INESC Porto, FC and FMUP to hold international seminar on breast cancer local treatment

May 12 2011

The international seminar "Turning Subjective Into Objective (TSIO): Cosmetic Breast Assessment of Local Treatment" will take place on 13th May starting at 9.15am. The event is organised by the Champalimaud Foundation (FC), the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP) and the Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering of Porto (INESC Porto). 

TSIO is aimed at professionals working on the development of tools for the aesthetic assessment of breast cancer local treatment (oncological and oncoplastic surgery and radiotherapy) in order to raise awareness of the clinical difficulties derived from this evaluation and help clinicians learn to use these new instruments and integrate them into their practices.

The event will focus on the objective evaluation of the aesthetic results of this type of treatment extending the topic from aesthetic results in classic breast cancer conservative treatment to other forms of breast surgery with or without reconstruction and with or without radiotherapy.

According to Maria João Cardoso, a researcher at FMUP and the FC, "various factors can influence the aesthetic results of a patient who undergoes  breast cancer treatment, such as their body mass index, their breast size, the size and location of the tumour and the level and intensity of the treatment".

"Medical professionals are now more concerned with the importance of the aesthetic results for patients who have undergone breast cancer treatment and conserving the breast in an 'aesthetically pleasing' way is seen as being essential to ensure a good quality of life", she explains.

"Evaluating these aesthetic results with a method that can be repeated and is easy to use is now fundamental in order to compare different types of treatments and different clinics. This means we can inform patients adequately regarding the expected results and also help improve the techniques".

This international meeting will bring together specialists from various different countries and the target audience is breast surgeons, oncoplastic breast surgeons, plastic surgeons, oncologists, engineers and other researchers interested in this topic.

The objectives of TSIO include making information available regarding the current methods that are being used to assess the aesthetic results of breast cancer local treatment, showing the results of groups working with objective evaluation methods, demonstrating some of the new pathways regarding objective methodology and promoting collaboration in this area of research. The event also aims to generate new ideas for projects and encourage new contacts.