Mount Nittany Health Hosts Evening Dedicated to Breast Health

While breast health is a common topic for women of all ages, understanding practices and a breast cancer diagnosis can seem as alien as a foreign language.

Many women, according to area breast health experts, are unsure of many breast health practices, including interpreting mammograms to options available if diagnosed with breast cancer.

To educate women about all facets of breast health, Mount Nittany Health hosted “An Evening Dedicated to Breast Health” last week.

The event featured an expo with information about breast health and a presentation by Mount Nittany Health physicians and radiologists.

“We were looking for an opportunity to bring education and awareness about breast health and start dialogue with women about wellness,” says Nichole Monica, communications and media relations director for Mount Nittany Health. “It’s important to be able to have these types of events.

Drs. Allison Yingling and Anna Hood, radiologists at Mount Nittany Health’s Breast Care Center, explained the variety of screening techniques used, including mammograms and ultrasounds.

Yingling and Hood also told audience members about the new breast density law, which requires all mammogram reports to state the density of a woman’s breast. This is important, Yingling and Hood said, because having dense breasts can make it harder to see cancers on a mammogram and may increase the risk of breast cancer.

The radiologists also discussed digital breast tomosynthesis, or 3D mammograms. While Yingling and Hood said the 3D mammogram will require more work since it takes more pictures than a regular mammogram, it is likelier to catch more cancers earlier and reduce the number of false positives.

Mount Nittany Health is expected to receive this technology within a year, they said.

According to Dr. Stephen Miller, a general surgeon with Mount Nittany Physician Group, about a third of the group’s practice is made up of breast disease. During his portion of the presentation, Miller discussed treatment of breast cancer, including the options between removal and control of the cancer, emphasizing that each case requires a different treatment.

The two options for removal of the cancer include a mastectomy, in which about 95 percent of tissue is removed from the infected breast, and a lumpectomy, in which the tumor and a wide margin around it are removed. After 20 years, women who received a mastectomy and women who received a lumpectomy plus radiation therapy have the same survival rate, he said.

Some form of radiation therapy and chemotherapy is usually involved during treatment, especially if the cancer has spread elsewhere in the body, Miller said.

After a breast cancer diagnosis, exploring treatment often includes discussion about breast reconstruction.

Dr. Emily Peterson, a board-certified plastic surgeon with Mount Nittany Physician Group, said that there are a variety of surgical techniques that can be used to restore a breast close to its normal shape, appearance and size after treatment.

Like breast cancer treatment, each case is unique, she said, and is usually discussed before treatment takes place.

Breast reconstruction, Peterson said, can be performed during a mastectomy or afterward if the patient’s medical condition requires it. According to federal and state laws, breast reconstruction in Pennsylvania is covered under insurance, she said. Surgeries and reconstruction on the non-infected breast to create symmetry is also covered.

The two reconstruction options, Peterson said, are implant-based and autologus. Implants can be made from saline, silicone or a harder “gummy bear” substance, and the process can begin during a mastectomy or lumpectomy. Autologus reconstruction uses skin and fat from the lower abdomen and rectus muscles to create a more natural feeling breast.

Before reconstruction, Peterson said that many women ask about breast function and feeling, stressing that since most treatments require taking large portions of the breast, it will only mimic a normal breast, but not act like one.

“I was happy to hear about the possible treatments and reconstruction options available for breast cancer,” said Marie Kampire, a certified nursing assistant student who attended the event. Kampire also said she liked hearing about early detection options and, before attending the event, didn’t know about the breast density report requirement.

Helen Rogers-Koon, of Bellefonte, said this is the fourth Mount Nittany Health event she has attended.

“Learning about breast density was helpful,” she said, “and also the reconstruction options.” Much of this information isn’t readily available, but what she learned at the event she said will be useful when teaching nursing classes.

Mount Nittany Health’s Cancer Care Partnership is also collaborating with the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition to bring the photo exhibit “67 Women, 67 Counties: Facing Breast Cancer in Pennsylvania” to Mount Nittany Medical Center from Thursday, Oct. 23, to Friday, Oct. 31.

The exhibit, which will be set up in the Lance and Ellen Shaner Cancer Pavilion, is intended to continue to raise awareness about breast cancer through the end of October. “We want to celebrate women and put a face on the people battling breast cancer, survivors and their families,” says Monica.