helping you live healthy here on the
morning show all month long we are
discussing breast cancer awareness
wanting to keep you informed about the
importance of early detection when it
comes to breast cancer breast cancer is
the most commonly diagnosed cancer in
women it is the second leading cause of
death among women and there are 3.3
million breast cancer survivors though
alive right now in the United States
many times that's because of early
detection and also good doctors good
research big breakthroughs that really
have changed the way that women are
treated and diagnosed we have general
surgeon dr. Walter Haines who is here
this morning with Orange Park Medical
Center appreciate you coming in this
morning very passionate clearly about
what you do
we've talked several times one of the
things that has changed over the years
and really working towards it is
multidisciplinary care we hear that so
often now where all types of doctors
work together to come up with a course
of treatment for patients absolutely
that's so important today in this day
and age we always present women at our
multidisciplinary tumor board where
there's medical oncologists radiation
oncologist pathologist plastic surgeons
and we get the best plan of care for the
woman it's sort of a freebie second
opinion for her I love that because a my
I've seen some of the rooms where it
takes place and literally everyone's
debating what's the best treatment
what's the best option after the woman
gets surgery as well correct absolutely
I know a lot of good minds in there and
I imagine you guys go back and forth
sometimes to figure out what that is
absolutely absolutely so one thing that
we did talk about too is that you're
able to do more with less women aren't
put through so many invasive surgeries
now we just know more correct
85% of women in this day and age are
able to have what's called breast
conserving surgery instead of doing a
mastectomy we've removed the tumor
what's called a lumpectomy we used to
think five years ago we had to take a
one centimeter margin now we know we
just need no tumor on ink for an
invasive breast cancer we then take out
the first one or two lymph nodes that
drain under the arm instead of taking
all the lymph nodes out that way there's
a much lower risk of lymphedema nerve
injury and we found now just over the
past few years even if there's
let's have a little bit of tumor in them
we don't have to go back and take more
lymph nodes out we can give them
radiation to the area under the arm and
thereby avoid the lymphedema and the
nerve injury and how does that change
the experience for the woman after the
surgery they have a lot less pain
cosmetically things look better and
obviously we want to do the best we can
for the cancer number one but also
cosmetically number two you know women
get a diagnosis of breast cancer first
of all they're in shock and then really
there's so much information out there to
research what are some questions that a
woman can ask their doctor to find out
what is the best course I think the most
important thing when they come in for a
consultation is to bring a family member
so that they have some support because
it's an overwhelming experience number
two there's nothing wrong with getting a
second opinion number three just make
sure that they've gotten a
multidisciplinary approach where they've
gotten all things reviewed I always have
a woman bring her disc in with her
images we reviewed the discs we spent
over an hour reviewing her images her
pathology report and I give them a piece
of paper at the end of it with their
treatment plan so they know where
they're going from there it's really
important that they understand what
they're facing and ask as many questions
as you as you can and I think portals
are also a good way because they can
send emails and a lot of times then that
conversation can start in there
absolutely I'm also a nipple sparing
surgery skin sparing so that you can
actually take the nipple and and put it
on if a woman does have to have a
reference so even though 85% of women
are candidates for breast conserving
surgery unfortunately sometimes we do
have to still do a mastectomy whether
it's multiple tumors in the breast the
genetic mutations such as a bracket
mutation we used to always have to take
out the breast tissue with a large
amount of skin and the nipple areola
complex however in this day and age for
healthy women we can actually remove the
breast tissue I've see the tissue right
behind the nipple at the time of surgery
if it's negative spare the skin and
oftentimes the nipple areolar complex
which will allow a much better cosmetic
result when the plastic surgeon does the
reconstruction and are these things the
woman should ask about or will it
automatically be offered to her in time
there's a consideration of a mastectomy
I personally send the patient to a
plastic surgeon and had them at length
review what their options are that's so
important to that women know what to do
after
the surgery and that it's covered by
insurance and that they have many many
options thank you for coming in thank
you something about this we want to
continue this discussion on breast
cancer awareness again that's all month
long and I hope this kind of makes you
feel better knowing that there are a lot
of options out there and knowing that
you have to start this conversation keep
it going with the doctor on Thursday we
will discuss the latest in breast cancer
research and targeted breast cancer
therapies we're having that conversation
every Thursday at 8:15 8:15 here on the
morning show