Physician honored for breast cancer work
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| Dr. Dean Currie, far right, cuts the ceremonial ribbon at the opening of the new breast care clinic at West Tennessee Healthcare’s Imaging Unit. |
“As a physician, treating a breast cancer patient offers a unique opportunity to not only address a patient’s physical needs, but also her emotional and spiritual needs as well,” says Dr. Currie, a board-certified surgeon at Jackson Surgical Associates.
Dr. Currie has been honored several times over the past year for his work to advance breast cancer detection, treatment and recovery.
• West Tennessee Healthcare’s Board of Trustees recognized Dr. Currie with a Beyond the Call Award for his work in the establishment of the breast care clinic at the hospital’s new Imaging Center. “It was Dr. Currie’s desire to have a place where women could access most breast care services they needed in one location, increasing the speed with which women could receive treatment,” said Hospital Board Chairman Earl Anderson.
• The Mid-South Division of the American Cancer Society honored Dr. Currie with this year’s Terese Lasser Award for his support of the Reach to Recovery Program, a visitation program designed to help women cope with breast cancer. Among other things, Dr. Currie, the local program’s physician adviser, makes sure that his breast cancer patients are visited by a Reach to Recovery volunteer after their first follow-up appointment at his office.
A special interest in breast cancer
As a general surgeon, Dr. Currie performs a variety of surgical procedures, from removing gallbladders and repairing hernias to treating colon and peripheral vascular problems. He’s had a special interest in breast cancer, however, since medical school at the University of Tennessee when he trained with Dr. Irvin Fleming, one of the first surgical oncologists in the Southeastern United States.
“Through him, I saw that taking care of cancer patients, particularly breast cancer patients, is different than most other diseases in the way that the disease affects every aspect of a patient’s life, including emotions, family, work, and finances,” Dr. Currie says.
About 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year in the United States, he says. More awareness of the importance of self breast exams and mammograms means more breast cancers are being caught in the early stages, giving women a greater chance of a cure.
He discussed with West Tennessee Healthcare President Jim Moss the need for a separate wing at the hospital’s Imaging Unit dedicated to breast cancer. With the new wing, he says, women can receive all of their imaging in one spot as quickly and discreetly as possible. The unit has established a process for women with abnormal findings on imaging to see a doctor more quickly, Dr. Currie added.
New procedures for breast cancer
At his own clinic, Dr. Currie has been involved in introducing several new procedures to the Jackson area for detecting and treating problems with the breast. They include…
• Stereotactic needle biopsy of breast lesions.
• Sentinel lymph node biopsy, allowing cancer in the lymph nodes to be treated with less risk of arm swelling.
• Office-based, needle core biopsy of breast lesions.
• Mammotome vacuum-assisted needle biopsy and removal of small breast lesions in the office.
“At one time,” Dr. Currie says, “the surgical removal of breast masses to make a diagnosis was the most common surgery we did. Now it is rare. Instead, today we make almost all of our diagnoses using a needle through a one to three millimeter incision to extract a small amount of tissue.”
If a suspicious area can be felt or seen on the ultrasound, he adds, the physician can even do a needle biopsy on the patient’s first office visit and have a diagnosis to her in two or three days, reducing her emotional stress. “About 80 percent of suspicious breast masses prove to be benign.”
Even though the emotional impact of breast cancer is still traumatic, breast cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment have greatly improved, Dr. Currie says. “Now, with earlier detection, with better chemotherapy, with better radiation techniques, the cure rate for cancer is better than it’s ever been.”
“There is tremendous satisfaction in seeing a woman face all of the trials that breast cancer throws at her, come to the other side and enjoy life again.”