Information about breast cancer

Approved breast clinics: the best possible care

When faced with breast cancer, you are better off with a doctor who treats at least 50 breast cancers a year than with his colleague who sees at most a few a year. For that reason, it is best to turn to a licensed breast clinic, where breast cancer expertise is pooled.

Everyone wants the best possible care and rightly so. For breast cancer, you can find it at a licensed breast clinic, where doctors and care staff specialize in breast cancer, have extensive experience with the disease and are up to date on the latest treatments and developments. Breast clinics are legally recognized centers of expertise that have doctors, nurses, psychologists and physical therapists who all specialize in breast cancer. Such a breast clinic must treat a minimum number of new breast cancers each year to receive accreditation. Originally, in 2007, there were at least 150 per year, but those standards have since been relaxed, under pressure from other hospitals that also treat breast cancer. So since 2013, so-called coordinating and satellite breast clinics have also been established, where 125 and 60 new cases of breast cancer must be treated each year, respectively. There are other criteria that breast clinics must meet. These have to do with treatment procedures, equipment and reimbursement.

Not required

With breast cancer, you can also go to any other hospital. The care there does not have to be any less good; much depends on the expertise of the care staff present. Still, they usually have less experience with breast cancer than in a recognized breast clinic. Logical, if you also treat many other diseases. Many patients are not aware that there is legal recognition for breast clinics. It is therefore best to check yourself whether the hospital of your choice also has this accreditation and can therefore guarantee the best possible care. It is best to check yourself. You can find the list of all recognized breast clinics on the website of Europa Donna Belgium. At Europa Donna you will also find a map with all breast clinics in Belgium. It allows you to quickly check where the nearest breast clinic is located.

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Treatments
Triple-negative breast cancer
TNBC

New treatment for triple-negative breast cancer

Our natural immune system has the capacity to recognize and attack cancer cells, but cancer cells have mechanisms to escape from them. Immunotherapies have been developed to strengthen the immune system by thwarting these escape attempts. These therapies have significantly improved the treatment of several types of cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer.
Treatments
Fatigue
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Lingering fatigue after breast cancer

About 20 percent of women who go through breast cancer continue to suffer from severe fatigue years after treatment. Their symptoms are often swept under the rug. Because the cancer is "defeated," those around them quickly expect everything to return to normal.
Treatments
Chemotherapy
TNBC

Own immune cells make chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer sometimes unnecessary

In 1 out of 4 triple-negative breast cancers detected at an early stage, post-treatment with chemotherapy is not necessary. These women have such a strong immune system that the risk of relapse is very small even without chemo.
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