MD Anderson Cancer Center Madrid has recently inaugurated a new area of its Breast Unit with a truly multidisciplinary approach. The aim is to bring together all the specialists who work on the disease under one roof, i.e. medical oncology, radiation therapy, general surgery, plastic surgery, gynecology, breast radiology, rheumatology and psychology. In this way, the breast cancer patient will have easy, direct access to whichever specialist she may need.
The advantage of a single Breast Unit zone is ease with which a patient can see one specialist after another on with a single appointment. In the case of a recently diagnosed woman, the aim is that she can be seen by various specialists at the same time, who can then agree on a plan of action. With the help of the Patient Assistant, the patient will see all the specialists she needs to see to get a clear picture of her disease and be able to offer her the best personalized treatment possible.
Research lines at the Breast Unit
The Breast Unit is committed to a line of research related to Obesity and Breast Cancer. In April a review article on this line of work and written by Doctors Laura Garcia Estevez and Gema Moreno was published. “Updating the role of obesity and cholesterol in breast cancer”; Breast Cancer Res. 2019 Mar 1;21(1):35.
To work in this area, a database has been set up where all patient information relating to life habits, anthropometric values and breast cancer will be collected to study the relationship with obesity, overweight and cardiovascular factors. The study is called CooLest and will be carried out by Dr. Juan Diego Fernandez for his thesis work, Dr. Raquel Bratos and Dr. Isabel Calvo. It is expected to gather information from more than a thousand women.
Dr. Laura G, Estevez, Coordinator of the Breast Unit, Medical Oncology Service