Breast Surgical Oncology (S-121)

The Breast Surgery Service annually averages more than 700 inpatient cases, 1,900 outpatient cases, and 3,300 new patient visits. Over 1,700 surgical procedures for breast cancer were performed last year, and the service averages 80 sentinel lymph node procedures per month. Currently there are 9 full-time academic breast surgeons on the service.

The medical student will be assigned to one of four surgical breast teams and will round with the fellow who is responsible for pre-and postoperative patient care and performs operations under the direction of the attending surgeon on his or her team. In addition, the medical student will attend the office hours of the attending surgeons in order to gain experience in the outpatient management of breast cancer and benign breast disease.

The Breast Surgical Service holds a weekly surgical case management meeting and a weekly journal club moderated by an attending physician with expertise in the topic to be discussed. In addition, a multidisciplinary conference is held weekly to discuss breast cancer management issues across all specialties, including medical oncology, plastic surgery, radiology, radiation oncology, and psychiatry.