สำนักงานราชบัณทิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 2  The story behind the Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer, its philosophy and outreach projects. for cancer patients, primarily breast cancer patients and open to all women, especially the underprivileged. The unit was based at King Chulalongkorn Hospital, a government rather than a private hospital, to ensure that all women could have access to care. Amulti-disciplinary cohesive approach to treatment, where the patient is the centre of a care plan, rather than being passed along a line of physicians and surgeons, was a core philosophy. Breast conservation for breast cancer patients, was another innovation and key policy pioneered by Dr Kris Chatamra at the centre: fi ghting surgically to save a woman’s breast rather than automatic mastectomy. Funds were raised to send the doctors and nurses of the QSCBC team abroad to do postgraduate training and to absorb the most modern ideas in breast cancer. Once a team and the philosophy were established, the funds were gradually raised to buy the best and carefully researched, equipment available. The centre is under the auspices of the Thai Red Cross Society, which has a very heavy burden of responsibilities in many areas, and despite tremendous support fi nancially, in order to create what is known in the medical fi eld as ‘a centre of excellence’, Dr Kris Chatamra had to be proactive, if his vision was to be achieved. The fi nal phase was to move the team and equipment under one roof, namely the Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer, which now provides inpatient facilities for 80 patients and outpatient treatment in one centre. The latest most modern equipment installed is a new MRI machine dedicated to breast cancer. The machine is designed with extreme sensitivity and speci fi city for lesions in the breast. It differs from digital mammography and ultrasound but compliments their fi ndings. MRI dedicated for breast cancer measures the dynamic physiology, rather than anatomy of the breast. The image shows, for example, the normal and abnormal blood fl ow into a tumour, so that the pathological changes of breast tissue can be monitored. This is the most exciting new development in breast cancer and it is offered to patients who are selected ethically by the medical team at the centre. The price per patient at the QSCBC will be radically reduced. Donations will be sought to help the very poor women the centre serves in the slum communities in greater Bangkok and from around the country.