Main themes: The 5th Aarhus Workshop in Breast Surgery 18 and 19 of May 2016
Breast cancer in the young patients
Treatment of breast cancer in the young patients is challenging, as there are a number of factors need to be taken into account in relation to diagnosis and treatment. Young patients often present at later state and have more aggressive disease characteristics. Often there is a family history in these cases, and in some cases the disease presents during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth.
The programme in the workshop will especially focus on very important issues concerning genetics, fertility, and treatment of breast cancer during pregnancy. The spectrum of late morbidity in the young patients is wider than seen in the middle-aged and older patients, and this will be addressed in a separate lecture.
Breast cancer in the elderly patients
In a recent publication from the Danish Breast Cancer Group – DBCG it was shown that the outcome after treatment of breast cancer has gradually improved during the last 15-20 years, but it appears that the elderly patients have had a more modest improvement than the young and middle-aged group. This seems to some extent to be related to comorbidity and undertreatment both concerning loco-regional and systemic treatment. Other factors include later diagnosis because of no screening in the age groups beyond 70 years.
These issues are comprehensively addressed in the program for the workshop, which also includes a lecture on follow-up issues in this group of patients.
Oncoplastic surgical techniques
A live video session with a focus on operative technique is included as a compulsory part of the program for every workshop. This year the procedures will be devoted to oncoplastic breast conserving techniques, and it is the intention to show two procedures, one of which should include reconstruction with an external flap.