Picaso Breast Centre champions integrated approach to breast cancer care

KUALA LUMPUR - Breast cancer care in Malaysia is increasingly focusing not only on earlier detection but also on ensuring patients can move more smoothly from diagnosis to treatment, with specialists working together to reduce delays, uncertainty and the burden of navigating multiple healthcare providers.

Picaso Breast Centre has positioned its integrated multidisciplinary model as one response to this challenge, bringing breast clinics, imaging and specialist expertise together while connecting pathology, surgery, oncology and supportive care through coordinated clinical review.

The approach comes against the backdrop of continuing concerns over late stage breast cancer diagnosis in Malaysia. Almost one in two breast cancer cases in the country were diagnosed at stage three or four between 2012 and 2016, according to national data.

The difference between early and late diagnosis remains significant, with five year survival estimated at 88 per cent for stage one breast cancer compared with 23 per cent for stage four.

While earlier diagnosis remains critical, healthcare providers are also examining how patients experience the journey after entering the healthcare system, including how quickly information reaches them, how clearly treatment options are explained and how effectively specialists coordinate their decisions.

Picaso Breast Centre was established to address some of these challenges by bringing together specialists across different stages of breast cancer care.

Rather than requiring patients to move between separate clinics, imaging centres, laboratories and hospitals while managing information from multiple appointments, the Centre's model allows treatment recommendations to be developed collectively through multidisciplinary collaboration.

Professor Emeritus Dato’ Dr Yip Cheng Har, Consultant Breast Surgeon at Picaso Breast Centre, said fragmented healthcare pathways could prolong uncertainty and create additional challenges for women already facing the possibility of a cancer diagnosis. “A woman who finds a lump can spend months being passed between a clinic, an imaging centre, a laboratory and a hospital. Every one of those handovers is a place where a frightened woman can fall out and never come back. This model removes those handovers.”

Opened in 2024, the Centre's multidisciplinary team includes breast surgeons Professor Emeritus Dato’ Dr Yip Cheng Har, Dr Ng Char Hong, Dr Harjit Kaur and Dr Normayah Kitan; breast radiologists Dr Farhana Fadzli and Dr Maninderpal Kaur; anatomical pathologist Dr Lee Bang Rom; and clinical oncologists Dr Mastura Md Yusof, Dr Tan Chih Kiang and Dr Christina Lai Nye Bing.

At regular multidisciplinary meetings, the team reviews each patient's imaging, biopsy results and medical history before agreeing on a clinical recommendation. This allows questions surrounding diagnosis, surgery, reconstruction and treatment to be considered together rather than through a sequence of separate consultations.

Dr Ng Char Hong, Consultant Breast and Breast Reconstructive Surgeon, said the objective was to provide patients with greater clarity and reduce unnecessary waiting. “What reaches the patient is one clear plan and a team that already agrees on it. Working together as a team makes that possible every week rather than occasionally. Doing it every week is what actually changes how long a woman waits.”

The integrated model is also designed to support more personalised treatment decisions, recognising that breast cancer is not a single disease and that treatment can differ according to cancer subtype, stage and the individual needs of each patient.

Dr Harjit Kaur, Consultant Oncoplastic Breast and Endocrine Surgeon, said breast cancer treatment must also consider the physical and emotional impact of surgery. “Oncoplastic breast surgery combines cancer surgery with reconstructive surgical techniques to maintain both function and appearance of the breast. Apart from treating the cancer, we also consider how the treatment affects a woman’s confidence, identity and emotional wellbeing.”

The Centre recently brought these issues into public focus through “Inside Her Story”, an immersive media event that followed the emotional and clinical journey of women from their first symptoms through diagnosis, multidisciplinary planning, treatment and survivorship.

Specialist led stations were designed to illustrate different stages of the patient journey, while a central film featured Malaysian women sharing their own experiences in their own words.

Several breast cancer survivors whose portraits appeared at the event also attended, bringing lived experience into the wider discussion about how healthcare systems can better support patients.

The event also highlighted the broader national conversation around breast cancer care. In 2025, the Ministry of Health published its Roadmap Towards Downstaging of Breast Cancer in Malaysia 2025–2035, setting out a ten year direction aimed at reducing late stage diagnosis.

The roadmap reflects growing recognition that earlier detection must be supported by healthcare pathways that help women move through diagnosis, treatment and survivorship without becoming lost between different services. Picaso's model offers one example of how co location and consistent multidisciplinary review can simplify the patient journey, although wider progress will require collaboration between healthcare providers, policymakers, patient groups and industry.

Roche Malaysia participated in “Inside Her Story”, focusing on the role of healthcare innovation, advanced treatments and more streamlined care pathways in improving quality of life for patients.

Ms Deepti Saraf, General Manager of Roche Malaysia and Vice President of the Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia (PhAMA), said advances in science and healthcare delivery were increasingly allowing the industry to focus on both treatment outcomes and the quality of life of patients. “Breast cancer care has come a long way. Advanced science now allows us to focus on quality of life and giving back time, reducing treatment times that once took hours to a much lower duration. By streamlining care pathways, we ensure innovation does more than treat the disease: it eases the strain on families and gives women back their time, peace of mind, and a sense of normalcy to live their lives.”

As Malaysia works towards reducing the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer at later stages, the experience of patients navigating the healthcare system is becoming an increasingly important part of the conversation.

The challenge is not simply detecting breast cancer earlier, but ensuring that once a woman enters the healthcare system, the journey from investigation to treatment is clearer, faster and more connected.