Dr Sandeep Batra is a senior medical oncologist at Onco.com with a special interest in lung, breast, and genitourinary cancers and a considerable expertise in all types of cancers over the 17 years of his practice. Team Onco is priviledged to have him interviewed on different aspects of the breast cancer patient’s journey. Read on to find out more.
In this interview, Dr Batra discusses the causes of breast cancer; if it is preventable, or if has a hereditary streak; if so, what are some tests that need to be done to prevent it; what is a prognosis and what are the factors that affect it; are there targeted therapies and immunotherapies for breast cancer and such like. Scroll down to see answers to some of the questions.
- When a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer, what would be your advice to them to cope with the treatment and its side effects?
In a nutshell, Dr Batra says that it important not to panic. With the kind of treatment modalities we have today, early diagnosis guarantees a cure in most cases.
2. When a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer, under what circumstances should they undergo genetic testing?
Dr. Batra encourages genetic testing so long as there is known case of breast cancer in the maternal side of the patient’s family.
3. Are there certain cases when a patient can omit chemotherapy, and if so what are these cases?
Here, he assures that the patient who is diagnosed at a very early stage of cancer where the tumor is between 5 mm and 1 cm in size can avoid chemo. These patients may be administered with only hormone therapy.
4. What does hormone receptor status mean, and why is it important for breast cancer patients?
Dr Batra the hormone receptor status of breast cancer is and under which circumstances a patient is prescribed immunotherapy and targeted therapy. He also brings in monoclonal antibodies and and their correlation to cancer cells.
5. Does premature menopause and infertility in patients increase the chances of getting breast cancer?
He explains what both menarche and menopause have to do with developing breast cancer as well as the link between supplementary hormones given for infertility and breast cancer.
Among other things, he disusses the symptomatic and asymptomatic stages of breast cancer and the correlation between age of risk for developing breast cancer. Watch the full video below to hear it straight from Dr Sandeep Batra.
