An interview with Roshni Rao, MD, Chief of the Division of Breast Surgery.

As advances in breast cancer treatment have allowed for a greater focus on quality of life and breast conservation, the roles of breast and plastic surgery seem to be increasingly intertwined. And all patients have the right to reconstruction after mastectomy.

There is a critical need for better collaboration and care between healthcare providers, community leaders, and the public, in order to tackle these issues and reduce cancer through prevention, education, and access.

We followed breast surgeon Dr. Roshni Rao for the day, and we learned about one of the most important skills a doctor can have: how to talk to patients about cancer.

New markers found in cancer-associated cells could make it easier for doctors to treat breast cancer, results of a new study published in Cancer Cell suggest. These new types of identifiers will help target chemotherapy by allowing doctors to better differentiate between healthy/normal tissue and cells contributing to cancer.

Roshni Rao, MD, Chief of Breast Surgery at Columbia, reviews the latest FDA warning related to robotic surgery and mastectomies.

Breast fibroadenomas (BFA) are benign (non-cancerous) breast tumors that are comprised of glandular and fibrous breast tissue. These lumps can occur alone, in groups, or as a complex of lumps together. Sometimes women feel these in the breast when doing regular self-breast exams, or they may be found during a routine mammogram. Some are small (less than an inch in size), and others are quite large (the size of a lemon or larger).