Medical & Surgical Oncology

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Evaluation & Treatment

The comprehensive Breast Health team has expert breast surgeons and physicians who are an integral part of your breast care treatment team. They provide a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of breast cancer and breast disease, including:

Evaluation of benign/noncancerous breast masses and other problems, such as infections and nipple discharge, including surgical treatment when needed
State of the art multidisciplinary evaluation and treatment of breast cancer
Surgery for breast cancer —breast conservation (also known as lumpectomy) and mastectomy
Sentinel node mapping and dissection — the minimally invasive surgical evaluation of lymph nodes
Integrative oncology
Genetic testing and counseling
Breast reconstruction following mastectomy in partnership with our Plastic Surgery colleagues
Risk assessment for breast cancer
Placement of long-term intravenous catheters for chemotherapy
Patient Navigators and survivorship support

Expert care

At UTMB Health, our surgeons are experts in their field and have helped develop new procedures that offer a number of specialized treatment options and benefits for patients:

Premier surgeons for breast surgery, all of whom are specifically trained as surgical oncologists in breast cancer.
The axillary reverse mapping (ARM) technique has been developed to map and preserve arm lymphatic drainage during axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) and/or sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy, thereby minimizing arm lymphedema.
Close collaboration with plastic surgeons and radiation oncologists to offer concurrent patient consultations and immediate or delayed breast reconstruction.
Partial breast radiation, a new technology that can be used in select patients, is offered. Using this technique, high-dosage breast radiation is given over five days instead of six weeks. (Standard radiation therapy following breast cancer surgery is six weeks of daily external beam radiation.)
The Breast Health program also offers "neo-adjuvant chemotherapy." Working in tandem with Medical Oncology, chemotherapy is administered to the patient prior to surgery when needed. This option is often used to shrink large tumors–which would traditionally require mastectomy–to a smaller size more amenable to breast conserving surgery.