Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
A Consultant Radiation Oncologist, Dr. Oludare Adeyemi has uncovered a new method of treatment of breast cancer away from the conventional cutting of the breast.
While advising women to go for regular screening for early detection of the disease,
Adeyemi who disclosed this in Benin City recently, reiterated that the breakthrough does not require mastectomy; a surgical operation that required the cutting of the breast.
Adeyemi who is also a lecturer in the Department of Radiotherapy, University of Benin, and a Consultant, University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), defined the medical feat as Microseeds treatment using radioactive seeds.
The Chief Medical Director of La’ Newton Oncology Clinic in Benin City, while defining breast cancer as “a cancer that forms in the cells of the breasts”, pointed out that Microseeds procedure was first performed in Canada about two years ago which is now being practiced in few places in USA.
“This Microseeds treatment is the first in the whole of Africa. It has come to Africa through Nigeria”, he declared, adding that the procedure conserves a breast which is vital for cosmetic reasons.
“The Microseeds treatment takes a day procedure unlike the convention radiotherapy that takes four weeks to be completed. The procedure is done when Microseeds are placed in the tumor bed under ultrasound guided”.
Adeyemi said that the commonest cause of advanced breast cancer in Nigeria was fear of mastectomy which he said was equivalent to death. “It must be emphasised that Microseeds treatment procedure is only appropriate for now and for early breast cancer”.
Adeyemi said the factors that cause breast cancer were mainly hormonal factors, age, environmental factors and lifestyle.
He said the symptoms of breast cancer includes: breast lump or thickening that feels different from the surrounding tissue, change in the size, shape and appearance of a breast, changes to the skin over the breast such as dimpling, among others. He therefore called for self-examination/awareness, among others.
