Intra-operative radiotherapy for breast cancer treatment in developing countries

International Conference on Significant Advances in Biomedical Engineering

April 27-29, 2015 Philadelphia, USA

Maha Abdel Hadi

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Bioengineer & Biomedical

Abstract :

The fast pace of urbanization in many developing countries coupled with the imposed changes in life style has resulted on many alterations in disease patterns. Breast cancer is one of the diseases that has shown increasing incidence over the last decades with young age and advanced disease at initial presentations. The scarcity of specialized treatment centers in the region further impacts negatively on the outcomes limiting the surgical options to liberal adoption of mastectomies. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Consensus, the number of Radiation Oncology centers worldwide is scarce and mainly clustered in developed countries. Developing countries are deprived from adequate centers to cover the population needs to radiation treatments. Based on the emerging many studies and strictly adhering selection criteria IORT has proven efficient, convenient, cost effective and can be used in conventional operating rooms. It spares or shortens the patients the long sessions of external beam radiation while providing equally effective outcomes.In developing countries lack of structured Breast cancer awareness programs coupled by the liberal adoption of mastectomies for young females results in patients shying away until the disease advances. IORT is an appealing treatment method which will propagate BCS, early detection and restricting unnecessary mastectomies. Promoting such modality helps to overcome the shortcomings encountered due to the limited radiation oncology centers in the area. However, due to the young age at presentation IORT may be of more benefit when used as boost therapy.

Biography :

Maha Abdel Hadi is a Professor and Senior Consultant at the University of Dammam. Her expertise is in Breast Cancer screening and Management, Breast Imaging and surgery and stem cell research. She was awarded with Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al maktoum International award for medical sciences in Oct 2006. She has also received Best research award at the Millennium Surgical Conference , Al Sharjah , UAE in Nov 2000 and Fellowship Medal from Royal college of surgeon, Ireland in Nov 1989.