Friday, December 21, 2007

Frozen Pea Friday - Discussing Reconstructive Surgery

During my drive to work this morning, CBS Radio News mentioned a story that has been covered in other places, such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Only a third of breast cancer patients get to discuss their breast reconstruction options with their general cancer surgeon before the tumor is removed, new research finds.

In the study, more than 70 percent of general surgeons who removed the cancer did not talk over options for reconstruction -- which is typically done by a plastic surgeon -- before the woman underwent cancer surgery.

"It's disappointing," said lead researcher Dr. Amy K. Alderman, assistant professor of plastic surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor.

These discussions do matter: Women who discussed their options for reconstructing the breast beforehand with their physician were four times more likely to have a mastectomy (versus lumpectomy) compared to those who did not talk about the option, the researchers noted.

Th findings were published online Dec. 21 in Cancer and were expected to be published in the journal's Feb. 1 print edition.


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1 comments:

The Patients Advantage said...

This is a great blog. Thank you for putting this forum together. I have been reading blogs like this for awhile and for the most part people have had positive experiences with their elective procedures. That is great to see. I would be interested to know what your cirteris would be - or has been - in a search for a cosmetic surgeon. That is undoubtedly the most difficult part of the process - finding a good surgeon for your specific situation. My name is Mia I am the VP of Operations at The Patients Advantage. I am not interested in selling what we do on these blogs. What we do is at no cost to patients. I am interested in feedback from people who have already gone through the search process and or have taken the process all the way and had an elective procedure done. We have been in business since 2004 and the feedback we have received has always kept us in the forefront of technology and develop the tools that keep patients better informed on who the best surgeons are and the research tools about the procedures of interest. Please reply to this post on what is important to you…or email me directly from here or through our site; www.thepatientsadvantage.com. Happy Holidays!