Hilton Head Monthly Magazine

Beaufort Memorial Hospital recently asked women in the Lowcountry which improvements they’d most like to see in local health care, and their response was clear, said Karen Carroll, vice president of patient care services for the hospital.

“Breast health was their No. 1 concern,” she said.

It’s a priority that makes sense, given the incidence and seriousness of breast cancer. The American Cancer Society estimated 254,650 women would be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. More than 40,000 of them were expected to die.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we checked in with Lowcountry hospitals to find out about the newest technologies and breast health services.

Hilton Head Regional Health Care

The Hilton Head Hospital Breast Health Center at Hilton Head Regional Health Care is a dedicated center to diagnose and treat women with breast problems, both benign and malignant.

It has an affiliation agreement with the Medical University of South Carolina’s Hollings Cancer Center, which is accredited by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers. Because of that affiliation, breast cancer patients on Hilton Head and in Bluffton can get second opinions from experts in the field and participate in clinical trials, said Dr. Virginia Herrmann, medical director for the Hilton Head Hospital Breast Health Center. “Patients diagnosed with breast cancer here can have access to the most up-to-date treatment,” said Herrmann, who is the only dedicated breast surgeon/surgical oncologist in Beaufort and Jasper counties.

Patients also are availed of the very latest imaging technology at the facility’s imaging center, as well as the specialists to read and interpret those images. There are two breast specialists on staff and a third in the works, said Jane Ouimette, manager of imaging services. And the hospital’s breast imaging services are now provided by Radisphere, the largest network of specialized radiologists in the U.S. Herrmann said mammograms and ultrasound examinations of the breast done here are interpreted by radiologists across the country who specialize in breast imaging.

The hospital is also upgrading its stereotactic unit, a special mammography machine that uses a computer and a threedimensional scanning device to remove a sample of a tumor.

“The computer will actually locate the lesion and guide the physician exactly where to place the needle,” said Tom Neal, director of imaging services for Hilton Head Hospital.

Beaufort Memorial Hospital

Beaufort Memorial Hospital’s Keyserling Cancer Center is already an affiliate of Duke University Medical Center, which is ranked among the top ten cancer treatment sites in the nation.

This gives local patients of all types of cancer, including breast cancer, access to national clinical trials and the latest drugs and procedures. Now the hospital is expanding and streamlining its services for breast health and other women’s issues.

Early next year, 4,100 square feet of office space in Beaufort Medical Plaza, adjacent to the hospital, will be renovated to include mammography, ultrasounds, DEXA scans and stereotactic biopsy.

“The facility will be dedicated solely to women’s imaging services,” said Karen Carroll, vice president of patient care services for the hospital. “It’s going to improve the experience and make these screenings much more accessible to women.”

Eventually, the hospital hopes to transition the facility into an accredited breast center, much like the Hollings Cancer Center. Its current cancer program already is highly respected, evidenced by its recent accreditation with commendation by the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer. The 3-year accreditation covers 36 standards in eight areas, and the commendation was for achieving excellence in all eight.

St. Joseph/Candler Health System

Women undergoing radiation for early-stage breast cancer have traditionally been subjected to about seven weeks of treatment — and the discomfort and fatigue that go along with it.

But now at St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System, a Hilton Head doctor is offering a new option that cuts the treatment time — and the side effects — by a third.

Dr. Lorraine Champion, who practices at The Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer and Research Pavilion Radiation Oncology Center Hilton Head/Bluffton, which is part of the St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System, began using the new treatment protocol early this year. The treatment uses a safe but higher dose of radiation than conventional treatment and cuts the length from seven weeks of daily treatment to four weeks or less for many patients with early-stage breast cancer.

“This is the future for women who catch their cancer early,” Champion said. “It will save Hilton Head women time and medical costs, and they will have less fatigue and skin irritation.”

The American Society for Radiation Oncology has endorsed the new treatment, which is called hypofractionated whole breast irradiation. After several trials, it concluded that the hypofractionated treatment is just as effective as conventional radiation treatment.

“It hasn’t been widely adopted in the United States yet, but women can now find it right here on Hilton Head,” Champion said.