Credentials
Peter and Sue Jones are a unique husband and wife team of experienced and enthusiastic Surgeons who established a dedicated Breast Clinic in Maidstone more than 10 years ago.
"Best Breast Surgeons"
In an article by The Daily Telegraph in June 2005, Sue Jones was named as one of three best breast surgeons in the United Kingdom in a full-page article written by Kate Shepland.
"Jones & Jones"
The team giving cancer victims hope - Shouldn't all Breast units be this good?
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"Woman and Home"
The day a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer will be burnt into her memory for ever. How she deals with it can very much depend on the medical staff and their approach.
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They are wonderfully supported by highly regarded Consultants in pathology, radiology and oncology who all specialise in the diagnosis and management of breast cancer and other breast conditions.
For example, Dr Ali Sever, Consultant Radiologist, reads 15,000 mammograms a year, performs 2,500 breast ultrasound examinations and 600 of FNA or ultrasound guided core biopsies. He has the most experience of stereotactic prone table mammotome core biopsies in the UK.
Our Consultant Cellular Pathologist, mainly specialises in breast disease and is in charge of the Quality Assurance programme for the NHS Breast Screen Programme in the South of England. The Kent Oncology Centre is an integral part of the Maidstone Hospital allowing close working with, and easy access to, the cancer specialists including Dr Mary O'Brien, Consultant Medical Oncologist, (who also works at the Royal Marsden Hospital), Dr.Rema Jyothirmayi and Dr Charlotte Abson, Consultant Clinical Oncologist.
Peter and Sue Jones also work with Dr Jenny Weeks, Breast Physician, Fiona Andersen and Anna Matthews, Specialist Breast Care Nurses and many others.
They all meet together on a weekly basis at the multidisciplinary breast team meeting (MDM) and all patients who have undergone triple assessment are discussed in detail. Treatment options are considered at this meeting to present and discuss with their patients later in the day in the Breast Clinic.
Following surgery patients are again discussed in the MDM to decide what recommendations to make about further adjuvant treatment.
Both NHS and private patients are discussed by this same group. When it is necessary to advise mastectomy immediate or delayed reconstruction can always be undertaken within the unit. For women not choosing reconstruction our Breast Care Nurses offer immediate prosthesis fitting.
Access NHS |
Private
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Breast Conservation (lumpectomy)
The Maidstone Breast Team strongly believes in avoiding mastectomy where at all possible. We have managed to achieve very low mastectomy rates without compromising outcomes. It is well established that cure rates are not improved by mastectomy, a fact which was again confirmed by research published in October 2000 and highlighted in the media.It has been suggested that the risk of cancer recurring locally in the breast may be higher after lumpectomy.
We have shown that as long as a carefully performed lumpectomy is combined with high quality radiotherapy - such as is available at the Kent Oncology Centre in Maidstone - the very low recurrence rates can be achieved.
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
Peter and Sue Jones are fully accredited in the central lymph node biopsy procedure and between them have performed more than 500 operations of this type as of November 2007.
Local Recurrence rates following very conservative breast surgery from Maidstone General Hospital.
Conservative breast surgery with postoperative radiotherapy and systemic therapy is associated with comparable outcomes in terms of local recurrence rates and survival. In most series wide local excision associated with a 5 year local recurrence rate of between 4-15%.
At our unit a more conservative 'complete' local excision rather than 'wide' local excision is performed followed by radiotherapy with or without an additional tumour bed boost, aiming to achieve a better cosmetic outcome. We therefore decided to review our local recurrence rates.
A retrospective audit was carried out using computer records and the card index file of all breast cancers stored in the breast unit. Records and pathology reports of 923 female patients who underwent conservative breast surgery between January 1983 and February 2001 were assessed for this study to determine the 5 and 10 year local recurrence rates and the closest margin of excision.
The 5 and 10 year local recurrence rate was 4.7% (23/482) and 3.4% (27/780). Complete data with regards to the closest histological margin of excision was obtained in 423 patients. The commonest closest margin of excision was1mm (28%). Most patients (97.8%) had their tumours excised within 1cm with 81% having their closest margin of 5mm or less. Of those who developed local recurrence 52.4% underwent further conservation surgery and 47.3% underwent mastectomy.
Our local recurrence rates compare favourably with the accepted standards and conservative complete local excision combined with radical radiotherapy with an additional tumour bed boost is recommended.
Our Experience
Including both NHS and private patients our team now treats an increasing number of women with breast cancer. In 2001 - 2002 we have seen 4500 out-patients with a breast problem and 300 new breast cancers have been treated.
The charts below show the number of operations performed by surgeons at different hospitals, and demonstrates the difference in Mastectomy rates with our breast clinic at Maidstone (number 1) achieving a significantly higher breast conservation rate.
Operations on Female Breast by West Kent Consultants for Breast Cancer
Year 1st April 1999 to 31st March 2000
Operations on Female Breast by West Kent Consultants for Breast Cancer
Year 1st April 1998 to 31st March 1999
