More than 90 women joined us for Tuesday’s Women’s Connection luncheon focusing on breast cancer screening, treatment and reconstruction.
Breast surgeon Jackie Osland, MD, and reconstructive surgeon, Vanessa Voge, MD, both with Wichita Surgical Specialists, discussed the breakthroughs in treatment and reconstruction for breast cancer patients.
The good news, according to Dr. Osland, is that breast cancer deaths are decreasing. She also provided some interesting facts about breast cancer including:
- One in three women in the U.S. will get cancer.
- One in eight women in the U.S. will get breast cancer.
- Cancer is an age-specific disease: If you’re in your 20s, you have a one in 2,000 chance of getting cancer. However, if you’re in your 60s, you have a one in 29 chance.
- Most women who get breast cancer don’t have a family history.
- By the year 2030, obesity may replace smoking as the leading cause of cancer.
Dr. Osland also talked about the advances in treatment of breast cancer including digital mammograms, less-invasive tissue biopsy, and less-morbid surgery. There have also been several exciting advances in research to try and crack the genetic code of cancer.
For the second part of the presentation, Dr. Voge talked about the many types of breast cancer reconstruction now available to women. New kinds of treatment as well as improved reconstructive surgery mean that women who have breast cancer today have better choices.
Dr. Voge feels the main priority for patients going through breast cancer is to focus on treating the cancer; deciding on reconstruction should be secondary.
The most common way of doing breast reconstruction is at the time of a mastectomy. Most often, a tissue expander/implant is used.
When using a tissue expander/implant, the expander is implanted at the time of mastectomy. At subsequent office appointments, the physician will inject liquid into the expander to help expand the skin to the desired breast size. During the second surgery, usually four months from the first surgery, the tissue expander is exchanged for an implant.
Dr. Voge also discussed several reconstruction options that involve using tissue from other parts of the body to help create a new breast.
If you missed the luncheon, you can see both of the physicians’ PowerPoint presentations below.
