'mammogram' posts

 
 


  


Swedish Cancer Institute at Edmonds opens to the public at an April 17 ribbon-cutting ceremony on the Swedish/Edmonds campus. (Left to right) David Loud, aide from Congressman Jim McDermott, M.D.; Swedish Cancer Institute Medical Oncologist Richard McGee, M.D.; Swedish/Edmonds Chief Executive Dave Jaffe; and Swedish Cancer Institute Executive Director Thomas D. Brown, M.D., MBA, cut the ribbon during the event that attracted 250 visitors. The two-story facility, located at 21632 Highway 99 in Edmonds, provides high-quality and comprehensive medical oncology to patients through an infusion unit, laboratory, pharmacy, and access to Swedish’s electronic medical record system.
 
EDMONDS, WASH., March 21, 2013 – Swedish Health Services will open a new outpatient cancer center at the Edmonds campus on Monday, April 1, 2013 in response to the growing need for medical oncology and infusion (chemotherapy) services in the south Snohomish and north King County area. The new two-story, 17,102-square-foot facility is anticipated to handle as many as 175 patient visits each day and provide increased access to cancer-care services for people living north of Seattle.

SEATTLE, Jan. 31, 2013 – Swedish Cancer Institute (SCI) recently announced the appointment of Thomas D. Brown, M.D., MBA, as its new executive director. Dr. Brown will join SCI March 16.

In the haze of joy and sleeplessness during the months after childbirth, thoughts about breast cancer are the last thing on a new mother’s mind. Her body is undergoing so many changes that, of course, she and her doctors would naturally assume any breast changes are related to breastfeeding.

Probably, they are. However, there is a small but real incidence of women who develop breast cancer during and following pregnancy. Often, they end up having delays in seeking evaluation and getting a diagnosis, because they or their doctors may not appreciate that risk!

So, what things should prompt an evaluation?

• Lumps most often will be changes in the breast tissue as it revs up milk production. A distinct lump or “dominant mass” could be a clogged duct, galactocele, cyst or a common benign tumor called a fibroadenoma, but if it doesn’t resolve within a few weeks with treatment, it needs imaging.
• Redness most often will represent infections like mastitis or an abscess, but if it doesn’t resolve within a few weeks with treatment, it will also need imaging and possibly a biopsy. At the very least, that could determine if the right antibiotics are being used. An uncommon form of breast cancer called inflammatory breast cancer can present this way.
• Bloody milk or baby refusing one breast  most often will be due to nipple trauma, latch issues, or positioning; if so, seeing a board-certified lactation consultant is appropriate. But rarely, this can represent a form of breast cancer within the milk ducts.
• “Something’s not right”. You are the most knowledgeable person about your own breasts. Even if it doesn’t neatly fit one of the categories above, if something really seems wrong to you, your doctors should take that seriously.

What evaluation should be done?