New same day surgery removes cancer and reconstructs breast at Bronx Hospital
A new procedure that can remove cancer and reconstruct the breast all in the same day is being performed at Montefiore Health System in the Bronx.
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For women battling breast cancer, the path to recovery can be overwhelming. But there is new hope.
A new procedure that can remove cancer and reconstruct the breast all in the same day is being performed at Montefiore Health System in the Bronx.
Fear flashed through Tracey Cummings' mind when she received the results of her annual mammogram last April. Her diagnosis was stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma in her right breast.
Cummings, a 55-year-old mother to one adult son and administrator within the NYPD, immediately thought of her late mother, who passed away from breast cancer in 2014.
"I'm the type that always stays on top of all my appointments and I didn't think it was that was going to be my outcome. I really, truly didn’t. I was really, really scared," said Cummings.
Her team of doctors at Montefiore Health System drafted a treatment plan. Dr. Pedro Piccinini was among them and recommended immediate implant total breast reconstruction that reduced surgical times and rate of infection.
“We’ve adapted from aesthetic surgery some principles for breast reconstruction in patients that undergo a mastectomy, where we've been trying to improve the esthetic of the patient, but also decrease the complications, as well as decrease the amount of surgery and number of times the patients need to undergo surgery," said Dr. Pedro Piccinini, attending physician at Montefiore Einstein and assistant professor, plastic and reconstructive surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Cummings is one of roughly 80 people with a breast cancer diagnosis who has received the surgery at Montefiore Health System over the last two years.
"A lot of patients are living longer lives now, and they're having better self-esteem, looking better, so we really think that the feedback has been very positive from patients," said Dr. Piccinini.
Dr. Piccinini and his team have been presenting this new technique across the country at national conferences to gain traction and raise awareness about this standard of care.
"Patients should ask their surgeons, ask their physicians who are treating them for breast cancer about the possibility of undergoing a direct implant reconstruction. Because again, in the correct patient and the correct scenario, I think this is the best option that we currently have," said Dr. Piccinini.
It's been one year since Cummings underwent her surgery.
"I feel good, I’m very happy. so far, I am cancer free, they give it five years to say, 'OK you are officially cancer free,'" said Cummings.
