Chemotherapy is a highly effective and safe treatment for reducing the risk of breast cancer returning after surgery.

However, it is vital that this is tailored to individual cancer types and patient needs.

Modern molecular genetic tests are increasing our understanding of which patients may or may not benefit from chemotherapy. Many patients previously thought to benefit may be able to avoid chemotherapy. Conversely, some patient considered to have lower risk cancers may benefit.

At Midlands Breast Clinic we offer a full range of tests to predict response to chemotherapy to give you the confidence that treatment is tailored to your cancer.

These include:

• Estrogen and progesterone receptor testing
• HER2 testing
• Molecular genetic testing including Oncotype and Prosigna

Modern radiotherapy uses precision-targeted X-ray treatment to reduce the risk of breast cancer returning after surgery.

Our radiotherapy treatments are personalised to your individual body shape, minimising radiotherapy dose to other areas of the body.

Through our partnership with Genesis Care, we offer the very latest radiotherapy techniques including:

• Surface guided radiotherapy – which means that unsightly tattoos can be avoided.
• Breath-hold techniques (with no need for face masks) – this puts more distance between the heart and the radiotherapy beam, significantly reducing radiation dose to the heart.
• Intensity modulated radiotherapy – this technique means radiotherapy dose can be “curved” in order to reduce dose to surrounding normal tissues, such as the lung.
• Partial breast radiotherapy – this technique is suitable for patients with smaller cancers, and recent research has shown that it can improve longer term cosmetic outcomes.
• Prone breast radiotherapy – prone breast radiotherapy means you lie on your front rather than back for radiotherapy. This technique requires specialist equipment and has very little ability in the UK. However, it significantly reduces radiotherapy dose to the lung, and is particularly helpful for women with larger breast sizes.

 

In some cases, you breast cancer may have spread to other areas of the body, a situation called secondary breast cancer (sometimes called metastatic breast cancer).

We take a positive and pro-active approach to treatment for secondary breast cancer, and will work with you to develop an individualised treatment plan.

We offer the full range of treatments including:

• Specialist radiotherapy to target areas of cancer
• Surgical treatment to remove metastases
• Chemotherapy
• Immunotherapy – to help the body’s immune system fight cancer
• Targeted therapy
• Genetic profiling of cancers to allow identification of additional drugs which may be helpful

Progress is very rapid in this area, and there are now more treatment options than ever for secondary breast cancer.

• Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for patients with spread of cancer to the brain

Brain metastases (areas of cancer spread to the brain) can occur in patients with secondary breast cancer. SRS offers a treatment for this situation which minimises radiation dose to normal areas of the brain and avoids the need for invasive surgery. Our expert team will review you case to determine whether this would be suitable treatment for you.

• Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) for patients with spread of cancer to areas within the body

SABR uses highly precise and focused radiotherapy to treat cancer spread (metastases) to areas of the body such as liver, lung and bone. This is the only focused treatment shown to improve survival in a recent clinical trial of patients with secondary cancer (SABR-COMET trial).

We offer a comprehensive SABR service with access to the latest techniques, including the MR linear accelerator.