Page 18 - SFHN1019pagesfinalUF.qxp_SFHN 0608 Friday 5.0

Breast Cancer... Breast Cancer... Breast Cancer... Breast Cancer...

Cover Story: Breast Cancer Awareness AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY GUIDELINES

and Screening (2015)

Women ages 40 to 44 should have the choice to start
Continued from page 1 therapy, radiation therapy and more annual breast cancer screening with mammograms
are more likely to be younger at the onset recently targeted immunotherapy. (x-rays of the breast) if they wish to do so.
of disease and also show a higher death Surgery continues to be the first stage
rate from breast cancer as compared to of treatment in most breast cancers • Women age 45 to 54 should get mammograms
Caucasian, Asian or Hispanic women. detected early by screening. Recent every year
Screening mammogram is the most years have seen a big change in the sur- • Women 55 and older should switch to mammo-
acceptable and widely used tool for gical approach to breast cancer with grams every 2 years, or can continue yearly screen-
screening and is especially beneficial in increasing use of breast conservation
decreasing death rates from cancer in surgery. ing.
women aged 50-69 years. Ultrasound is Breast conservation surgery uses spe- • Screening should continue as long as a woman is
often used as an adjunct to mammogra- cific localization techniques using in good health and is expected to live 10 more years
phy in younger women and those with mammography or ultrasound to pre- or longer.
dense breasts. MRI is not routinely used cisely identify the area of the cancer in
for screening except in patients with the breast and remove only that part of USPSTF guidelines (2016)
high risk factors like BRCA gene + status the breast (partial mastectomy) with
or family history of breast or ovarian can- adequate margins. This technique,
cer. when combined with breast radiation of breasts), which has the primary both breast and ovarian cancer.
• Women ages 40-49 years- decision to therapy has been proven to have equiva- advantage of removal of all the breast tis- Another important advance in breast
get mammograms should be an individ- lent survival as compared to complete sue, eliminates further need for mammo- cancer surgery is the use of sentinel
ual one, and offer no benefit for yearly removal of breasts. It also helps patients graphic surveillance and overall peace of lymph node biopsy technique. This is a
mammograms in preserving their own breasts and also mind for patients with high anxiety lev- technique used to diagnose if there is
• Women ages 50-74 years- should get improves their self-esteem and overall els. Combined with immediate breast spread of cancer to the lymph nodes in
mammograms once every 2 years emotional coping with cancer. reconstruction, it can help alleviate some the axilla (armpit) which is the first area
• Women over the age 74- no substan- Oncoplastic surgery, in which breast tis- of the negative emotional effects of los- to which cancer would spread from the
tial benefit from yearly mammograms sue is rearranged to improve cosmetic ing one’s breasts. In fact, total mastecto- breast. Traditionally this was done by
appearance especially after larger volume
Surgical management of excision, has also increased the my is frequently combined with remov- routinely removing all the lymph nodes
of breast cancer acceptance of breast conservation thera- ing the breasts on the opposite side (dou- which caused significant side effects of
There have been exciting new py. In fact, breast conservation is current- ble mastectomy) or even breast reduc- arm swelling and also nerve injury. With
this new technique, we inject a radioac-
tion techniques for patients with large
advances in the treatment of breast can- ly the accepted standard of care for treat- breasts. Nipple sparing mastectomy, tive protein in the breast before surgery
cer in the past 2 decades. It has become a ing early breast cancers. which helps in preserving patient’s own and selectively remove one to three
truly multimodal treatment with a role Alternatively, patients have the option nipple and breast skin is also cosmetical- lymph nodes for biopsy. This technique
for surgery, chemotherapy, endocrine of total mastectomy (complete removal
ly more acceptable and also proven to be eliminates major axilla surgery in more
effective in patients with cancer. than 90% of patients with early breast
Prophylactic bilateral mastectomy, that cancer.
is removing both breasts even before there In conclusion, various advances in sur-
is a diagnosis of cancer, is offered for gical techniques combined with appro-
patients with high risk for cancer, especial- priate adjuvant therapy with radiation,
ly if patients are positive for BRCA gene chemotherapy, immunotherapy and
and thus have a very high chance of devel- endocrine therapy have resulted in an
oping breast cancer in the future. This improvement in survival rates from
group of patients also benefits from breast cancer.
Bilateral oophorectomy (removal of both
Specializing in Medically ovaries) to reduce the overall estrogen Dr. Vanitha Vasudevan is a General
Surgeon at Florida Medical Center.
exposure and thus decreasing chances of
Complex Patients

Kindred Hospitals are owned by Kindred
Healthcare, Inc., a national network of Long Term E-mail Your Editorial Submissions to
Acute Care Hospitals (LTACH's).
editorial@southfloridahospitalnews.com
Kindred Hospitals provide specialized, high quality
care for acutely ill patients. For more than a decade,
we have fine-tuned the art of medically complex care.

Our services range from complex catastrophic
illnesses that require intensive care, post-surgical medical
rehabilitation to patients suffering from chronic diseases requiring respiratory and
rehabilitative therapies. Kindred Hospitals provide outcome-oriented
cost effective care for patients with a wide spectrum of
medical conditions.

Admissions to Kindred Hospitals may be
recommended by physicians, acute-care hospitals,
rehabilitation hospitals, managed care providers, case
management companies or by the patient’s family.
In all cases family tours are encouraged.

Kindred Hospital Kindred Hospital Kindred Hospital Kindred Hospital
Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Coral Gables The Palm Beaches
1516 East Las Olas Blvd. 1859 Van Buren St. 5190 Southwest Eighth St. 5555 West Blue Heron Blvd
Ft. Lauderdale FL 33301 Hollywood, FL 33020 Coral Gables, FL 33134 Riviera Beach, FL 33418
954-764-8900, ext. 5136 954-920-9000 305-448-1585 561-904-8451
www.khfortlauderdale.com www.khsfhollywood.com www.khcoralgables.com www.khthepalmbeaches.com

18 October 2019 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News