A Surgeon’s Insight on Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment

“It’s the best time in our lives to have breast cancer,” says Dr. Rabia Bhatti, which is good news for many, since the average woman’s risk of developing breast cancer in the U.S. is about 13 percent.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Whether the use of multiple treatment modalities for breast cancer could altogether eliminate the need for surgery
• How hormone-positive cancers differ from triple-negative cancers in terms of the time between primary tumor resection and return of the cancer
• What it means to have “dense” breasts, how this impacts cancer detection, and what new technology is being utilized for better detection
• What foods should be avoided and which should be consumed in order to lower the risk of developing breast cancer

Dr. Bhatti is a breast surgeon at West Suburban Medical Center and Medical Director of the River Forest Breast Care Center. Her evolution as a general surgeon brought her to the breast cancer specialization, where she saw an opportunity to not only be a surgeon who focuses on isolated diseased organs, but a healer of the whole patient.

She discusses the many advancements in breast cancer treatment over the past 20 years, such as the replacement of radical mastectomies with minimally-invasive procedures, earlier detection and diagnosis, surgeries which leave the skin and nipple untouched and only remove the diseased breast tissue, as well as breast reconstruction. She also talks about the role of clinics which serve patients who are at high risk of developing breast cancer, depending on their family history, risk score, and lifestyle risk factors (exercise, diet, age at which a woman has children, how long a woman breastfeeds, etc.).

Dr. Bhatti’s current work centers around the role of lifestyle in the development, progression, and treatment of breast cancer—particularly exercise. “I believe this is a significant part of the treatment of breast cancer, and it has not really been emphasized traditionally up until now,” she says.

She also emphasizes the power of immunotherapy and genomics in the future of breast cancer treatment.

Tune in for the details of all this and more.  

Learn more: https://www.westsuburbanmc.com/our-services/women-s-health/breast-care-center/