What do breast surgeons do?

Background: There are an increasing number of fellowship-trained breast surgeons and surgical oncologists who dedicate their clinical practice exclusively to breast disease. However, there are little published data regarding characteristics of a breast surgical practice.

Methods: All patient visits at a university-based breast surgery practice were reviewed for calendar years 2006 and 2007.

Preoperative chemotherapy decreases the need for re-excision of breast cancers between 2 and 4 cm diameter.

Introduction: It is accepted that preoperative chemotherapy can result in increased breast preservation for breast cancers greater than 4 cm. The benefits of preoperative chemotherapy are less clear, however, for patients who present with smaller tumors and are already candidates for breast-preserving surgery. The goal of this study is to assess the effect of preoperative chemotherapy on breast cancers between 2 and 4 cm diameter.

Breast sentinel lymph node dissection before preoperative chemotherapy.

Hypothesis: Timing of sentinel lymph node dissection (SLND), before or after preoperative chemotherapy (PC), for breast cancer is controversial.

Design: Single-institution experience with SLND before PC.

Setting: Data from prospectively collected Yale-New Haven Breast Center Database.