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Breast cancer

Resource poor but ingenuity rich

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 9, page 248 (2012)Cite this article

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As treatment for patients with breast cancer becomes increasingly effective, the quality of life aspects have been gaining more importance. This has led, in many countries, to an increased importance being placed on the cosmetic outcomes after surgery. However, is this aspect of similar importance in countries where the resources are more limited? A study conducted in South Africa has shown that a little inventiveness can enable the effective use of available resources to allow breast conservation mastectomies to be effectively carried out.

South Africa has a largely rural and often poor population who have limited access to the scarce radiation sources. Therefore, access to standard external-beam radiotherapy for patients with cancer is restricted. A group of physicians led by Karin Baatjes have now tested an ingenious solution to this problem. They have developed a system that allows single-shot intraoperative radiotherapy to be carried out immediately after full surgical excision of a small tumour using a simple adaptation to the available radiation sources. This means that the patient only needs access to a radiation source once for the completion of their surgery and radiotherapy.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Baatjes, K. J. & Apffelstaedt, J. P. 7-year follow up of intra-operative radiotherapy for early breast cancer in a developing country. Breast doi:10.1016/j.breast.2012.01.021

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FURTHER READING

  1. Jean-Yves Petit, J.-Y. et al. Opinion: Nipple-sparing mastectomy—is it worth the risk? Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. 8, 742–747 (2011)

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

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Authors
  1. Rebecca Kirk
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Kirk, R. Resource poor but ingenuity rich. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 9, 248 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.37

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