Vision and mission
The IEO Breast Program creates, in an Italian and European environment, the ideal conditions for personalised approach to every patient with breast cancer. The personalization allows to get a treatment with the utmost probability of effectiveness and enable to establish a positive constructive relationship between patients and their care givers, conditions in which fear and doubt can be replaced by greater knowledge and regained hope.
The mission of the Breast Program is to strengthen (empower) every woman with breast cancer through adequate information and to facilitate early diagnosis and appropriate treatment, customized for each person suffering from a mammary disease. The program has identified a number of innovative objectives for the next future:
• Maximize information on biological and prognostic features for all types of breast cancer before primary treatment (surgery, systemic therapy)
• In selected cases allow for a fast genetic counseling and testing for susceptibility genes for a proper surgical plan
This early knowledge of the biological and genetic factors significantly helps to find the best choices of the therapeutic
program.
The intensive interaction between various specialists at the IEO has always been a tradition which led to important progress in breast cancer care and research. Such approach led to customize technical excellence, fruit of collaboration between divisions and units at the Institute, as well as intense networking with several research institutions and cooperative groups around the world.
Physicians at the IEO have developed and validated the most widely used and effective techniques in surgical care through integration with radiotherapy and pharmacology procedures adopted today worldwide.
An importantstrength of the Breast Program are the distinct structured multidisciplinary discussions for each type of presentation of the disease, to allow the best diagnostic and therapeutic approach for each patient. This includes specific discussions on preoperative systemic treatments, surgery, and postoperative local and systemic therapies. Furthermore, discussion about clinical research programs which might suit patients with advanced breast cancer is also taking regularly place. The personalization of prevention and care is the basis for excellence, which benefits both the general population and the patients with breast disease. This obviously requires an educational program aimed at updating the staff. Active participation in activities of in-house training, diagnosis, prevention and care, sharing experience and discussion of clinical research programs is an important component of the Breast Program.
The discussion and recording of outcome of specific clinical conditions, participation in international conferences, contribution to various italian and foreign research and academic institutions is an important part of the IEO Breast Program.
Senior Consultants
Senior consultants of the Senology Program are: Aron Goldhirsch and Alberto Luini