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Tuesday, November, 24, 2009
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Featured ContentPJ Hamel On NPR!

Innovations In Breast Cancer Surgery: Oncoplasty, Hidden-Scar, and Skin-Sparing Procedures

PJ Hamel
PJ Hamel
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PJ Hamel is happy to be alive. As always.
Author, breast cancer survivor

Writer, mother, wife, volunteer, and survivor: PJ Hamel joins the...

PJ Hamel

Thursday, October 23, 2008
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“It’s the next frontier in breast cancer surgery,” says Dr. David Byrd of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.Whoa! That’s quite a statement. Back in the day, a woman’s only choice to remove her tumor was a brutal radical mastectomy, surgery that not only removed the tumor ...
  1. Oncoplasty
    Anonymous
    Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 04:33 PM

    I had a lumpectomy using this type of surgery, and was very pleased with the results.  It is hard for others to tell that any surgery was done at all, as there is also no scarring.  While it may be a new development for breast cancer surgery, it should be adopted as a new standard, as I know a woman who underwent a similar lumpectomy, in the same location as mine, who was left with a lop sided breast that required reconstructive surgery to correct.  

    Reply
    re: Oncoplasty
    PJ Hamel
    Sunday, March 01, 2009 at 09:30 AM

    Thanks so much for sharing your good results with oncoplasty. I'm glad to hear that this new procedure is being put into use and that you were able to take advantage of it! PJH

    Reply
    re: re: Oncoplasty
    KR
    Sunday, March 01, 2009 at 06:51 PM

    I had my surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, which is a teaching hospital, and my impression is that oncoplasty is still so new, only hospitals that are connected to state of the art teaching techniques offer it as an option.  My surgeon was on a grant to learn the proceedure from a head surgeon, and he, in turn, left Columbia Presbyterian to teach it at a hospital in London. While it took time for the scars to heal, it really is amazing how natural the breast now looks. so when I go for follow-up exams, the staff doing them usually can't tell where the surgery was performed. - KR   

    Reply
    re: re: re: Oncoplasty
    PJ Hamel
    Sunday, March 01, 2009 at 07:14 PM

    Wow, excellent! I hope this procedure makes its way from the teaching and urban hospitals into cancer centers and hopsitals all over the country soon. Looking normal, looking good, isn't vain; it's a major part of emotional healing. I'm hopeful more and more of us having lumpectomies will be able to access oncoplasty in the next few years. PJH

    Reply
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