Breast cancer research and awareness showing positive results

WALK FOR AWARENESS: Breast cancer walks

Screening and Diagnosis

"I see patients every day who save their lives by getting their mammograms. Do it every year starting at 40. "Dr. Alice Police, Northwell Health Regional Director of Breast Surgery. She treats patients at Northern Westchester Hospital in Kisco Mount and Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow.

Early detection has been key to wiping out. Genetic testing is becoming more popular. But it's quite complicated.

A massive study of nearly 4,000 variants in a gene, which was published by the International Journal of Science. BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are linked to breast cancer, but some are harmless. The findings could not be changed to the mutations' significance.

"The more genetic testing we do, the more we will have understanding of these risks and the risk factor for patients," said Dr. Robbi Kempner, Medical Director of Breast and Women's Health Prevention Services at Montefiore. Nyack Hospital and a breast surgeon at the nearby Highland Medical, PC

Dr. Kempner and Dr. Bonnie Litvack, Director of Women's Imaging at Northern Westchester Hospital, has full-service breast imaging at Yorktown Imaging, which agrees that three-dimensional mammography is becoming more widespread. Compared to two-dimensional mammograms, this technology is more accurate and better at detecting breast cancer by screening the tissue in thin slices, which also has fewer false positives and fewer callbacks for further testing.

Litvack said she was glad that the American College of Radiology released new screening guidelines in April. This is the same institution that has given birth to mammograms starting at age 40, which has dropped from breast cancer by 45 percent since mammograms became widespread in the 1980s.

The college, the Society of Breast Imaging, now calls for an assessment of the age of death. The societies recommending that previously diagnosed with breast cancer also get MRI screenings.

And for the first time, the college acknowledges that African-American women are at high risk and should be treated as such, because they are 42 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women, despite the same incidence rate. They have a two-fold higher risk of getting aggressive "triple negative" breast tumors.

"These recommendations are made to help women," said police, "who will be screened for an earlier age. "It's potentially life-saving. The updates are just going to save more lives. "

Treatment and reconstruction

Another way of doing surgery is minimally invasive way possible, often in the same operation.

At Nyack Hospital, Kempner was the first surgeon in Rockland County to be trained in the Hidden Scar surgery technique. In a mastectomy with reconstruction, she makes the incision below the breast crease. In a lumpectomy, the cut can be in the armpit, around the nipple's are where the color changes or just under the breast.

"The idea is to leave the woman without any visible reminder of what they went through. We are doing better and better every year with breast cancer screening, treatment and survival rates. Hidden Scar surgery is something we offer to our patients because of their quality of life, "Kempner said.

"And with more women being diagnosed with cancer in earlier stages, they live longer. They want to look good, and they're entitled to look good. "

Brought Police brought Police Police Police Police Police,,,,,,,,,,,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, First, she uses a Savi Scout breast localization and surgical guide system. "We call it GPS for the breast," Police said.

Next is MarginProbe, which enables real-time evaluation of the margins of the tumor so that patients do not have to come back for a second operation. Nationally, more than 25 percent of patients, but this probe reduces to 4 percent, Police said.

Also, inter-operative radiation therapy is now possible. That means patients with early-stage cancer can receive 20 to 30 minutes of radiation during surgery so that when they wake up, they can cut out about six weeks of radiation therapy.

Lastly, chemotherapy with all its disheartening side effects is not used on many people with the help of Oncotype DX testing, which analyzes the biologic activity of individual tumors to determine whether chemotherapy is necessary.

Dr. Preya Ananthakrishnan, director of breast cancer surgery at White Plains Hospital, was the first surgeon in Westchester to perform pre-pectoral implant reconstruction in 2017.

Since the 1970s, post-pectoralis, sub-muscular gold, reconstruction has been drawn-out, painful process for patients, in which after many weeks of stretching the muscle, the plastic surgeon inserts the implant underneath the muscle in a separate surgery after the masectomy.

"Tissue expansion is like a water balloon gradually stretching out," Ananthakrishnan said.

In pre-pectoral reconstruction, the implant goes beyond the skin, which can reduce pain, breast deformities and weakness. Doctors worried that the new technique would increase infection, especially when post-op radiation therapy is needed. But now there is a biologic mesh that acts like a sling over the implant, providing a barrier against the skin.

The new technique is being reported by the American Society of Breast Surgeons at a national meeting in May, when the White Plains Hospital and their surgical teams presented their video of their pre-pectoral surgical technique.

The mesh costs extra and is expensive, yes, but it is often covered by insurance because it is performed at the same time as the surgery to remove cancer.

"It's remarkable the difference in patient experience and recovery. It decreases their need for narcotic pain medication, "Ananthakrishnan said. "I actually had a patient who made it to the hospital after surgery, she felt so good. I had to tell her stop. I was shocked. But the patients, they really do feel that good. "

Wolfthal has had a similar experience. In June of 2017, Ananthakrishnan removed the tumor in the milk ducts of her left breast and then did a pre-pectoral reconstruction in the same surgery.

"Going in, you do not know if they'll be able to save the nipple," Wolfthal said. "The first thing I was just out of surgery, while I was still loopy, was thinking under my eyes, thinking 'Do you still have it?' I'm just over the moon because you're diagnosed, you see all these pictures, the deformities. I was lucky. "

"Now I'm back to doing everything I was doing before."

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