Word: fallscheer
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Colleen Fallscheer, a cheerful 40-year-old mother of two from Waterford, Mich., is living proof that breast-cancer therapy is not the horror show it used to be. A little over a year ago, a mammogram revealed a bright malignant spot, no more than 1.5 cm (about 0.6 in.) across, imbedded in the translucent tissue of her left breast. A surgeon recommended a mastectomy, to be followed by chemotherapy. Fallscheer was appalled. She sought a second opinion from David August, a surgical oncologist at the University of Michigan Medical Center, who told her that her tiny malignancy made...
Last November, in a two-hour operation, Dr. August's team removed the cancer plus a margin of surrounding tissue, leaving Fallscheer with a 5-cm (about 2- in.) scar in an otherwise normal-looking breast. To catch any residual cancer cells, she received six weeks of daily radiation therapy, which produced a light suntan but left no permanent trace. "A lumpectomy plus radiation does not cure more women than mastectomy," says radiation oncologist Allen Lichter of the University of Michigan, "but it creates fewer physical and emotional scars." Fallscheer concurs: "It was only after I saw Dr. August that...
...years ago, lumpectomy would not have been an option for Fallscheer. Since then, studies have shown that when a tumor is small, confined to a single area and readily accessible to the surgeon's scalpel, lump removal plus radiation is no less effective than removing the entire breast. But as Fallscheer's experience shows, not every surgeon is convinced. Nor does every eligible patient choose the lesser operation. Though about 50% of breast- cancer patients are candidates for lumpectomy, only about half of those elect it. Many, including Nancy Reagan, feel safer if the entire breast is removed. "For most...
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