be developed, Linn says. This should ensure that even less is over-treated.

Researchers don’t know why the number of immune cells in the breast differs per woman. “That’s the million dollar question“says Linn.” It would be great if we knew. Then you can really start prevention “.

Ultimately, surgery is still the most important treatment for breast cancer. A surgeon then removes the tumor. Irradiation is also still necessary, because some cancer cells move in the breast and can only be removed in this way.

However, the breasts can be preserved more often. “Now we operate mainly in a way to preserve the breasts,” says surgeon-oncologist Bea Lemaire of Elkerliek hospital. “Amputations still occur, but less than in the past. The ratio is now around seventy-thirty.”

Over the past five to ten years, surgeons have also paid more attention to breast reconstruction. “This is happening more and more beautifully. We operate differently than before. For example, we remove the tumor from the bottom. The breast becomes smaller, but the shape is retained. Without a huge dent,” says the doctor.

An operation, amputation, or removal of a breast-saving tumor has only a small influence on the survival rate of breast cancer patients. It mainly depends on the presence of metastases. These are less common these days. According to Lemaire, this is because the treatments have improved. As a result, surgeons now perform fewer armpit surgeries to prevent (possible) lymph node metastases. “Less than 5 percent,” says Lemaire.

Demographic screening, to which women are invited from the age of fifty, has already caused a decrease in the number of amputations. As a result, breast cancer is detected earlier than in the past.

In the future, it may no longer be necessary to use a knife to treat breast cancer. But those studies are still in their infancy. UMC Utrecht, among others, is conducting a study. A breast cancer vaccine, which may also be a future option, is still a long way off.