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American Morning

Breast Cancer Detection

Aired December 05, 2003 - 08:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Dr. Sanjay Gupta's got the day off. But in medical news this morning, a second opinion can make a world of difference in treating breast cancer.
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is sitting in for us this morning, and she joins us from the CNN Center with details on this.

And it's really, Elizabeth, a huge difference, isn't it?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a big difference.

Soledad, we've all heard get a second opinion, whatever your doctor says, get a second opinion. Many people ignore that. Well, perhaps it is most important perhaps in cancer to get that second opinion, because there are so many treatment options out there. And because, unfortunately, it can be easy to miss tumors.

What this study did is it took 148 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and they then had a second set of doctors at the University of Michigan take a look at those patients' mammograms. They found that the original doctors missed 10 tumors, in other words, 10 additional tumors in these women who had breast cancer. That can make a big difference in the kind of treatment that those patients would pursue. In fact, when you looked at what those patients did pursue, out of those 148, after the second opinion, 38 changed treatment.

Because again, as I said, in breast cancer, there are so many treatment options. Lumpectomy versus mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, so many different things that you can do that getting a second opinion can often help you decide what to do. And the experts we talked to said, you know, you would think that doctors would encourage their patients to get second opinions, but, in fact, they don't -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Did the study investigate when you get a second opinion that it makes a difference where you go to get that second opinion?

COHEN: Yes, there were some experts that we talked to who said, if you're going to get a second opinion, and they of course think that it's a good idea to do so, that you should go to a big cancer center, at an academic center, for example, because they see mammogram after mammogram after mammogram. They do surgery after surgery after surgery. And just from that sheer volume, they develop an expertise. It doesn't mean that they're always going to be the best, but the people who we talked to said if you're going to go get a second opinion and you're not already at one of those centers, you should go to some of those centers. And again, some doctors will encourage their patients to get second opinions, but not all of them will.

O'BRIEN: Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning. Elizabeth, thanks a lot for that update.

COHEN: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 5, 2003 - 08:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Dr. Sanjay Gupta's got the day off. But in medical news this morning, a second opinion can make a world of difference in treating breast cancer.
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is sitting in for us this morning, and she joins us from the CNN Center with details on this.

And it's really, Elizabeth, a huge difference, isn't it?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a big difference.

Soledad, we've all heard get a second opinion, whatever your doctor says, get a second opinion. Many people ignore that. Well, perhaps it is most important perhaps in cancer to get that second opinion, because there are so many treatment options out there. And because, unfortunately, it can be easy to miss tumors.

What this study did is it took 148 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and they then had a second set of doctors at the University of Michigan take a look at those patients' mammograms. They found that the original doctors missed 10 tumors, in other words, 10 additional tumors in these women who had breast cancer. That can make a big difference in the kind of treatment that those patients would pursue. In fact, when you looked at what those patients did pursue, out of those 148, after the second opinion, 38 changed treatment.

Because again, as I said, in breast cancer, there are so many treatment options. Lumpectomy versus mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, so many different things that you can do that getting a second opinion can often help you decide what to do. And the experts we talked to said, you know, you would think that doctors would encourage their patients to get second opinions, but, in fact, they don't -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Did the study investigate when you get a second opinion that it makes a difference where you go to get that second opinion?

COHEN: Yes, there were some experts that we talked to who said, if you're going to get a second opinion, and they of course think that it's a good idea to do so, that you should go to a big cancer center, at an academic center, for example, because they see mammogram after mammogram after mammogram. They do surgery after surgery after surgery. And just from that sheer volume, they develop an expertise. It doesn't mean that they're always going to be the best, but the people who we talked to said if you're going to go get a second opinion and you're not already at one of those centers, you should go to some of those centers. And again, some doctors will encourage their patients to get second opinions, but not all of them will.

O'BRIEN: Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning. Elizabeth, thanks a lot for that update.

COHEN: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com