Breast oncology

At Mediclinic Middle East, we provide comprehensive breast cancer care for women and men, from assessment and diagnosis through to treatment and long-term follow-up. Our multidisciplinary teams work together to develop a personalised care plan based on each patient’s diagnosis, test results and individual needs. Treatment may include chemotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy or radiotherapy, supported by genetic counselling and wider wellbeing services where appropriate.

What is breast oncology?

Breast oncology is the drug treatment of breast cancer. The oncologist chooses the medicines from what your tests show. The receptors on the cancer cells decide whether hormone therapy or a targeted medicine will work. Breast imaging finds and measures the cancer; breast oncology treats it. The speciality covers early cancer as well as cancer that has come back or spread. Men develop breast cancer too, and the medicines you'd be offered are the same.

When should you see a breast specialist?

Book an appointment if you notice:

• A new lump in your breast, chest or armpit
• A change in the size or shape of your breast or chest
• Skin on your breast that dimples, puckers or looks red
• A nipple that has turned inwards, or a rash or crusting around it
• Fluid leaking from a nipple, unless you are pregnant or breastfeeding
• A sore or ulcer that will not heal on your breast or chest

A high temperature or other signs of infection during chemotherapy need urgent attention: contact your care team straight away.

In the UAE, breast cancer is diagnosed more often than any other cancer, in women most of all. Age raises the risk. So does a close relative with breast or ovarian cancer, or a BRCA gene fault you have inherited. Some breast cancers turn up on a screening mammogram before anything can be felt. A breast specialist can go over screening and genetic testing with you, and you don't need symptoms to ask.

What to expect

Your first appointment starts with questions about the change you noticed, your general health and your family history. Your doctor then examines both sides and the lymph nodes under your arm. Imaging usually follows, most often a mammogram or an ultrasound scan. A needle takes a small sample of cells for the laboratory when anything needs a closer look.

Results usually take a week or two, and the clinic tells you when and how you'll get them. Cancers with oestrogen receptors get hormone therapy. Chemotherapy may come before surgery to shrink a tumour, or after it. Follow-up then runs for years, with a mammogram every year.

Breast oncology at Mediclinic

In Dubai our breast centre is at Mediclinic City Hospital. Mediclinic Parkview Hospital runs a breast unit as well. In Abu Dhabi the centre is at Mediclinic Airport Road Hospital. Both centres discuss every breast cancer they treat as a team before treatment starts.

Our medical oncologists prescribe chemotherapy and hormone therapy. Our radiation oncologists plan radiotherapy. The City Hospital centre has a breast care nurse. We offer genetic testing where an inherited risk is possible.

Support alongside treatment includes dietitians, physiotherapists and psychologists. We host breast cancer support groups at both centres, and they're led by health professionals and by people who have had breast cancer.