The Clinic of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the University Hospital Clinical Centre Banja Luka in cooperation with the Association for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery of the Republic of Srpska and the Union of Women with Breast Cancer “Iskra” organized lectures entitled „Primary and secondary breast surgery“.
The event gathered a significant number of patients suffering from breast cancer from the entire Republic of Srpska as well as patients from the Federation of B&H (associations from Jajce, Livno Canton and Una–Sana Canton). In the above mentioned regions of the Federation of B&H, breast reconstruction is not free of charge i.e. patients pay for the implants. This is not the case in the Republic of Srpska.
In the crowded conference room, Head of the Clinic of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Nikola Baros, MD, Head of the Oncology Clinic, Zdenka Gojkovic, MD, Aleksandar Guzijan, MD from the Breast Centre (the Oncology Clinic) and Dusan Mileusnic, MD from the Radiotherapy Centre spoke about this health issue and its method of treatment.
On that occasion, Head of the Clinic of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Nikola Baros, MD said that in that way they wanted to inform patients suffering from breast cancer of reconstructive surgeries performed in the Republic of Srpska. He also added that even though the number of women that decided to undergo reconstructive surgeries increased, interest was not as huge as it was expected to be. A very important moment in treatment of breast cancer for all patients is aesthetics. Therefore, it is very important to draw the attention to aesthetic surgery i.e. plastic and reconstructive surgery.
President of the Union of Women with Breast Cancer “Iskra” Banjaluka Azra Ikalovic said that the first thought of a woman who underwent breast removal surgery was that she had a physical defect. She emphasized that except the pain that a woman suffered during treatment, she also suffered physical pain to the same extent because of the removal of breast and hair loss due to chemotherapy.
After the expert part of the lecture, three patients that underwent breast reconstructions addressed the participants and also shared their experience. One of them is B.G. (born in 1983) who underwent breast reconstruction in July 2014. Discussion with a plastic and reconstructive surgeon helped her to make a final decision. She was informed of methods of performing the reconstruction, potential risk factors and all other issues that were burden on her. According to her words, benefits of breast reconstruction are multiple because she became more relaxed and the level of self-confidence was higher in comparison with the period before reconstruction.
Before the beginning of the lecture, Assistant Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Milan Latinovic MD, said that during the last year, seven total breast reconstructions were performed in patients suffering from breast cancer in the Republic of Srpska. During this year, four total reconstructions were performed. Surgeries were financed by the Health Insurance Fund of the Republic of Srpska.
The lecture was attended by Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the Livno Canton Dragoslav Topic, Assistant General Manager for Medical Affairs of the University Hospital Clinical Centre Banja Luka Slobodan Hajder, MD as well as medical staff of the University Hospital Clinical Centre Banja Luka and representatives of the Health Insurance Fund of the Republic of Srpska.
Standard procedure for work of the ethical committee of the clinical center (kc)