Transcription:

Roxanna: On this episode of Inspiring Health, we're putting the spotlight on breast cancer and WellSpan's comprehensive services, state-of-the-art technologies and therapies and trusted clinical partnerships to best serve women and men affected by this disease. Joining me today is Dr. Leslie Hughes, a Radiation Oncologist at the WellSpan Ephrata Cancer Center.

Leslie is president of the Medical Executive committee at WellSpan Ephrata Hospital and a cancer liaison for the WellSpan Ephrata Cancer Center, as well as an Attending Physician in Radiation Oncology. Welcome Leslie to the podcast.

Dr. Lesley Hughes: Thank you Roxanna for having me on today's podcast to discuss the important topics of diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Roxanna: Leslie it's breast cancer awareness month. And it feels like the right time to be talking about breast health, breast cancer, and WellSpan's work to reduce the risk of death from this disease. Set the stage for us, what are friends and neighbors in south central, Pennsylvania up against when it comes to breast cancer.

Dr. Lesley Hughes: The significant problem of breast cancer can be shown that one in eight women will be affected by the disease in their lifetime. When comparing that to the male counterparts, we only have a risk of one in 833 patients. That is significantly higher for women. There are many risk factors that we cannot change. One of them is having female sex. Others are increasing age as well as first degree relatives with the disease. When I'm referring to a first degree relative. I mean, a mother, a sister, or a daughter to the patient. Unfortunately, these risk factors can not be changed. A very important factor is that we have 85% of all breast cancers occurring in patients with no family history.

It is very important that all women have screening for breast cancer, even if they have no family history of breast cancer. Research has shown that another factor is black women have frequently lower age of diagnosis when compared to their white female counterparts. We also have another sobering fact in that black women often die more frequently from breast cancer compared to their white women counterparts. WellSpan has identified these trends within our clinical system. And this is why a strong emphasis has been placed on breast cancer screening as part of our quality and health initiatives.

Roxanna: Leslie, that's a really sobering picture. Isn't it? As a Radiation Oncologist, every day, you work with patients who receive the devastating diagnosis that they have breast cancer. Can you share a bit about how WellSpan provides support and treatment to patients diagnosed with breast cancer?

Dr. Lesley Hughes: Yes it is, but I'm very proud of WellSpan's ability to offer comprehensive cancer care in south central Pennsylvania. We have four best-in-class cancer centers across the region to give outstanding care closer to home. Our centers are designed to take patients through their entire journey, from diagnosis through treatment into survivorship, all being near their family and support teams. Our specialized teams include fellowship trained breast surgeons, plastic surgeons for reconstruction and highly trained and compassionate medical oncologists and radiation oncologists. We take care of the whole person by using our nurse navigation team, our clinical support services, including oncologic rehabilitation, using physical therapy and occupational therapy.

These teams make sure that patients thrive during their treatment and into survivorship. We're also supported by our dynamic genetics team. This is especially important as research has shown that genetics and breast cancer treatments go hand in hand. Through our collaboration with Johns Hopkins, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, we have specialized referral and clinical expertise readily available for our patients. We even have good news local to home, in that we have a grand opening of our new WellSpan York Cancer Center as of July, 2021. It is a state of the art center, beautifully designed with compassionate, caring providers, providing care within a beautiful setting. This is an exciting time in WellSpan's cancer programs.

Roxanna: Yes, it is Leslie, the WellSpan, York Cancer Center is an excellent demonstration of the benefits of a system approach to cancer care delivery. By working as one team, we can invest holistically in making WellSpan's best in market oncology services, even better. And we're also able to relentlessly focus on quality and safety, pursue innovation and make healthcare simpler and easier for patients across our region. This kind of high quality, highly reliable treatment, close to home, provides a lot of value to WellSpan patients. With this in mind, is there a story of a survivor that sticks with you?

Dr. Lesley Hughes: One story that comes to mind is a 56 year old female who had an early stage breast cancer that was diagnosed by mammogram. Her's this a familiar story. She's a busy mother and works a full-time job. And it had been about six to seven years since she had her last mammogram. The patient had a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer and the friend urged her not to let any more time pass before she gets her mammogram. She went forward to have her mammogram, unfortunately found an abnormality. She then had to have a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound. And then needed to have a biopsy after there was confirmation of the abnormality. She went on to have the biopsy, and this was all in about three day's time. The tumor was an estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor positive tumor of invasive ductal carcinoma. She went forward with breast conservation under the guidance of our breast surgeon. She then had radiotherapy for breast conservation and went on to have only hormonal ablation therapy, since she did not need to have chemotherapy. The patient was able to stay close to home and have all of her care with her support group close by of her family and friends.

Roxanna: That's a wonderful story Leslie. It makes me think about my days as an oncology nurse as well. We can certainly be proud of WellSpan's ability to care for this patient right in their own community with physicians and clinical care team members who care so deeply, because they're also this individual's neighbor. So, Leslie we've talked at length about healthcare services after diagnosis; but can you help us understand the importance of an early diagnosis? A key message we want our team members to hear during breast cancer awareness month.

Dr. Lesley Hughes: Of course. Early detection is key in increasing survival. Mammograms are vital in this fight. Mammograms should start about age 40 years old and then should be yearly thereafter. And it is important for our older ladies to also continue with their mammogram, since the one risk factor, we cannot change for increasing risk with breast cancer is increasing age. Mammograms use low dose radiation to allow radiologists to detect disease even before signs or symptoms are seen. The technology of mammograms has improved significantly in the last four to five years, 3D technology, which is also called tomography allows for better breast tissue clarity.

We can see abnormalities better, this decreases callbacks, and also allows us to target the areas of concern in a better fashion. 3D technology to text 41% more invasive cancers around 15 months earlier than 2D technology. This will decrease callbacks for patients as well as decrease anxiety regarding mammogram.

We also have some other good news in that WellSpan has an easy to use breast cancer risk assessment tool on their website at wellspan.org/breastcare. Listeners can take the test and also schedule their mammogram on the same page.

Roxanna: Leslie, what you've shared with us is so true. Early detection through annual mammograms saves lives. Unfortunately, we know that access to mammograms can be a barrier for some women. And so to increase the number of breast cancer screenings that we perform across all of our counties and help women stay a healthy step ahead, we've launched a new innovative service with our WellSpan mobile mammography unit. With the mobile coach, we'll continue to break down the access barriers that women face from getting this life saving screening. We're eliminating the distance they'd have to travel for a traditional screening and we're removing the financial barriers that some women experience. Through the mobile coach, every woman over age 40 is eligible for a no-cost screening mammogram, and we don't require a referral. We're able to make this a reality because we received a grant from Capital Blue Cross to help launch the mobile mammography program and provide these services to the most vulnerable populations.

Dr. Lesley Hughes: This is such an incredible offering for our community. We want to partner with our community organizations that have treated vulnerable populations for many years time, this allows us to take the unit right to the best locations so that we can maximize our ability to reach the most people with this wonderful technology.

WellSpan's Well at Work, employer partners can also reserve this mobile unit for care at their facilities. This allows patients to get care closer to their work and to decrease time they would have to take off from work. We also can use this unit at health fairs and community events. This is such an exciting opportunity and it's helping WellSpan reach as many people as possible with this wonderful technology.

Roxanna: I couldn't agree more. Leslie. I'm grateful you joined me today to share the message about early detection through mammograms and WellSpan's comprehensive breast cancer care services. I know you care deeply about WellSpan team members, friends and neighbors in south central Pennsylvania. And cancer patients are in great hands under your care.

And I hope our listeners will take your advice and sign up for a screening mammogram. Again, listeners can visit wellspan.org/breastcancer care to take that first step. Well that's all the time we have for today. We hope you'll join us for the next episode of Inspiring Health.