The Best of Breast Cancer Care: Maximum Impact, Minimum Stress
From BestHealth, September 2006
Sandra Rose of Clemmons is no stranger to challenges. She has dealt with Multiple Sclerosis for a number of years and her husband was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
So when a stereotactic needle biopsy at the Breast Care Center at Wake Forest Baptist confirmed that she had a small cancerous area in her breast, she accepted this new challenge with a positive attitude.
“I have a strong support network of faith, family and friends and had complete confidence in the physicians and staff at the Breast Care Center,” said Rose. “The most amazing thing to me is, with their multidisciplinary approach, in less than two weeks I had a confirmed diagnosis and treatment plan in place and within a month I had been through surgery and was on my way to a full recovery.”
“That’s the beauty of our Center,” said Edward Levine, M.D., Director of the Breast Care Center. The Center consolidates the services of a team of specialists in a central location, allowing the patient to be seen by multiple physicians during a single visit. The team includes breast surgeons, radiologists, medical and radiation oncologists, plastic surgeons, pathologists, specialty nurses and genetic counselors.
“The fact that we are able to bring all these specialists together minimizes the stress for patients and expedites definitive diagnosis and treatment,” said Levine.
During a single surgery, Rose had a lumpectomy and insertion of a Mammosite balloon, a device through which high-dose radiation is delivered directly to the site of the cancer. Mammosite is a more localized treatment than external radiation and doesn’t radiate unnecessary tissue. The treatment regimen is significantly shortened—one week as opposed to six weeks for external radiation. She was treated twice a day for five days and is back to her regular routine.
“I could not have asked for a nicer, more competent team,” said Rose. “Everyone took the time to answer all my questions and was compassionate, caring and respectful. They made me feel like I was their number one focus.”
Targeted therapies like Mammosite and access to clinical research trials available only at academic medical centers are among the hallmarks of the Breast Care Center.
One technology being evaluated here is HEDA—Homologous Electrical Difference Analysis—a research trial looking at a new way to screen women for breast disease with a completely painless technology more similar to an EKG than a mammogram. More than 300 women have already been enrolled in the study.
Breast Care Center: Highlights
• The Breast Care Center is part of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, one of only 39 NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country.
• Included in the comprehensive center is the Breast Cancer Center of Excellence, focused on basic and clinical breast cancer research.
• Wake Forest Baptist is one of a handful of centers in the country testing Positron Emission Mammography (PEM). PEM is an adaptation of Positron Emission Tomography, a highly successful technology for detecting cancers in the body. The portable PEM unit is used along with stereotactic needle biopsy to evaluate women with abnormal findings and identifies not only the location and extent of the tumor, but also whether it is benign or malignant.