New Jersey Hospital Researchers Believe Some Women With Breast Cancer Can Skip Surgery
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- There's an experimental new way to treat breast cancer. Researchers are trying to figure out which patients can safely avoid surgery.
MD Anderson at Cooper is recruiting patients with a certain kind of breast cancer to test a new option. Researchers think some women can have just chemotherapy and radiation and skip surgery.
When Deanne Whitley was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer after chemotherapy, she was expecting surgery. It's the standard of care for her kind of cancer.
"The removal of a breast, just the thought of that -- it's very difficult to imagine yourself. You feel like you're losing a part of yourself," Whitley said.
To avoid that, Whitley decided to be part of a study called the Exceptional Responders Trial, where instead of surgery, patients are just carefully watched with scans.
"I said, 'What? You don't have to cut me?'" Whitley said.
With modern chemotherapy for HER2-positive, six out of 10 women -- like Whitley -- have no evidence of breast cancer.
"You have to wonder what the purpose of the operation was if there was really nothing to remove any more," Dr. Emilia Diego said.
In the study, at the end of chemotherapy, participants get repeat mammograms, ultrasounds and sometimes an MRI scan every six months for five years.
"Most recurrences in breast cancer of this type in the first five years," Diego said.
Since Whitley is skipping surgery, she will go straight to radiation treatments. She understands she'll need an operation if cancer shows up on any of her future scans.
"The only thing that could happen is that I need surgery," she said. "And I was already slated for surgery. Things are going exceptionally well for me. I'm healthy. I'm working out. I'm eating right."
With a positive attitude and a solid support system, Whitley is ready to tackle her cancer with this unique new watching and waiting approach.
MD Anderson at Cooper is one of 50 sites across the country participating in the trial. Women under the age of 40 are not eligible.
For more information on the experimental treatment, you can contact researchers at 856-735-6289 or email them at ResearchCancer@CooperHealth.edu.
