Every day, this team studies and works in order to change the disease’s statistics: breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women, and one of the main causes of oncological deaths (nearly 1,500 women die of breast cancer each year in Portugal).

In the Breast Unit, multidisciplinary meetings are held every week to make decisions concerning treatments. During the multidisciplinary meetings, the members of the Breast Unit are joined by medical oncologists, surgeons, plastic surgeons, radio-oncologists, imaging experts, pathologists, specialised nurses, as well as nuclear medicine experts, psycho-oncologists and palliative care experts.

This organisation and these meetings are based on the multidisciplinary model adopted at the CCC, where every patient’s case is discussed at the planning and (weekly) therapeutic decision meeting (TDM). Clinical decisions are therefore based on the established international orientations of the European scientific organisations, especially those of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the Advanced Breast Cancer Consensus Guidelines (ABC), as well as those of some American ones (ASCO e NCCN).

The team also includes a data manager, in charge of the Breast Care database, and relies on the support of two clinical trial coordinators, in close collaboration with the CCC’s Clinical Research Unit. All unit members are specialised in the diagnosis and treatment of breast disease, namely early breast cancer of pre-operatory and post-operatory status, and advanced and metastatic breast cancer. The Unit is recognised for its competence and expertise in the treatment of breast cancer in men and breast cancer during pregnancy, two situations that, being rare, need to be followed in very specific Units.

The Breast Unit also provides support to high-risk patients who carry hereditary mutations, offering appropriate monitoring strategies and risk-reduction surgery.

We firmly believe in supporting great breakthroughs in clinical and translational research, as well as in providing medical care of excellence. All treatments and second opinions are based on scientific evidence, and several clinical trials are ongoing at the Breast Unit of the Champalimaud Clinical Centre.

The Unit has an intense clinical research activity, through clinical trials of an academic nature, epidemiological studies and applied research. This work takes advantage of the robust international collaborations we maintain with groups dedicated to the study of breast cancer, such as the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) and the SOLTI group (Grupo Académico en Investigación Clínica de Referencia en Cáncer de Mama). Various international clinical trials (academic as well as sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry) have been coordinated by our Breast Unit. Its scientific activity further extends to the development of several integrated research projects, particularly translational research (i.e. collaboration between basic and clinical research), with specific funding from national and international institutions.

Since 2013, the Breast Unit has been receiving doctors and interns from different countries who, during observation periods or through fellowships, are able to follow its clinical and research activities.

The Breast Unit has had a joint programme with the ESO – European School of Oncology – and has been a Clinical Training Centre since 2014. Also, in 2016, it was elevated to the rank of Fellowship Host Institute of ESMO - European Society of Medical Oncology.

At the national level, the Breast Unit has a partnership agreement with NOVA Medical School for undergraduate and graduate students to perform short internships within their clinical research Master.