THIS Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Hospital Picaso’s Think Pink campaign shines the spotlight on breast cancer issues and the opening of Hospital Picaso in Petaling Jaya this year seeks to make breast cancer treatment easier for patients.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among females in Malaysia, with 17.6% of all cancers comprising breast cancer. This means that one in 23 women may develop breast cancer in her lifetime.
There may be incidences of younger women diagnosed with breast cancer but women above 60 are still the largest group of patients, said Hospital Picaso consultant breast surgeon Prof Datuk Dr Yip Cheng Har.
“People think breast cancer is increasing in the young population but it’s not true. The highest incidence is in the 65–69 age group as per the latest Malaysia National Cancer Registry Report 2017-2021 (released this year), as opposed to 60–64 in the previous report (National Cancer Registry Report 2012–2016),” she told a media interview recently.
More than half of all breast cancer patients are above 50 years old, while 12% are below 40.
Hospital Picaso, or PJ Integrated Centre for Advanced Surgery (Picaso), is home to three breast surgeons: Yip, Dr Normayah Kitan and Dr Ng Char Hong.
Hospital Picaso CEO Timothy Chang said the private hospital is anchored by two Centres of Excellence – the Centre for Advanced Surgery and Centre for Integrated Oncology. Its aim is to provide holistic care to treat cancers.
“We have conceptualised a workflow for breast cancer where almost everything you need to treat the patient in breast cancer such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, intraoperative radiation therapy, pathology are all available in Hospital Picaso – a one-stop shop for breast cancer.
“Mammogram and ultrasound are like the stethoscopes for breast surgeons. In most hospitals, there is only one mammogram (facility). Everyone including health screening patients uses that, which means a long wait for breast cancer patients before they are diagnosed. At Hospital Picaso, we have one mammogram (facility) for screening and one in our Breast Centre just for breast cancer patients,” said Chang.
Hospital Picaso has a multidisciplinary team that leverages the experience and expertise of its 27 specialist consultants.
“Pathology is key to everything. The pathologist tells you what kind of cancer you have. After a surgery, we send (tissue samples) to the pathologist for analysis. We can get a result in 10-15 minutes. That’s the beauty of a centre where we have a multidisciplinary team, where everybody is around,” said Yip.
Through post-care partner Can-Care, Hospital Picaso offers breast cancer patients the support necessary to rekindle hope, helping them recover psychologically as well. These post-care services include breast care education (awareness, wound management and knowledge of lymphoedema), cancer coaching (advising patients on each stage of their breast cancer journey), patient engagement (teaching patients skincare, makeup and other lifestyle practices). Can-Care also offers products like breast prostheses, mastectomy bras and compression sleeves, all designed to restore confidence in patients.
Yip is also spearheading the research and development collaboration with Roche on Clarum, a customised digital solution for the collection of data in the context of a hospital-based cancer registry, slated to be rolled out in January 2025. Clarum will track patient outcomes and improve cancer care.
