ABOUT
Dr Sarah Fairhead completed her studies at the University of Cape Town, obtaining a fellowship in Radiation Oncology as well as her Masters in Medicine and Diploma in Palliative Medicine. She believes strongly that staying up-to-date with the latest research is essential for patient outcomes. As such, she has presented at various conferences and spent time at the Harvard associated hospitals gaining further experience in specialised radiotherapy techniques, immunotherapy and targeted agents. She also acts as an honorary lecturer at the University of Cape Town.
Dr Fairhead has a passion for holistic care. She loves getting to know her patients and their families and believes that through properly understanding their individual needs, she is better equipped to offer patient-cantered care.
Her interests include breast cancer, malignant and benign brain tumours, and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract and hepatobiliary system.
Services includes :
- Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is oncological treatment which uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells. Chemotherapy can be given orally, intravenously, or in some instances on the skin. The choice of chemotherapy depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated. Chemotherapy is sometimes given alone, and sometimes given with other treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, and biological therapies including immunotherapy. - Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy uses high energy radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumours. Radiation may come from a machine located outside the body (external beam radiotherapy) or from radioactive materials placed in the body (brachytherapy and labelled isotope therapy). Radiotherapy is given alone or with low dose chemotherapy which acts as a “radiation sensitizer.” Sophisticated technology such as respiratory gating and image guidance with cone beam CT scans can be used to ensure high levels of accuracy when radiotherapy is delivered. - Stereotactic radiosurgery
Stereotactic radiosurgery uses many focused radiation beams to treat tumours. The precision of stereotactic radiosurgery means that high doses of radiation can be delivered to the tumour with minimal damage to healthy surrounding tissues. This type of radiotherapy is mainly used to treat small tumours and is given in one treatment. When the same precision therapy is used for larger tumours, it is given in more sessions with a lower dose per session. This is called fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy.. - Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment which helps your immune system to fight cancer. Some form of immunotherapy help your immune system to work harder to find cancer cells, others change how the immune system works so it can attacks cancer cells better. Immunotherapy can be given alone, but sometimes it is given with other treatments such as chemotherapy or surgery. - Targeted cancer therapy
Targeted therapy uses drugs (usually orally) which target the proteins and cellular pathways that lead to the development of cancers and the proliferation and spread of cancers. This treatment is the foundation of precision medicine and is continuously evolving as researchers learn more about individual cancers and their genetic drivers. Some cancers have known targets with targeted drugs available, but more frequently biomarkers testing is required to see if a tumour has mutations with drugs available for the specific mutation.
