Breast conservation surgery was pioneered at Cleveland Clinic more than 40 years ago as a successful option for breast cancer treatment. Today, Breast Center specialists continue to pursue minimally invasive diagnostic and breast cancer treatment options. At the Breast Center, 12,000 outpatient visits take place yearly.
Breast Center radiologists, whose practice is devoted exclusively to breast imaging, record 25,000 mammography visits annually. Non-surgical stereotactic biopsy is offered for any abnormalities detected. A range of breast cancer treatment options is available, individually or in combination. Approximately 475 breast cancer treatment procedures are performed each year, employing breast tissue – sparing techniques whenever appropriate. Sentinel lymph node mapping is used to spare the removal of negative lymph nodes. Immediate or delayed reconstruction is offered by plastic surgeons in the form of autogenous tissue-transfer or breast implants in addition to breast cancer treatment.
Clinic radiation oncologists, who provide breast cancer treatment to more than 200 breast cancer patients each year, have developed beam-alignment and shielding techniques that minimize lung and heart tissue exposure during breast cancer treatment, and are clinically testing a prototype breast shield that reduces radiation scatter. All breast cancer treatment patients are seen by a medical oncologist in order to determine what standard or investigational systemic options are available for breast cancer treatment.
A study, founded by the National Cancer Institute, focusing on a novel chemopreventive approach to breast cancer treatment is available for members of high risk families. Cleveland Clinic researchers are conducting a National Cancer Institute-funded study of hereditary factors in breast cancer and hope to develop a routine screening test. Breast oncologists are testing a chemoprevention agent in high-risk women, while Breast Center treatment specialists investigate noninvasive cancer screening methods.