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| Chief Nahomi Tokudome, M.D. |
At the Division of Breast Oncology, anti-cancer drug treatment (chemotherapy) for breast cancer is provided. Breast Cancer is one of the most common cancers for women, and both the numbers of breast cancer patients and deaths from the disease have been increasing in Japan. However, it is a type of cancer which drugs can be effective and complete cures can be expected when the therapies with anti-cancer drugs and/or hormone drugs are combined before or after surgeries. The role of chemotherapy for breast cancer is getting bigger and bigger, as lately drugs with proven higher efficacy than ever have been newly developed one after the other. Conventionally, it was surgeons at the Division of Breast Surgery who played major roles in breast cancer treatment in Japan, but the demand for breast oncologists, who are the specialists of mammary gland tumors, is getting higher these days as complete cure can be expected when chemotherapy is combined with surgery. Moreover, because about 20 or 30% of breast cancers will relapse after surgeries, much is expected for chemotherapy for recurrences also. Holistic breast cancer treatments, including palliative care to ease pains and other intolerable symptoms, are being provided here.
Treatment plans are all customized for each patient, never stereotyped, depending on the disease progression, the age, whether there is a complication or not, and the patient’s social background, adopting what she hopes for her cancer treatment. Side effects from anti-cancer drugs including hair loss and nausea often make it hard for a patient to live a normal life. So, at this division, much consideration is always given for her life style, focusing not only on complete cure of breast cancer but also on minimizing the side effects.
Therapeutic plans are customized for each patient, with full considerations and understandings given for tumor progressions, ages, complications, social backgrounds, and what patients wish for their therapies. During the course of chemotherapy, patients may have difficulty leading normal lives, as sometimes they may suffer from various side effects including hair loss and nausea. Therefore, when therapeutic plans are customized, efforts are made to minimize the side effects, so that the patients can retain their own life styles.
It is one of the responsibilities of oncologists that they should bring the latest drug therapy into practice without any delay. In order to offer cancer treatments with newly-developed and more effect-proven drugs as soon as possible, we participate in many clinical studies (trials). Six newly-developed drugs out of all the clinical studies we participated in have been approved for practical use, which proves how updated this division is about new drugs. It is one of the best medical institutions in Japan where the latest drugs are offered and positive clinical outcomes are being presented.
It is not rare for breast cancer patients to have bone metastases, which will be likely to lower the quality of their lives, as the metastases can cause severe pains or bone fractures. At this division, we work together with orthopedists and radiologists to provide thorough treatments for bone metastases with drugs and radiations.
The most significant therapeutic strategy at this division is to provide holistic treatments for breast cancer. Mammary gland oncologists specializing in drug treatment for breast cancer handles chemotherapy (hormone drug treatment, anti-cancer drug treatment and molecular-targeted drug therapy) as well as palliative care to ease the cancer symptoms. We offer the best cancer treatment tailored for each patient, practicing high expertise and collaborating with other clinical divisions where surgery and radiation therapy are provided.
drug treatment for breast cancer, development of new drugs, cancer genome medicine, quality control of a clinical study, translational research
Certified Specialist for Cancer Drug Therapy and Supervisory Doctor, Councilor, the Japanese Society of Medical Oncology
Specialist Certified by the Japanese Breast Cancer Society
Registered Medical Practitioner Certified by the Japan Surgical Society
General Clinical Oncologist Certified by the Japanese Board of Cancer Therapy
Doctor for Radiogram Interpretation at the Breast Cancer Screening Certified by the Japan Central Organization on Quality Assurance of Breast Cancer Screening
The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine
The Japanese Society for Hereditary Tumors
The Japan Society of Clinical Oncology
The Japan Association of Breast Cancer Screening
Regular Member, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
