Česky
The original intention to organize a one-day mammology seminar for the individual hospitals of the Pardubice Region Hospital Society eventually grew into a multidisciplinary conference, which brought together experts dealing with breast cancer from all over the Czech Republic, including doctors from abroad, Slovakia and Germany. "The main guest of the conference was Michael Untch from the Helios Clinic in Berlin," says Jana Mergancová, co-author of the Know More... project, on behalf of the organisers, and adds. One of the two live broadcasts of partial mastectomy with sentinel node biopsy was conducted by him as the main surgeon, assisted by Jindřiška Mergancová from Pardubice Hospital."
The conference as such was divided into three basic blocks: introductory lectures, therapy and diagnostics. In the first one, in the morning, besides the aforementioned Michael Untch, Bohuslav Melichar from the Oncology Clinic of the University Hospital in Olomouc and Martin Doležel from Multiscan in Pardubice presented, among others, on the topic of controlled radiotherapy of the breast in deep inspiration.
"The afternoon block started with live broadcasts of operations from the halls of the Surgical Clinic of Pardubice Hospital, the space between operations was filled with surgical videos from workplaces across the Czech Republic. Doctors from the Masaryk Institute of Oncology, Atlas Hospital in Zlín and Martin University Hospital demonstrated their surgical procedures," says Kateřina Semrádová, the second co-author of the Know More... project, listing three of the five surgical departments.
The last, diagnostic block also featured disciplines such as pathology, radiology and rehabilitation. Videos also played an important role in this part of the conference programme. "The nature of the videos was actually a bit popular and educational, both pathologists and radiologists presented their workplaces and the way they work. Exactly as we, as the organizers, had imagined. We wanted to give an insight into the individual links of the work chain in the process of breast cancer treatment and I think that the conference definitely fulfilled this purpose," summarizes Lukáš Sákra, Chief of Medicine, on behalf of the organizing clinic.
It was the live broadcast and videos that formed the basic framework of the unconventionally conceived conference and this was probably the reason why experts from all over the Czech Republic gathered in Pardubice, both representatives of large hospitals from Prague or Brno and smaller workplaces were represented. Considering the number of conferences and congresses that doctors have to choose from each year, we can definitely speak of an above-standard participation in the case of the Pardubice conference. "To be honest, I was impressed by the format," says Marek Smolár from Martin University Hospital, who actively presented a commented surgical video at the conference. "Initially, I considered the conference just another one of many, I was only convinced by its concept, but in the end I am glad I was able to attend," he adds.
In total, sixteen departments presented themselves at the East Bohemian Theatre, to mention the teaching hospitals in Olomouc, Hradec Králové and Pilsen. "The organizers chose a very demanding form of presentations. Their efforts were rewarded with great interest of the professional public and a lot of complimentary comments. The free time during the live broadcasts from the operating theatre was suitably filled with a prepared video projection and also a rich discussion on the surgical technique of breast surgery. Our institute greatly appreciates the invitation to be an active participant in the symposium. We had the opportunity to contribute to the promotion of mammology in our country. On behalf of the mammologists, I would like to once again thank you for a very successful professional event," says Jiří Gatěk, chairman of the mammology section of the Surgical Society of JEP, who presented a video on marking a positive axillary node before neoadjuvant carbon therapy.
Know more... Breast cancer - information campaign
The conference was part of the Know More... awareness project, which in its first year focused on breast cancer. The main objective was to exchange information, both at the professional level and towards the general public. On Thursday, 5 April, the day before the medical conference, an information campaign, a charity concert and an exhibition of photographs of women who have had breast cancer took place at the House of Technology in Pardubice. The opening ceremony was attended by both the Mayor of Pardubice, Martin Charvát, and Ladislav Valtr, Councillor for Health of the Pardubice Region. Both of them were also actively involved in the charity part. "Prevention not only of cancer is something that has been forgotten lately, yet early diagnosis can save a life. Campaigns such as Know More... remind us in today's hustle and bustle that we only have one health and we should take care of it," points out Ladislav Valtr.
Connecting experts with the public
The fact that professional events reach out to the public is a trend that is slowly taking root in our country. "I believe that in some time similar events will become a standard and I am glad that the Pardubice Region Hospital is one of the first to adopt this way of disseminating information to the public," says Tomáš Gottvald, CEO of the company, welcoming the involvement of the Pardubice Hospital Surgical Clinic.
"I am glad that as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of BK Pardubice I could contribute to the connection of sport - basketball with the awareness of prevention and treatment of such a serious diagnosis as breast cancer, which is the most common malignant tumour in women," says Vít Ulrych, a physician at the Multiscan Cancer Centre and Pardubice Hospital, who contributed his lecture on the oncological treatment of breast cancer in the public section and then participated in a panel discussion together with other experts on the stories of individual patients.
The attendance at the public program, which reached around two hundred people throughout the afternoon, can of course be perceived in different ways. "The fact that it created a space for those of us who meet diagnosed patients after they leave the hospital gates to meet each other is itself a positive. During our working hours we do not have a chance to meet or get to know each other, so we welcomed the chance to talk and get to know each other here," says Jitka Kratochvílová, coordinator of the National Council of Persons with Disabilities in the Pardubice Region.
But the organisers cannot complain about the lack of interest from the public. The project also included an event called "Watch the breasts", which drew attention to the issue of breast cancer prevention in two ways. Firstly, at a basketball match between BK JIP Pardubice and Basketball Nymburk, where treadmills were placed to collect kilometres for charity. "Becca sees the world in a realistic way in the long term, not just through a basketball. For this reason, we carry out and are also very happy to support such projects ourselves. We perceive that they concern all of us, because you never know who will encounter what in life. It is true that awareness and information are the basic building blocks, firstly for prevention, or avoiding these things, and secondly so that people can know how to best face them," explains Pavel Stara, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BK Pardubice, why the Pardubice basketball players decided to support the project.
Breasts in cafes
But it was also possible to watch the breasts in Pardubice cafés. Eight of them took part in the campaign. Inside, there was an exhibition of #breastsatogo, i.e. plaster casts of women's breasts created by designer Matyáš Fuchs. In addition, so-called breast mugs were available for purchase in the cafés. "Proceeds from their sale go to the Alliance of Women with Breast Cancer and its project Bellis, young women with breast cancer. The two parts of the charity project raised almost CZK 20,000 in one week in Pardubice," the organisers explained after the final balance of the charity account was established.
The project was also quite active on social networks. "I am very excited about the project, it gives me great hope that if I come in time, it can save my life. If I know more about how to do it and who to contact. I've reached the right people with the mugs, I'm glad I'm surrounded by those who take such things on and don't get offended by them. If it would save just one life, it would be worth it. The only thing that surprised me was the low turnout. Everyone around me knew about it, everyone talked about it, but no one showed up. And then they asked me how it was. I guess we don't know how to deal with it yet, unless it affects us directly, we don't go there in person," says Markéta Smolná from Martini's Cafe and Cocktail Bar, where twenty mugs went out into the world.
Although the project is officially over, the campaign is not over. Especially the cooperation with cafés proved to be a good idea. "We are in talks with one of the cafés to collaborate again in June and the other has decided to continue the breast exhibition independently. Anyone who missed the breast boxes should definitely drop in. They just have to guess correctly where to go, a list of all of them is still available on our website Vedet-vic.cz," the organisers urge people to visit the site.
The website is also one of the outputs of the project, all the information that was obtained during the lectures and discussions with experts should appear on it in the near future, it should be available to all those who want to know more...
