Page 4 - BeaufortMemorial

Three days after moving

to the Lowcountry from Ohio, 68-year-old Laura Braun was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I had been looking forward to moving here ever since we bought a condo on the beach in 1978,” she says. “I fnally had the opportunity to live my dream, and I fnd out I have cancer. Welcome to paradise.”

Putting together a team

During the next 15 months, the Bluffton resident would make 110 trips to Beaufort Memorial and the Keyserling Cancer Center. She met with a surgeon, a medical oncologist and a radiation on-cologist; had numerous tests and scans; underwent a lumpectomy; and received 4 rounds of chemotherapy, 30 radiation treatments and 18 shots of Herceptin, a targeted cancer therapy.

“Treating cancer is not just a process confned to some specifc organ,” says BMH radiation oncologist James McNab, MD. “Te disease has to be attacked from multiple directions.”

Braun was treated by a group of physicians and specialists encompass-ing a broad range of disciplines. With outpatient clinical services consolidated at the Keyserling Cancer Center, the multi­disciplinary team was able to work together to ensure coordinated and seam-less care tailored specifcally to her needs. “It used to be one physician making all the decisions,” Dr. McNab says. “Tat’s been the biggest change I’ve seen in can-cer care since I began my career 30 years ago. It’s become an integrated process. Te result has been improved outcomes.”

Democracy in action

To facilitate the team approach to treat-ment, BMH established a Tumor Board that meets every two weeks to review case histories. Te group can include surgeons,

A team approach makes sure every voice is heard

consensus

C

ancer

Watch videos featuring our cancer specialists .

www.YouTube.com/Beaufor tMemorial

4

  Health Scene • www.bmhsc.org

FREE doctor referral service

Find out more about our cancer specialists.

Call 888-522-5585 .