\r\n \r\n 80% of breast biopsies turn out to be benign. Unfortunately greed is
\nleading to unjustifiable open biopsies, which mean that if there was cancer
\npresent, women will have two surgeries back to back. But, with the new research
\nabout cancer and wound healing, there is more to the story. We need to
\ncarefully review those articles I have sent you and come to the conclusion that
\nI have that even simple needle biopsies carry risk of spreading cancer. So
\na safe preventive approach using IV vitamin C makes real sense if the
\npatient is you or loved one.
\n
\nThis article from the New York Times has some proof that greed is driving
\nthe cancer market. One doctor seeing these statistics stated that "it was
\noutrageous that 30 percent of breast biopsies were done by surgery. He
\nsaid some of the unnecessary procedures were being performed by surgeons who
\ndid not want to lose biopsy fees by sending patients to a radiologist"
\n
\nOf course, all this can be avoided now when we finally realize that annual
\nuse of breast cancer screening tests using tests like thermography and the
\ncaprofile.net or the new Johnson and Johnson test for cancer. Simply
\nthrow out useless and dangerous mammograms, which are feeding these mercenary
\nsurgeons that push for open biopsies that almost no one needs!
\n
\nGarry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
\nPresident, Gordon Research Institute
\nwww.gordonresearch.com
\n________________________________________________
\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/health/19cancer.html
\n
\nFebruary 18, 2011
\n
\nStudy of Breast Biopsies Finds Surgery Used Too Extensively
\n
\nBy DENISE GRADY
\n
\nToo many women with abnormal mammograms or other breast problems are
\nundergoing surgical biopsies when they should be having needle biopsies, which
\nare safer, less invasive and cheaper, new research shows.
\n
\nA study in Florida found that 30 percent of the breast biopsies there from
\n2003 to 2008 were surgical. The rate should be 10 percent or less,
\naccording to medical guidelines.
\nThe figures in the rest of the country are likely to be similar to Florida
\ns, researchers say, which would translate to more than 300,000 women a
\nyear having unnecessary surgery, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.
\nMany of these women do not even have cancer: about 80 percent of breast
\nbiopsies are benign. For women who do have cancer, a surgical biopsy means
\ntwo operations instead of one, and may make the cancer surgery more difficult
\nthan it would have been if a needle biopsy had been done.
\n
\nDr. Stephen R. Grobmyer, the senior author of the Florida study, said he
\nand his colleagues started their research because they kept seeing patients
\nreferred from other hospitals who had undergone surgical biopsies (also
\ncalled open biopsies) when a needle should have been used.
\n
\nAfter a while you keep seeing this, you say something\'s going on here,�
\nsaid Dr. Grobmyer, who is director of the breast cancer program at the
\nUniversity of Florida in Gainesville.
\n
\nThe reason for the overuse of open biopsies is not known. Researchers say
\nthe problem may occur because not all doctors keep up with medical advances
\nand guidelines. But they also say that some surgeons keep doing open
\nbiopsies because needle biopsies are usually performed by radiologists. The
\nsurgeon would have to refer the patient to a radiologist, and lose the biopsy
\nfee.
\n
\nA surgical biopsy requires an inchlong incision, stitches and sometimes
\nsedation or general anesthesia. It leaves a scar. A needle biopsy requires
\nonly numbing with a local anesthetic, uses a tiny incision and no stitches
\nand carries less risk of infection and scarring.
\nIf the abnormality in the breast is too small to be felt and has been
\ndetected by a mammogram or other imaging method, the needle biopsy must also be
\nguided by imaging, mammography, ultrasound or M.R.I. and will often
\nhave to be performed by a radiologist. If a lump can be felt, imaging is not
\nneeded to guide the needle, and a surgeon can perform it.
\n
\nSurgeons really have to let go of the patient when they have an image
\nabnormality,� said Dr. I. Michael Leitman, the chief of general surgery at
\nBeth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan. They are giving away a potential
\nsurgery. But the standards require it. And I\'m a surgeon.�
\n
\nDr. Grobmyer\'s study, published by The American Journal of Surgery, is
\nbased on 172,342 biopsies entered into a state database in Florida. It is the
\nlargest study of open biopsy rates in the United States, and the first to
\ninclude patients with and without cancer.
\nAbout 1.6 million breast biopsies a year are performed in the United
\nStates. But in 2010, only about 261,000 found cancer (207,000 women had invasive
\nbreast cancer, and another 54,000 had a condition called ductal carcinoma
\nin situ, in which cancer cells have not invaded the surrounding tissue).
\n
\nHospitals charge $5,000 to $6,000 for a needle biopsy, and double that for
\nan open biopsy, according to Dr. Grobmyer\'s article. Doctors fees for an
\nopen biopsy range from $1,500 to $2,500, he said, and $750 to $1,500 for a
\nneedle biopsy.
\n
\nA surgeon who was not part of Dr. Grobmyer\'s study said she often
\nencountered patients referred from other hospitals whose open biopsies should
\nhave
\nbeen done with a needle.
\nI see it all the time, said the surgeon, Dr. Elisa R. Port, the chief
\nof breast surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan. People are
\ncausing harm and should be held accountable.�
\n
\nDr. Melvin J. Silverstein, a breast cancer surgeon at Hoag Memorial
\nHospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Calif., and a clinical professor of
\nsurgery at the University of Southern California, said it was outrageous�
\nthat
\n30 percent of breast biopsies were done by surgery.
\n
\nHe said some of the unnecessary procedures were being performed by
\nsurgeons who did not want to lose biopsy fees by sending patients to a
\nradiologist.
\n
\nI hate to even say that, Dr. Silverstein said. But I don\'t know how
\nelse to explain these numbers.�
\n
\nA study at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan (Dr. Leitman was an
\nauthor), published in 2009, found that the rate of open breast biopsies in
\n2007 varied with the type of surgeon.
\n
\nBreast surgeons employed by the hospital and involved in teaching had a 10
\npercent rate. Breast surgeons in private practice who operated at Beth
\nIsrael had a 35 percent rate. Among general surgeons, who do not specialize in
\nbreast surgery (some who were on staff at the hospital and some who were
\nnot), the rate was 37 percent. All the doctors earn biopsy fees, so they all
\nhad the same incentive.
\n
\nThe lead author of the study, Dr. Susan K. Boolbol, chief of breast
\nsurgery at Beth Israel, said the difference could be explained, in part, by
\ntraining. She said the academic breast surgeons on the hospital staff were more
\nlikely than the others to keep up with new developments in the field and to
\nwork closely with radiologists. As for the idea that the motivation was
\nmoney, she said, A huge part of me doesn\'t want to believe it\'s true.�
\nShe said that when she asked surgeons in the study why they were doing
\nopen biopsies, many said patients wanted them. “My comeback was, Do you
\nthink you had an inherent bias in the way you explained it?� In the past
\nseven years, she said she had only one patient choose an open biopsy over a
\nneedle biopsy.
\n
\nDr. Boolbol says some patients fear that sticking a needle into a cancer
\nwill cause it to spread, and she spends a lot of time explaining that it is
\nnot true. She said that open biopsy rates declined among surgeons at Beth
\nIsrael who were told about her study\'s findings, but newcomers still tended
\nto have higher rates.
\n
\nThis is a constant education process for surgeons, she said.
\n
\nOne way for hospitals to stop excess open biopsies is to ban them, Dr.
\nSilverstein said, unless they are truly necessary, as in uncommon cases in
\nwhich a needle cannot reach the spot.
\n
\nWe made a rule, he said. If it can be done with a needle, it has to
\nbe. We embarrass you if you do an open biopsy. We bring you before a tumor
\nboard to explain.�
\nDr. Silverstein says that when he lectures and asks how many surgeons in
\nthe audience perform open biopsies, no hands go up. Nobody will admit it,�
\nhe said.
\nHe said there is more to be gained by taking his message straight to the
\npatients. He and other doctors say that any woman who is told that she needs
\na surgical biopsy should ask why, and consider a second opinion.
\n
\nMaybe we have to get patients to say, This guy took a big chunk out of
\nme and I didn\'t even have cancer, and now I\'m deformed, Dr.
\nSilverstein said. Who just overthrew Mubarak? The people. This is exactly
\nthe same
\nthing.�\r\n

\r\n __________________
\r\n "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~
\r\n
\r\nNatMedTalk and Beyond\r\n

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