As more people live longer after cancer treatment, survivorship care has become an increasingly important part of general practice. Dr Justus Apffelstaedt explores the long-term health challenges cancer survivors may face and highlights the essential role of GPs in protecting quality of life through ongoing preventive care and holistic management.
Surviving breast cancer is no longer the end of the story. With improved treatment outcomes helping more women live long and healthy lives, the focus is increasingly shifting to life after treatment – including emotional wellbeing, fertility, bone health and overall quality of life.
Feeling exhausted has become incredibly common. Between work pressure, family responsibilities, stress, poor sleep, and the demands of modern life, many people assume that constant tiredness is simply something they need to “push through”. But ongoing fatigue is not always caused by stress alone. It is important to understand how thyroid conditions can affect energy levels, mood, concentration, sleep, and overall wellbeing, often in ways that are easily mistaken for burnout or emotional exhaustion.
Breast changes are common and, in most cases, benign. However, it is not possible to distinguish between a harmless condition and something more serious without appropriate clinical assessment. Understanding what constitutes a benign breast condition and what screening is designed to detect can help patients approach breast health with greater clarity and less unnecessary concern.
Is dit werklik seer om ’n mammogram te kry en het drinkers werklik ’n groter kans om borskanker te ontwikkel? Dit is dikwels moeilik om tussen feite en fiksie te onderskei, met soveel mites en vooropgestelde idees op die internet. Bors-, skildklier- en paratiroïedspesialiste, dr. Justus Apffelstaedt en dr. Fatima Hoosain, help om ’n paar wanopvattings oor borsgesondheid te ontmasker.
Behandeling-geïnduseerde beenverlies is een van die newe-effekte van algemene borskankerbehandelings wat die beste nagevors is. Alle vroue en mans ervaar na die ouderdom van 30 ’n mate van beenverlies – ’n natuurlike gevolg van veroudering. Die estrogeenontneming van menopouse by vroue is egter ’n bydraende faktor. Tog is dit slegs sommige vroue wat genoeg been sal verloor om behandelings teen beenverlies te regverdig.
Die fasebepaling van borskanker is ’n integrale deel ten opsigte van insig omtrent die siekte. Dit stel die pasiënt en hul mediese span in staat om die vordering van die siekte in meer diepte te bestudeer en word deur verskeie faktore beïnvloed, soos: hoe groot die gewas is, en of die kanker lokaal in die bors versprei het óf na ander organe of weefsels in die pasiënt se liggaam metastaseer (uitgesaai) het. Dit dra by tot die bepaling van behandelingsprotokolle en beïnvloed chirurgiese opsies. Dit dra ook by om verwagtings rakende die risiko van terugkering en lewensverwagting te bestuur.
To better understand cancer and to develop drugs that fight it, medical researchers have been studying genes and the changes in these genes for a very long time. The goal behind this research is to create therapies that disrupt various steps in cancer growth, whilst causing minimal damage to normal cells.
Thyroid nodules are lumps that develop in the thyroid gland and can cause swelling and discomfort. Although fairly common and rarely cancerous, they must be managed carefully by specialists. Here's what you need to know. Thyroid cancer is being diagnosed [...]
A topic that is not frequently discussed is that of intimacy and sexual health post a breast cancer diagnosis. Whilst these conversations do take place between patients and medical practitioners, there is often hesitation about raising questions and discussing the [...]
Mammogramme is 'n belangrike siftingstoets in die vroeé opsporing van borskanker. Dr. Justus Apffelstaedt, 'n chirurg wat in bors-, skildklier- en byskildkliergesondheid spesialiseer, verduidelik waarom 'n multidissiplinére benadering tot borskankerbehandeling nodig is.
In Suid-Afrika kom ongeveer 1 uit 6 borskankers voor by vroue jonger as 40 jaar. Al hoe meer vroue stel geboorte uit totdat hulle hul tersiêre opleiding voltooi het, loopbane gevestig het en stabiele verhoudings gevorm het. Die gevolg is dat borskanker toenemend voorkom by vroue wat nog nie gesinsbeplanning voltooi het nie. Kommer oor vrugbaarheid en swangerskap word dikwels by hierdie pasiënte ondervind.
In the United States alone, 2,001,140 new cancer cases are predicted to occur in 2024[1]. When examining the prevalence of breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa, it's observed that breast cancer makes up between 30% to 40% of all cancer cases [...]
Borskanker is die kanker wat die meeste by vroue gediagnoseer word. Vroue oorleef langer, het verhoogde remissiekoerse en leef in baie gevalle so lank soos hul kankervrye eweknieé. Volgens Dr. Justus Apffelstaedt, is die lewe na borskanker” gevolglik 'n toenemend belangrike onderwerp as gevolg van die negatiewe uitwerking van lewensreddende borskankerbehandelings soos kardiovaskulére toksisiteit, beenverlies en meer.
Wéreldwyd word vermoed dat 1,6 miljard mense die risiko loop om 'n skildklierafwyking te hé, en een uit agt vroue sal in hul leeftyd 'n skildklierafwyking ontwikkel. Baie mense is nie bewus dat genetiese faktore hulle waar- skynlikheid om skildkliersiekte te ontwikkel aansienlik kan beinvloed nie. As jy 'n familiegeskiedenis van skildklierprobleme het, of as jy nie lekker voel nie en nie ‘weet hoekom nie, is dit belang rik om jou tiroiedhormoonvlakke te toets.
Navorsing dui daarop dat aangesien die risiko van borskanker gekoppel is aan die tydsduur van die gebruik van HVT, dit raadsaam is om dit so ver moontlik teen die laagste dosis vir die korste tydperk te neem. Dit is belangrik om jou persoonlike risiko, HVT-dosering en beplande tydsduur van behandeling vooraf met jou dokter te bespreek.
A recent review confirmed that lifestyle choices that have been earmarked since 2016 as being of benefit to reducing breast cancer risk, are still valid. These include minimizing your alcohol intake, not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, and ascertaining risk when taking hormone therapy.
As one of the most diagnosed cancers in the world, there is a global focus on continuing research to find treatments that allow those diagnosed with breast cancer to lead a normal life. If found early, breast cancer has become a curable disease and AI-assisted mammography is great progress towards even further refining screening.
A thyroidectomy is the removal of all or part of your thyroid gland. There are three main reasons why it would be necessary to operate on the thyroid gland. These are gross enlargement, leading to difficulties in swallowing, difficulty breathing or pain if there is bleeding into a cyst within the thyroid, a hyperfunctioning gland that cannot be controlled by medication or radioactive iodine and suspicion of cancer or established cancer of the thyroid gland. This article details when surgery is considered, and the implications of a thyroidectomy.
Does it seem that younger people are being diagnosed with cancer more frequently? Global research is indicating that there has indeed been a surge in early-onset colon and breast cancers over the last three decades.
Treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation with their plentiful significant side-effects should be administered only after careful deliberation of the potential benefit they can have for the patient. Selection criteria for radiotherapy after surgery in the elderly have been refined and subgroups identified, in whom radiotherapy may safely be avoided. This article provides an insight into treatment considerations for older patients.
An estimated 64% of sexually active women in their reproductive years (between the ages of 15 and 49) make use of contraception worldwide. Hormonal contraceptives have well-known side effects such as venous thrombo-embolism, migraines, dizziness and fatigue. A study performed in Denmark and published in the NEJM(New England Journal of Medicine) in 2017 found its way into media and seemed to also draw a correlation between increased breast cancer risk and the use of hormonal contraceptives. This article unpacks those findings.
Although seen as a predominantly female disease, breast cancer affects men too. The risk is low, particularly in comparison to other common cancers. The National Cancer Registry states that the lifetime risk of suffering breast cancer in males is between 1 in 500 to 1 in 1000, depending on race. Men at any age may develop breast cancer, but it is usually detected in men between 60 and 80 years of age. The significance of early detection is stressed, as that vastly improves the chances of surviving any type of cancer. In this article are some of the most crucial facts about breast cancer in men.
Many South Africans are still unaware of what the thyroid is and what to look out for when it comes to thyroid health, being armed with the facts greatly increases the opportunity for early detection and diagnosis, which are a patient’s best chance for recovery.