If you need any help with Breast Cancer screening to surgery, Dr. Peter Blumencranz is the one of…read morethe best Breast Cancer Surgeons/Doctors, in the US, to see for Breast Cancer. He is brilliant and saved my life. Even if you live far away, but it's your first BC surgical need, give his office a ring.
Dr. Blumencranz did a gene assay test on me to biopsy my lymph nodes on the breast side with cancer, during surgery, to see if any other lymph nodes were cancerous. What this meant was, he did not need to dig around in my arm pit and remove all my lymph nodes during my first or subsequent surgeries to take out more or all lymph nodes. This alleviates the need to have multiple surgeries, and limits the need for removing healthy lymph nodes. Lymph nodes are needed to support your body's lymphatic system which regulates fluid, toxins, etc. The lymph nodes may have cancer cells, and the biopsy of all lymph nodes on the side with cancer, is a critical process necessary to stop the spread of breast cancer. This test also has a higher rate of accuracy, and improves detection vs. the traditional surgical methods. This procedure was approved by the FDA in 2007. Dr. Blumencranz spent years developing and testing the surgical biopsy process of the lymph nodes. He had already been a surgeon for 25+ years when I saw him.
Dr. B has also travelled around the US to introduce this procedure to other Cancer centers, and help train and support other surgeons so more breast cancer patients can have this procedure done. Make sure you research the procedure for yourself, read all the material, and ask all the necessary questions, as with any surgery. Make sure you also get tested for any potential allergies for imagine dyes, like a blue dye. Reason being - so you don't have an allergy to the dye used to biopsy the lymph nodes during surgery. My mother has an allergy to any dyes administered via IV. Which covers dyes used in MRI's, CAT Scans, etc. Mother would not be able to have this type of biopsy of the lymph nodes, for example. But those of you who do not have a dye allergy, should be ok. Just remember to ask about it, and maybe find a way to get pre-tested if the Doctor requires. I don't know what that may be, but just want to bring it up just in case.
All my best to all women with their breast health. For those of you who haven't had a mammogram yet and you are under 40/years, please discuss with your primary doctor. 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer. If your family has a history of any cancer, or if you pursue getting the breast cancer gene test, getting a mammogram at 30 or 35 should be considered. My cancer started growing when I was 35. I didn't get my first mammogram until I was 41, and when I finally got it, I had a very large tumor, which was growing for 7 years (est by the cancer team).
Below are some articles covering the Gene Assay test for the Lymph Nodes during Breast Cancer Surgery, and additional research and work that Dr. Blumencranz has published in 2014 at a Cancer Symposium in Miami Florida.
ARTICLES: Dr. Peter Blumencranz -
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/OnCallPlusBreastCancerNews/story?id=4006486&page=1
https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/greater-bay-area-mcdonalds-restaurant-owners-contribute-more-than-half-a-million-dollars-to-local-ronald-mcdonald-houses-in-2012-2013-03-11