Guarding the rugged road towards survival

Psychologists say a woman’s self-image and her confidence are very much tied to her breasts. And what happens when cancerous tissues start affecting this integral organ? Dr Sara Al Reefy, a crusader against breast cancer has a unique solution to offer. She has pioneered oncoplastic breast surgery through which silicon implants are used to replace the removed cancerous tissues while keeping the patient’s self-confidence and body image intact.

The first female Arab surgeon to qualify as an oncoplastic breast surgeon from the UK, she opened The London Breast Cancer Centre, the first full-scale breast cancer screenings and diagnostics clinic of its kind in the GCC in the year 2015. Speaking to Tribune, Dr Sara said, “The idea to set up a special clinic emerged out of two reasons; high incidence of breast cancer in Bahrain along with the lack of availability for a specialised hospital to treat the disease. “After gaining my fellowship at the Princess Grace Hospital, I returned to Bahrain and started the London Breast Care Centre in June 2015. After winning the Bahraini Entrepreneurship Award, we used the funds to start the one stop diagnostics centre and brought the 3D only mammogram machine in Bahrain.

“This machine provides quick, accurate results, early detection and prevention. We are proud to save even more lives with the help of the 3D mammogram machine. “Oncoplasty is an onco-specialised field in breast surgery which combines oncology and breast mastectomy together. Mastectomy of the breast affects a woman’s self-esteem and image. A woman doesn’t want to lose her breasts and can sometimes refuse treatment. “Oncoplastic breast surgery removes the cancerous sub-tissue, but at the same time replaces this with a silicon implant. In this way, we ensure that the shape of the breast stays the same, and we preserve the woman’s self-image. “Oncoplasty gives me an opportunity to still treat cancer but without hindering the woman’s image. I remove breast tissue and replace it with implant breasts, even for people who already had a mastectomy; we reconstruct breasts and build a new one from scratch.

“I’m the first doctor qualified for this surgery in the GCC since 2011. I have consultations in both Bahrain and Kuwait and hope to branch out to Saudi Arabia as well. I have presented at multiple conferences in the Arab world, to promote the importance of oncoplastic breast surgery and educate future doctors. My next conference is going to be in Italy in October. “Also, I’m opening a second branch in Kuwait soon and I will hopefully open another branch in Saudi Arabia by 2020. “Further, there is definitely a high rate of breast cancer cases in Bahrain. It’s actually the highest in the GCC region followed by Kuwait. Breast cancer has a rate of 37.4 per cent among all other cancers in Bahrain.

“Bahrain also has a younger age group of women diagnosed than other countries. While most countries have women diagnosed above the age of 65, in Bahrain we diagnose women between the age of 40-45. We still don’t know the definitive reason for that but it could be related to diet, pollution, hormone treatment, having your first child after the age of 30, family history with breast cancer, or obesity.” “Bahrain mainly focuses on general medicine rather than subspecialised medicine. There are many different aspects of medicine that people need and that need to be brought to Bahrain, such as pain management clinics, which would enrich the Bahraini private health sector.