Multidisciplinary Care for Breast Cancer

What is multidisciplinary care?

Multidisciplinary care means that the treatment of your breast cancer involves the co-ordination of specialists from different areas of medicine. We do this because with the increasing complexity of treatments for breast cancer we want to be sure you are getting the best possible advice and care. Radiologists help ensure we know exactly where the cancer is and how extensive it might be. Pathologists tell us about the features of the cancer, check that it has been completely removed at surgery and what drug treatments it might respond to. Radiation oncologists advise and provide radiotherapy to the breast and medical oncologists recommend and provide drug treatments for cancer. Plastic surgeons help restore the appearance of the breast after surgery if needed as well as providing the best solutions for breast reconstruction when it is required.

Your breast surgeon provides the surgery needed to treat your cancer and will usually be the person co-ordinating your care with other specialists.

Planning your treatment

Your breast cancer surgeon will usually be the specialist who helps you plan your initial treatment. The essential information your surgeon will need is a detailed imaging assessment of the breasts with mammography and ultrasound as well as the complete pathology results of any biopsies. This will usually be enough for your surgeon to advise you on what type of surgery would be needed to treat your cancer and what it might involve. We now treat some types of breast cancer with chemotherapy before surgery (“neo-adjuvant chemotherapy”) as there is evidence that in carefully selected cases this improves long-term survival. Your surgeon will liase with a medical oncologist if this might be of benefit to you.