Breast Cancer Unit
Discover the Power of Breakthrough Breast Cancer Care
Breast cancer is a serious disease, but you don’t have to face it alone. Whether you’re seeking a diagnosis, a second opinion or new treatment options for breast cancer, you can have a team of nationally leading specialists by your side right here in San Diego at the Breast Cancer Unit of the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.
As San Diego’s only Comprehensive Cancer Center – and one of only 40 in the United States to earn this honor from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) – the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center excels in translating promising scientific discoveries into new and better options for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. With exciting new findings and treatment options unfolding almost daily in the field of breast cancer research, UCSD’s Breast Cancer Unit is the place to go for breast cancer care in San Diego.
For more information — including symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment information — see Breast Cancer.
See more information on the Breast Cancer Unit:
What the power of breakthrough breast cancer care means for you:
New advances
Our breast cancer experts understand that breast cancer is not the same for everyone. It is not a single disease; there are different treatments for different subtypes. Our breast cancer experts conduct and keep current on research that is uncovering innovative ways to identify and treat the many different forms of breast cancer.
A treatment strategy unique to you
Here, you’ll find specialists who work together to understand your individual disease and to develop a treatment strategy that is unique to you – one targeted to your specific disease. This means you’ll get the best chance at breast conservation (read About Breast Reconstruction) and the most current chemotherapy, hormonal therapy or radiation options for the most favorable results. And if you qualify for one of our many research trials, you’ll have access to treatments that offer hope for better therapies in the future.
A true team approach
It’s rare to find a true team approach that coordinates the multiple specialties needed for your particular case, but you’ll find it here. Our physicians, surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, nurses and social workers all work together – most just down the hall from one another – and meet regularly to discuss the best options for your distinctly individual disease. This ongoing collaboration means you do not have to run from specialist to specialist, hoping that they communicate and agree on your treatment.
Extraordinary support services
Our comprehensive approach goes beyond providing you with the best available treatment options for breast cancer. From your first visit here, you’ll gain access to extraordinary care and support services. Our psychosocial support team will put you in touch with resources to help manage your life and your wellness during treatment and recovery.
What does this mean to you as our patient?
At UCSD, you will receive the highest certified level of breast cancer care in the San Diego region and have access to the latest research and treatment protocols available anywhere in the nation. And you know that innovation and clinical excellence go hand-in-hand when you have San Diego’s top breast cancer experts working with you.
- Leading-edge research on breast cancer
- Unparalleled access to clinical trials in San Diego
- Clinical authority
- The cancer-fighting team you deserve
- Specialization in breast cancer
- Several perspectives focused on you
- Follow-up continues past initial treatment
- Advanced technology for greater precision, fewer side effects
- “How can we help you and your family?" attitude
Leading-edge research on breast cancer
Watch a May 2012 video of Dr. Catheryn Yashar, radiation oncologist at Moores Cancer Center, on recent data about the effectiveness of brachytherapy.
Our breast cancer experts are at the pinnacle of their disciplines. Most are involved in progressive research to:
- Identify breast cancer’s causal and risk factors
- Predict and manage risk through genetic counseling
- Enhance detection
- Increase imaging quality for higher-precision diagnosis and treatment
- Identify breast cancer subtypes
- Expand surgical options to allow the highest opportunity for breast conservation
- Refine the medical oncology tool chest of case-specific alternatives for radiation, chemotherapy and hormone therapy
- Reduce or manage symptoms and side effects
- Causes and abatement of fatigue
- Heighten wellness by exploring new therapies to enhance quality of life during and after cancer treatment
- Decrease probability of recurrence
Unparalleled access to clinical trials in San Diego
Here, you have access to clinical trials and treatment protocols that are not available anywhere else in San Diego or Imperial counties. That means you have the option of participating in research trials that offer the latest advances in practically all arenas of your care: from diagnosis to treatment to recovery and beyond. And you can help the next generation by contributing to the development of new medical knowledge.
Clinical authority
Your medical team includes breast cancer experts who have specialized expertise and experience treating this singular disease. Their concentrated focus provides you with the latest and most comprehensive information and advances in the field. As national authorities, they offer you sophisticated, breakthrough approaches at the forefront of medical science. They’ve literally written the book on the latest advances.
The cancer-fighting team you deserve
More importantly, these experts have the clinical knowledge and collaborative approach to provide you with the optimal therapy based on your unique case. Breast cancer is not a homogenous disease, but presents multiple subsets that are specific to each patient. So no two cases are alike -- and some are like no other. At UCSD, you’ll receive the best access to the latest treatments and the most current medical knowledge. That’s the kind of cancer-fighting team you deserve.
Specialization in breast cancer
Because breast cancer affects about one in eight women, we believe it merits a distinct single-mindedness in research, diagnosis and treatment. That’s why we’ve attracted the best and brightest medical professionals to the specialized breast cancer team at UCSD.
Our patients interact with physicians who are not only at the leading edge of their disciplines, but at the vanguard of breast cancer science within their medical specialties. Radiologists, pathologists, surgeons, reconstructive surgeons, medical oncologists, nurses and social workers all have chosen to focus their careers in the arena of breast cancer. And while singly they are leaders in their fields, together they comprise a formidable team working to fight your disease.
Several perspectives focused on you
One of the primary benefits of an academic medical center is the team approach to clinical care. At UCSD, you don’t just have one physician, or several physicians from different practices and different disciplines who you hope touch base with one another about their thoughts on your care. Our multidisciplinary team works together on your case. We compare notes, confer regularly with one another and review your progress. It’s like having a built-in second opinion. And a third and a fourth.
“This is a complicated field, so our entire focus is on breast cancer,” explained Anne Wallace, M.D., FACS, surgical oncologist, reconstructive surgeon and director of the Breast Cancer Unit. “In addition, we can spend as much time with patients as needed. We have the time to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t,’ so every patient gets 200 percent. We are very thorough.”
Follow-up continues past initial treatment
And your team will stay with you for years. “Out there in the community, surgeons don’t generally follow patients very long after their surgery. At UCSD, our entire breast cancer team follows the patient for many years. Our follow-up doesn’t stop when the initial treatment is over,” said Dr. Wallace.
Advanced technology for greater precision, fewer side effects
As an academic center, UCSD has access to resources that aren’t commonly available elsewhere. That means we have the technology and the techniques that are often years ahead of other medical centers. For our patients, that translates to more sophisticated disease definition made possible by advanced diagnostic imaging and evaluation.
More knowledge, higher degree of precision, targeted therapies. Simply put, we have a bigger tool chest and the experts who know how to get the most from it. The results for patients can mean fewer side effects from lower, more targeted chemotherapy or radiation therapy, more likelihood of breast conservation and greater wellness during treatment.
“How can we help you and your family?”
At Moores UCSD Cancer Center, we’re concerned about you as a whole person, not just your disease. We also understand that you may be reluctant to discuss some of the problems that can arise and be barriers to effective care. That’s why we ask all new patients to complete a unique assessment we developed, called “How Can We Help You and Your Family?”
It is the nation’s first systematic bio-psychosocial screening process to be offered in a real-time, touch-screen format. You simply press a stylus on a computer touch-screen to rate a series of 36 problems, such as pain, fatigue, controlling fear, feeling down, sexual function, understanding treatment options, and talking with family and friends. The information is encrypted for privacy and immediately e-mailed to your health care team, including physicians, nurses and social workers. For example, if pain is one of your top concerns, the survey will – with your permission – alert your primary treating physician to discuss how you may benefit from our Palliative Care services.
This quick, easy-to-use survey also alerts us to other concerns you may have, such as transportation or the need for practical help at home, so that we can give you a list of appropriate resources before your appointment.
Appointments
For more information or to make an appointment: