October 2024

It is so often that women and men who are undergoing screenings for potential breast cancer diagnoses are wrought with so many questions, ranging from “Is this something I really need to be concerned about?” to “Am I going to have to turn my life upside-down now?” White River Medical Center in Batesville has a Breast Care Center that is completely devoted to such patients, before they have even been diagnosed.Advances in screening technology, surgical techniques and options for cancer treatment have dramatically improved survival rates and specialists at the Breast Care Center will help give all the necessary information so patients can make informed choices for their own situation.Michelle Snow, APRN, is one breast cancer specialist at the center who has assisted many women through different stages of breast cancer and offered information on a variety of approaches to targeting specific types of cancers.An innovative way oncologists are determining probable causes and underlying risks of breast cancer is through genetic testing, which has transformed the treatment of breast cancer and increased 5-year survival rates by using targeted therapies.In a biopsy, the driving force(s) underlying the development of a particular tumor may be determined and can be used to design a treatment plan for that particular cancer.