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Breast cancer treatment Austria - Word 'Care' from wooden block

Breast Cancer is one of the most common cancers and cases are rising across the world. However, treatments are also advancing and this includes the development of more personalised courses of radiotherapy.

The disease is the second most frequent cancer worldwide and the most common to affect mainly women, although in rare cases men can suffer from it.

Согласно данным, опубликованным Всемирный фонд исследований рака in 2022, the countries with the highest numbers of breast cancer cases were:

  • Китай (357,161)
  • США (274,375)
  • Индия (192,020)
  • The European country with the highest number was Russia, with 78,839, followed by Germany on 74,016
  • The global recorded total was 2,296,840

Why Are Breast Cancer Rates Higher In Western Countries?

What may be noticed from these figures is that they do not fully correlate with population figures. China and India have the largest populations in the world and the rate per 100,000 women is 33 and 26.6 respectively, whereas in the US it is 95.9.

Indeed, the figures for the ten most affected countries showed that leading economies are among those with the highest rates of cases. France topped the list at 105.4 per 100,000, while the UK was on 94.

These higher rates in Western countries partly reflect greater life expectancy, with breast cancer, like many other cancers, most likely to affect women aged over 70.

In addition, there is some evidence that breastfeeding lowers cancer risk, which means countries with lower birth rates in which more women do not have children are likely to have higher incidences of the disease.

Other factors can include smoking, high alcohol consumption and the consumption of processed food, the latter being a much bigger issue in the West than elsewhere.

Why is Personalised Breast Cancer Treatment Important?

Despite this, it remains true that patients seeking breast cancer treatment in Austria will be quite a diverse group, consisting of Austrians, those from other European countries and sometimes from further afield, while ages and other characteristics will vary as well.

This highlights the importance of applying personalised and tailored care, which treats everybody as an individual and deals with more than just medical needs, especially for international patients, who we can support with help such as accommodation and visas.

Nonetheless, the medical treatment itself will also be personalised, with radiotherapy being delivered in a way that is best suited for each patient.

Writing on this subject for Перспективы Индии, oncologist Dr Abhilasha Maan noted that while breast cancer treatment has advanced and brought major improvements in patient care, the use of tailored treatment will still “play a key role in improving outcomes”.

How Can Tailored Radiotherapy Benefit Breast Cancer Patients?

This included radiotherapy, she noted, which has a growing role to play in improving patient outcomes with ever more advanced and precise treatment. Examples of this include:

  • Better local control through the use of radiotherapy to target any remaining cells after cancerous tissue has been removed by surgery
  • Making breast conserving surgery easier by reducing recurrence rates
  • More precision through advanced techniques that can deliver radiation exactly where it is needed while sparing other organs from exposure
  • Radiation can be scheduled in a personalised way to take into account factors such as tumour types, genetic markers and lymph nodes
  • Where courses of radiotherapy can be shorter, patients benefit from reduced toxicity and side-effects as well as greater convenience.

These are benefits that can be offered to patients now, but there will be better to come in the future with further developments, including in radiotherapy.

Dr Maan stated: “The integration of AI, genomics, robotic surgery and adaptive radiotherapy into clinical practice is the future of breast cancer management”.

This means that more early diagnosis (something AI contributes to), better understanding of genetic factors and more precise use of targeted radiotherapy will not only mean better outcomes, but shorter treatment times and less chance of ‘overtreatment’.

When it comes to radiotherapy, this is important, as it means the side-effects, which can be very significant and wide-ranging, will be kept to a minimum.

If you need breast cancer treatment, various factors will determine what treatment course you need. This ranges from how advanced the cancer is at diagnosis to genetic factors, the location of the cancer, your age and your general health.

This is why we will never have a simple ‘standard’ way of treating patients, be it for breast cancer or anything else. We will always tailor it to the needs of the patient.

At the same time, we have always sought to use the most advanced methods of treatment as they arise, because these have shown demonstrable benefits in improving patient outcomes.