Nellie B. Connally Breast Center Opens

 

Dr. Richard L. Theriault and Nancy Crider (left) talk with breast cancer patient Eileen Donovan.

 

 

For the estimated 1,500 breast cancer patients who come to M. D. Anderson for treatment every month, the road less traveled is the one best served.

 

With the recent opening of the Nellie B. Connally Breast Center on the sixth floor of the R. Lee Clark Clinic, breast cancer patients now have a shorter distance to walk to get the specialized care they need.

 

According to Dr. Richard L. Theriault, medical director of the Breast Center, the center offers medical, surgical and radiation oncology consultations, follow-up services and multidisciplinary treatment planning to individuals with any stage of breast cancer and related breast disease - all in one convenient location.

 

Along with these integrated services, the Ben and Julie Rogers Breast Diagnostic Clinic is strategically located next door, providing such services as screening and diagnostic mammography, ultrasonography, interventional breast procedures, image-guided biopsies, fine-needle aspirations and core biopsies.

 

Located nearby on the same floor is the Cancer Prevention Center, where healthy women can be screened for breast cancer, among other services. If a suspicious mammogram needs follow-up, women are referred to the Breast Center for consultation and evaluation.

 

The changes are significant because women no longer have to visit multiple clinics at distant sites to access all of these services, says Dr. Theriault, associate professor of breast medical oncology. "Instead they will get the screenings and medical and diagnostic work-ups they need in a more timely and efficient manner, with as little inconvenience and stress as possible."

 

Although a virtual one-stop shopping method for receiving breast care, a woman will need to go to specific areas to receive treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation and surgery because these services are too difficult to decentralize to individual centers.

 

The opening of the Breast Center marks one more step in M. D. Anderson's commitment to establishing multidisciplinary care centers, where services and specialists representing specific diseases are brought together in a single location.

 

"In the past, it was difficult to schedule the medical, radiation and surgery consults and get the physicians to meet in a mutually agreeable place to discuss a patient's case and treatment plan in a short period of time," says Nancy Crider, center administrative director.

 

"Now having each available in one location, it will be easier for them to consult with one another, which ultimately lessens the time it takes for the treatment plan to be developed."

 

The whole process used to take up to a week, but now could potentially be completed in two days, Crider says. The goal is to make a diagnosis and design a treatment plan in the shortest time possible. While a same-day diagnosis won't be possible in every case, it's an important goal for Dr. Theriault and associate center directors Dr. S. Eva Singletary, chief of the Surgical Breast Service; Dr. Eric Strom, assistant professor of radiation oncology; and Dr. Carol Stelling, chief of the Section of Breast Imaging.

 

Another advantage of having an integrated team in one location is that it fosters closer communication among specialists about the various options available to women with breast cancer, Crider says. As a team, for instance, they can discuss whether a patient is a candidate for breast conservation, lumpectomy or mastectomy, and from that design the best treatment plan for each patient.

 

While the primary focus of the Breast Center will be on patient care, the centralized location also will foster the cross-fertilization of ideas, aid in conducting clinical and translational research, as well as provide new applications for treatment, Dr. Theriault says.

 

In its new home, the 18,941-square-foot Breast Center is designed to work as five individual pods, each having an examination suite and education room contiguous to a patient waiting room. The large patient population that comes through the center daily will feel as if they are visiting a small private office rather than one large center, Crider explains.

 

"The design elements, color scheme and furnishings selected have been consciously chosen to provide a more healing environment for our patients," Crider says. "Hopefully, they will see the Breast Center as a warm and friendly place."

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