Professor John Benson is a Consultant Breast Surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, Affiliated Assistant Professor, University of Cambridge and Visiting Professor, School of Medicine, Anglia Ruskin University. He qualified from Oxford University Clinical School and has been awarded doctorates from Oxford and Cambridge Universities (DM (Oxon); MD (Cantab)). He received specialist training at the Royal Marsden Hospital and Institute of Cancer Research, London and The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Centre/Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, New York. He is an examiner for the MRCS examination, a member of the British Breast Group and a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Breast Surgery (ABS). His clinical practice is devoted entirely to breast diseases and current research interests include investigation of fluorescence navigation for sentinel lymph node detection in early breast cancer patients. He has previously been actively involved with the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium as a member of the Planning Committee, panelist and Career Development Forum (2011–2015). He was Visiting Professor at the University of Texas, Health Sciences Centre at San Antonio, Texas in December 2016 and is co-convener for the Advanced Skills in Breast Disease Course (ABS course portfolio). He has published more than 160 papers (including 30 in the Lancet/Lancet Oncology) and written/edited 9 books (First Prize in the Oncology Section of BMA Medical Book Awards (2013). He has been ranked in the top 0.076% of breast cancer experts worldwide. He was elected Honorary Secretary of the Association of Breast Surgery in 2023.
Title: Multiple ipsilateral breast cancers
The extent of loco-regional therapy can potentially be reduced for multiple ipsilateral breast cancers (MIBC) based on accurate pre-operative evaluation, careful surgical planning and multidisciplinary team discussion. Randomized controlled clinical trials have confirmed the equivalence of survival outcomes for unifocal tumours treated with breast conserving therapy (BCT) compared to mastectomy but no trials have specifically addressed safety and efficacy of lesser surgical procedures for MIBC. There are perceived higher rates of ipsilateral breast tumour recurrence and poorer cosmesis when BCT is attempted for MIBC but emerging evidence suggests low rates of local recurrence and no survival detriment in contemporary surgical practice.