EXPERT SOURCES AVAILABLEThe widening war on breast cancer shows promise for womenSylvester experts attack breast cancer on multiple fronts to advance cures, reduce racial disparities and save lives. New imaging and surgical techniques help.
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Susan Kesmodel, M.D., is director of breast surgical oncology at Sylvester and co-leader of the Breast Site Disease Group. She sees opportunities for better use of surgery. “We are seeing a de-escalation of surgery for breast cancer. In many women with early-stage breast cancer, mastectomy is not necessary and long-term survival is equivalent with lumpectomy. In some cases where we have multifocal or multicentric breast cancers we can do two lumpectomies with radiation and patients do not necessarily need a mastectomy,” Kesmodel said. She added:
Jose Net, M.D., is the vice chair of Clinical Operations and director of the Division of Breast Imaging at Sylvester. He seeks to leverage the best imaging technology to detect cancer. “Routine mammographic screening is the best way to minimize your chance of dying of breast cancer. Early detection can help find tumors that are smaller, haven’t spread outside the breast and are easier to treat,” Net said. He added:
Lluis Morey, Ph.D., is a member of Sylvester’s Cancer Epigenetics Program and associate professor at the Human Genetics Department at University of Miami. He studies how epigenetic mechanisms regulate resistance to current therapies. He wants to find new therapeutic targets for head and neck carcinomas and breast cancer. “Most cancers respond poorly or become resistant to current treatments, such as triple negative breast cancer. Why is that? There is a critical need to identify molecular and biochemical pathways responsible for cancer growth so we can develop new therapies that revert the epigenome of the cell to a normal state. We hope this will be the next wave and standard of care,” Morey said. He added:
# # # MEDIA CONTACT: Gary Polakovic c-305-213-4642 |