Lake Charles Breast Health
Advanced Breast Diagnostics and Treatment
Make a mammogram appointment today! 337.494.4755 or 337.480.7444
Knowledge and self-awareness are powerful tools. Understanding and utilizing these tools starts with Lake Charles Memorial’s Breast Health program. That's why your first line of defense for breast cancer is a mammogram. Developing a sense of what the everyday reality is for your breasts is key. When you know what’s normal, you will be able to recognize what’s not normal. And when something’s not normal, you can promptly call your doctor.
Most women experience breast changes throughout their lives. Age, hormone levels, and medicines may cause lumps, bumps, and discharges (fluids that are not breast milk). Minor and serious breast problems can have similar symptoms. Although cancer is always our first concern, many breast problems are not cancer.
Memorial’s Breast Health program can diagnose and treat:
- Hyperplasia
- Cysts
- Fibroadenomas
- Intraductal papillomas
- Sclerosing adenosis
- Radial scars
- Breast masses
- Breast cancer
- Nipple discharge
- Abnormal mammograms
With minimally invasive techniques such as stereotactic breast biopsy to assess a breast abnormality, our specialized team of surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, gynecologists, radiation oncologists and medical oncologists provide diagnosis and treatment options based on your particular diagnosis.
Commission on Cancer Accredited
Like every major national cancer center, Lake Charles Memorial Cancer Center is accredited by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons (ACoS). CoC accreditation assures that a cancer program meets or exceeds 34 CoC nationally-recognized quality care standards and maintains levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care.
Diagnostic and treatments include:
- Genuis 3D Digital Mammography: Medical technology is constantly evolving, improving and striving to find new and better ways to diagnose and treat breast cancer. Genius™ 3D Mammography views each layer of the breast like the pages of a book for more thorough imaging of breasts of all shapes, sizes and densities. It scans all the complexities of the breast tissue in greater detail which allows better evaluation of the breast tissue layer by layer, making fine details more visible and no longer hidden by overlapping tissue.
- High Resolution Sonography: Sonography is an imaging method that uses sound waves to look inside a part of the body. In the most common version of this test, a small, microphone-like instrument called a transducer is placed on the skin, emits sound waves and picks up the echoes as they bounce off body tissues. The echoes are converted into an image on a computer screen. A sonogram helps distinguish normal findings like cysts or fat lobules from suspicious breast changes that need biopsy.
- 3D Magnetic Resonance Imaging: 3D magnetic resonance imaging of the breast provides excellent information about lesions, normal and malignant tissues. An MRI uses magnetic fields, not x-rays, to produce detailed images of the body. A contrast medium (a special dye) is injected into a patient’s vein or given orally (by mouth) to create a clearer picture of the breast. A breast MRI may be used once a woman has been diagnosed with cancer to check the other breast for cancer or to find out how much the disease has grown throughout the breast.
- Image Guided Stereotactic Breast Biopsy: Using a local anesthesia to reduce discomfort, this image-guided biopsy is able to remove several cores of sample tissue and used most often when a distinct lump can’t be felt, but an abnormality is seen on a mammogram. A needle is guided to the suspicious location with the help of 3D stereotactic imaging technology. A small metal clip may be put into the breast to mark where the biopsy sample was taken in case the tissue is cancerous and surgery is needed.
- Genetic & Molecular Testing: Genetic and molecular tests have the potential to not only provide patients with personalized diagnostic information, but also allow for specifically tailored treatment plans, thus limiting resistance and toxicity. They also supply prognostic information about cancer in its early stages, thereby determining whether aggressive, early management is necessary. We can administer the following genetic tests: BRCA, Mammoprint, Oncotype,ER/PR, and Her2.
- Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy: This surgery evaluates nearby lymph nodes for cancer cells by injecting a dye and/or a radioactive tracer into the area of the cancer which travels to the lymph nodes, arriving at the sentinel nodes first. The surgeon removes the sentinel lymph nodes (usually about one to three nodes) The pathologist examines them for cancer cells. If the sentinel lymph nodes are cancer-free, there is a good possibility that the remaining lymph nodes will also be free of cancer and no further surgery will be needed. If the sentinel lymph nodes show evidence of cancer, then the surgeon may perform an axillary lymph node dissection.
- Axillary Lymph Node Dissection: This surgery removes lymph nodes from under the arm, which are then examined by a pathologist for cancer cells. Some women have more nodes than others. So, you might be told that there were 17 nodes examined. Or, you might be told that there were 7 or even 40. However, the total number of nodes is less important than the number that is positive.
- Breast-sparing Lumpectomy: This breast conservation surgery removes the tumor as well as a small, clear (cancer-free) margin of healthy tissue around it. Most of the breast remains. For invasive cancer, follow-up radiation therapy to the remaining breast tissue is generally recommended. A lumpectomy may also be called a partial mastectomy.
- Skin-preserving Mastectomy: This surgery removes the entire breast and breast tissue. Newer mastectomy techniques can preserve breast skin and allow for a more natural breast appearance following the procedure. Surgery to restore shape to your breast — called breast reconstruction — may be done at the same time as your mastectomy or during a second operation at a later date.
- ESP Block: As with most surgeries postoperative pain after mastectomy may persist in up to 60 percent of patients. Efforts to reduce post-operative pain and inflammation include a multimodal approach with aims to improve both short and long term pain. This approach includes administration of anti-inflammatory and narcotic pain medications in addition to more selective pain relief strategies including interventional anesthesia techniques. A novel procedure called the Erector Spinae Plane Block (ESP Block) may be performed by an anesthesiologist prior to procedures involving the upper abdomen and chest. The ESP block is a procedure where an ultrasound guided regional anesthetic is injected into a specific location in the muscles of the back. This leads to 48-72 hours of pain relief immediately following the surgery during a time when pain can be at its worst.
- Chemotherapy: Depending on the stage and molecular characteristics of the cancer, chemotherapy or targeted therapy (including hormone therapy) may be part of the treatment. Our medical oncology team customizes chemotherapies based on the patient and the specifics of the cancer using complex drugs to destroy cancer cells by stopping their ability to grow and divide. Chemotherapy is generally given after surgery to lower the risk of recurrence or sometimes before surgery to shrink the tumor.
- Radiation Therapy: Our radiation oncology specialists tailor treatments that offer superior therapeutic results—often in half the time. Treatment may be complicated by the structure of the breast and breast tissue’s irregular shape and contours.
- Immunotherapy: When paired with chemotherapy, immunotherapy is changing the treatment of cancer by harnessing the body's natural strength to fight cancer—empowering the immune system to conquer more types of cancer. It uses substances made by the body or in a laboratory to improve immune system function which can help make the cancer cells more receptive to chemotherapy drugs.
- Hormone Therapy: After treatment for breast cancer ends, your healthcare team will develop a follow-up care plan which may include regular physical examinations and medical tests, like mammography, to monitor your recovery for the coming months and years. It will also involve managing any ongoing or late effects of treatment.
- Oncology Certified Nurses: Nurses who obtain certification by the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation (ONCC) provide tangible evidence that nurses have the knowledge required to effectively provide care to patients experiencing the complex problems associated with a diagnosis of cancer. Currently, 43% of our oncology registered nurses system-wide are certified by the ONCC with 100% of our main campus chemotherapy nurses certified.
- Cancer Patient Navigator
- Support Groups
