Every year, more than 15,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and the plastic surgery department at UMCG is hoping that a study on breast satisfaction can help them improve the care they offer to women who require mastoplasty following cancer treatment.
Translation by Thomas Ansell
The Groninger Internet Courant reports that the study will begin this week: 5,000 women who have not had any form of surgery on their breasts in the city of Groningen will receive a questionnaire. Their responses will be compared and analysed in relation to answers from another group of women who have had breast reconstruction in the past.
UMCG says that the results of this research, which is being carried out by three different departments within the hospital, should be made known in about a year from now. This is just one part of the UMCG’s research into plastic surgery in particular and breast cancer in general. Last year, the hospital was awarded six million euros in funding for research into targeted treatments for breast cancer. According to the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), the Netherlands has strong survival rates for breast cancer, with over 77 percent of sufferers remaining cancer-free after 10 years.
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