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Sentara Obici Hospital
Breast Health Services
Q & A with Your Breast Health Specialist
 Contact Barbara
bgardella@obici.com
Toll-Free 1-866-450-6659
Local 1-757-934-4331
My name is Barbara Gardella. I feel very honored to have been chosen to be Obici Hospital’s Breast Health Specialist and am very proud of Obici for taking such a strong stand for women’s’ health.
I believe that education empowers patients to become proactive partners with their health care providers. Whether through community outreach programs, such as our Women's Night Out programs, by visiting high schools or one-on-one meetings with people who stop by my office, we are always working to educate the community about breast health.
Below are some of the questions people often ask me.
What is Breast Cancer?
Breast cancer is a malignant (cancerous) growth that starts from cells of the breast. The disease occurs mostly in women, but men can get breast cancer as well.
How many women get breast cancer?
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, other than skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.
About 215,990 women in the U.S. will be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2004. About 40,110 will die from the disease this year. Right now there are slightly over 2 million women living with the disease.
How many men get breast cancer?
In 2003, approximately 1,300 new cases of male breast cancer were diagnosed. Men with breast cancer have similar survival rates as women with breast cancer.
Can you explain what a "Breast Cancer Clinical Trial" is?
Breast cancer clinical trials are studies of promising new treatments that may be used in the future to treat breast cancer. A clinical trial is done only when there is some reason to believe that the new treatment may be valuable to the patient. Treatments used in clinical trials are found to have real benefits. The main questions that researchers want answer are:
- Is this treatment helpful?
- Does it work better than the one we are using now?
- What side effects does it cause?
- Do the benefits outweigh the side effects?
- Which patients are most likely to find this treatment helpful?
Clinical trials are carried out in steps called phases. Each phase is designed to answer questions.
Phase I - Clinical trials look at the best and safest way to administer treatment.
Phase II - Clinical trials are designed to see if the drug works. Patients are given the highest doses that do not cause side effects and then watched closely to see if there is an effect on the cancer.
Phase III - Clinical trials compare new treatment with standard treatment. Large numbers of patients are divided into two groups. The control group receives standard treatment and the other group receives the new treatment. Everyone is watched closely to see which treatment is more effective. The study is stopped if side effects are too severe or if one group has much better results than the other.
If you decide to enter a clinical trial you will receive excellent care. You will have a team of experts watching your progress very carefully. However there are some risks. No one knows in advance if the treatment will work or exactly what side effects will occur. That is what the study is designed to discover. Keep in mind, though, that even standard treatments have side effects. Taking part in a clinical trial is completely up to you. Even after joining you are free to drop out at any time and for any reason. Taking part in the study will not prevent you from getting other medical care that you may need.
The American Cancer Society offers a free service to patients and their families that will match you up with clinical trials in your area. To use this service, call 1-800-ACS-2345.
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