University of Virginia Health System

UVa Unveils New Breast Care Center

Breast cancer is among the diseases that women say they fear the most. To address this widespread concern and provide the best diagnosis and care, the University of Virginia Health System has established its new Breast Care Center. At this state-of-the-art diagnostic center, women can find comfort in a soothing atmosphere, and they can get immediate answers to their concerns from UVa’s multidisciplinary team of breast care specialists.

EXTENSIVE CAPABILITIES

There is no other comprehensive breast care center like UVa’s Breast Care Center in the region, with capabilities for such rapid testing and turnaround, accurate diagnosis and timely treatment. UVa’s extensive prevention and diagnostic breast disease services housed in the Breast Care Center include:
· Digital and film mammography
· Breast ultrasound
· Core-needle biopsy
· Ductal lavage
· Comprehensive breast education resources.

The Breast Care Center also houses clinics specializing in:
· High-risk breast disease
· Cancer genetics
· Benign breast disease
· Second opinions
· Breast surgery 
· Lymphedema.

The Breast Care Center also houses Every Woman’s Life, a statewide program offering free mammography and Pap screenings for uninsured, low-income women.

TEAM CARE AND SECOND OPINIONS

The Breast Care Services team at UVa is made up of accomplished and caring surgeons, radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, pathologists, endocrinologists, geneticists, oncology nurses and other support staff. These breast specialists provide patients with coordinated care tailored to ensure the best outcomes, avoid unnecessary invasive treatment and address individual patient’s wishes and concerns.
The Second Opinion Program offers women who have been diagnosed with cancer rapid access to our multidisciplinary breast cancer team.

COMFORTING ENVIRONMENT

The center is located just off the lobby of the Medical Center’s West Complex. Warm, natural tones create an elegant ambiance.

“We designed this center with valuable input from an advisory group of women, including breast cancer survivors, to make sure we created a place that could alleviate as much as possible the anxiety that a woman feels when she is facing the possibility or the reality of breast cancer,” says Jennifer Harvey, M.D., director of the Division of Breast Imaging Services. “She will get immediate answers to her concerns from highly trained breast specialists. And under one roof, she’ll find all the breast cancer prevention and diagnostic services she may need.”

TREATMENT OPTIONS

For women with breast cancer who require more than one form of treatment, the Breast Care Center is conveniently located in the West Complex. Valet parking and a healing garden are just outside the Breast Care Center’s entrance. Across the hall is the Radiation Oncology center, which offers IRT brachytherapy to women who have had a lumpectomy. IRT takes days—instead of weeks of treatment—and spares healthy breast tissue.  A short elevator ride leads to the Cancer Center’s support group meetings, extensive patient education and support resources and the chemotherapy infusion center.

“ONE PATIENT AT A TIME”

“We hope the Breast Care Center will be a particularly comforting place for regular visits by women who have known genetic risk factors for breast cancer or have multiple family members with the disease,” says David Brenin, M.D., FACS, chief of Breast Surgery Services. “UVa is a major academic medical center with experts who specialize in the treatment of patients with breast cancer. We currently care for a high volume of breast cancer patients. Studies have shown that women treated for breast cancer at high-volume institutions have better outcomes. With the opening of our new Breast Care Center, we can give women these advantages in a warm and comfortable setting, one patient at a time.”

In addition to the new Breast Care Center, UVa offers breast-screening programs at the Northridge health center in Albemarle County and at the Orange Medical Center. If you have a breast concern or are  at high risk for breast cancer, please call 434-924-9479 or 434-924-5813 for an appointment.