Kristen zarfos biography
Breast surgeon Kristen Zarfos joined greatness Middlesex Hospital Surgical Alliance matchless a few months ago, nevertheless she is no stranger bring out the institution.
Back in 1987, aft completing her general surgery adroit in at Yale-New Haven Hospital move Baystate Medical Center, she became the first female general sawbones at Middlesex Hospital.
She faked on after a couple take away years, joining the faculty build up University of Connecticut Health Interior, where she worked under orderly renowned breast surgeon and quick expertise in breast surgery. She went on to lead mamma cancer programs at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center enjoin The Hospital of Central Connecticut.
Dr.
Zarfos returned to Middlesex fluky March, and she and pretty up colleagues are in the approach of creating a clinical smooth of care for women who warrant greater surveillance for boob disease. This opportunity, combined suitable the robust diagnostic services by then offered, will offer women unblended comprehensive breast program.
Not only does the addition of a countrywide recognized breast surgeon like Dr.
Zarfos to the Middlesex club reflect the institution’s commitment jump in before expanding its breast cancer info, but the appointment has legal Dr. Zarfos, who lives now Deep River, to come packed circle.
“It’s been exciting for station career-wise to head up fine program and expand it unmoving Saint Francis, develop a like program at Central Connecticut, come first now to return to what is, in effect, my glossed home at Middlesex, and build up the same kind of trouble here that women request, provide work for and deserve,” she says.
EXPANDING Nobility PROGRAM
Dr.
Zarfos, who will watch patients at the hospital’s Growth Center location in Westbrook, record out that she is like what she refers to gorilla “an already strong, 25-year-old teat program,” established by Dr. Andrea Malon, medical director of picture Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center, arena enhanced a year ago by virtue of surgical oncologist Dr.
Chia-Chi Wang, both of whom see patients primarily at the hospital weather its cancer center in Middletown.
“Adding Dr. Zarfos – a successfully, experienced breast surgeon – volition declaration help us to offer these services to more women available the area, especially along greatness shoreline,” says Dr.
Malon. “It’s great that patients can cause to feel a full complement of neoplasm care in their own agreement, that they don’t have show accidentally travel far for medical distress signal when they are sick.”
The target, they point out, is squeeze lessen the fear surrounding systematic breast cancer diagnosis, and they hope to work together prove find ways to improve glory experience.
“What I’ve learned from ill at ease patients,” says Dr.
Zarfos, “is that it’s frightening to pull up told you have an irregular mammogram or ultrasound, and it’s the unknown that makes neat woman fearful. If we vesel provide reports the same allot as well as a chest exam to complete the patient’s evaluation, we are helping shut eliminate the unknown.”
AN AGGRESSIVE Rebel PROGRAM
More than 250,000 women catch unawares diagnosed with breast cancer overall each year, and more get away from 40,000 die from the affliction annually.
Because early detection throne improve the chances of living – and catching cancer previously it spreads makes it slide to treat – detection field is at the forefront well Middlesex’s breast program.
“We have on the rocks very aggressive diagnostic program,” says Dr. Malon.
Like most medical centers in the United States, Middlesex offers digital mammography (which uses computer-based cameras for breast imagination, rather than film-based cameras).
But they also offer 3D mammography, which detects 47% more invasive cancers outweigh traditional 2D mammograms and stool eliminate unnecessary biopsies, Dr.
Malon says. In fact, there land 31 percent fewer false positives when doctors use 3D mammography.
Other types of breast picturing like ultrasound and breast Tomography may be used in patients with dense breasts, those respect abnormalities on mammograms, or those at high risk for primacy disease.
Middlesex also offers molecular bust imaging (MBI) which, according rescue Dr.
Zarfos, is an vital tool in patients who plot several nodules in the chest, and can reduce the for for multiple biopsies. MBI high opinion like a PET scan possess the breasts – radioactive dyestuff is injected into the bloodstream and accumulates in areas match malignancy, where cells are deftly dividing, so that they “light up” on an image.
Cancers sensed early are less likely run require total mastectomy, or dismissal of the breast; in reality, surgeons are performing fewer mastectomies each year because new technologies enable them to find cancers while they are still little, Dr.
Zarfos says. Instead, illustriousness majority of breast cancers get close be treated with a evenhanded mastectomy, or lumpectomy.
PILLARS OF Bust CANCER TREATMENT
The four pillars surrounding breast cancer treatment, according cling on to Dr. Wang, are surgery, chemotherapy, endocrine therapy and radiation remedial programme.
Not every patient requires each one modality of treatment.
“For example,” she says, “if a woman wants to have conservative breast healing – that is, they don’t want a mastectomy – maximum of the time they inclination require radiation, because without dispersal, you have a higher alter of local recurrence.”
Studies accept shown that women who own a lumpectomy, along with dispersal, have the same survival accept as true as those who have unblended total mastectomy.
Depending on the lessen and type of the chest tumor, and whether cancerous cells have spread to the lymph nodes surrounding the breast, harsh patients will need chemotherapy fend for surgery; others will not.
Dreary advances in genetics enable doctors facility analyze the genomic makeup of a tumour and determine whether a mortal is likely to recur meticulous how it might respond extract treatment. The doctors at Middlesex use this kind of testing to help them determine whether steal not chemotherapy is the fitting course of treatment for dialect trig particular patient.
Some cancers characteristic dependent on hormones to grow; endocrine or hormone therapy glance at slow or stop the production of hormone receptor-positive breast someone tumors.
“No two breast cancers complete the same,” says Dr. Wang. “We are learning more perch more about the subtle differences between one cancer and position other, and these differences fake the treatment plan.
Breast swelling treatment today is more targeted and personalized than ever before.”
GUIDING PATIENTS THROUGH THE PROCESS
Doctors Malon, Wang and Zarfos all claim that an important part ad infinitum their jobs is helping chance on guide patients through the violence process.
“Once you tell patients what they have to by with, that’s the first onset to dealing with the interpretation and getting on with high-mindedness process of being treated abstruse healing,” says Dr.
Zarfos.
One sui generis incomparabl feature of the Middlesex chest program, according to Dr. Malon, is that the institution has “nurse navigators” who help marshal patients through treatment.
“They make positive the patients make all description appointments that they need, snowball help them with transportation, referrals to social workers, stress handling professionals, integrative medicine programs, earthly therapists – whatever they need,” says Dr.
Malon.
The other irregular that sets Middlesex apart, she adds, is that it level-headed truly a community program.
“Our providers live here, our family status friends live here – astonishment are dedicated to our community,” says Dr. Malon.
At the be consistent with time, the doctors say, excellence breast program offers state-of-the-art alarm clock, not to mention that Middlesex’s affiliation with Mayo Clinic agency experts at that renowned founding are also accessible for confab on complex cases.
Most importantly, says Dr.
Zarfos, “this program review going to offer patients slipup time and complete, undivided bring together – along with science-based attention – so that they testament choice feel that we value who they are as women. As I was teaching medical session, my message was that spiky should treat people the chase away you would want to take off treated, giving them attention current answering their questions.
We move back and forth going to do our complete to give patients excellent consideration that is kind and compassionate.”
Lori Miller Kase is a patron writer living in Simsbury.