Questions about medical system in Canada.. very worried..

rosemary_39

I found out that my surgeon is general surgeon and surgical oncologist, so he does breast cancer surgery as well as other types of surgery,,, it seems like that his focus is on breast but still very worried if he is skilled enought to perform breast cancer surgery since he is quite young... Is it normal for most breast surgeons in Toronto to do several types of surgery or are there surgeons who only specialize in breast cancer surgery?

rozem

if you want a dedicated breast surgeon or someone who does lots of breast surgeries go to a hospital with a cancer center like Sunnybrook, Princess Margaret, Credit Valley.  I think my breast surgeon also did melanoma surgery so i think it is common.  What type of surgery are you doing?  I remember my BS telling me that a lumpectomy was technically more difficult then a mastectomy.  

TB90

My surgeon only did breast surgery and worked out of a breast health centre.  I am in Winnipeg.  Are there breast health centres in your area?  Or the equivalent? 

rosemary_39

I am in Toronto and my family doctor referred me to North York General Hospital. They have breast cancer diagnostic centre but does not seem like there are surgeons only specializing in breast. I haven't decided whether to do lumpectomy or mastectomy. This is not my first diagnosis with breast cancer.. so I am really worried and would like to get a surgery who has a lot of experience...I know that in Princess Margaret, there are surgeons who are focused on breast cancer but it doesn't seem easy to transfer to another doctor.

Beesie

Being in Toronto, you have access to care that is as good as anything you'll find anywhere in the world.  

And being in Canada, you won't have to worry about insurance approvals or whether these doctors are covered by your insurance. 

As rozem suggested, if you want to find a surgeon who exclusively or almost exclusively does breast cancer surgery, then you should go to a hospital that has a specialized breast cancer department.  Princess Margaret is a cancer-only hospital and has among the best breast cancer surgeons and plastic surgeons in the city.  I believe that Sunnybrook, Mt. Sinai and Women's College all have interdisciplinary breast health centres, bringing together a wide team of breast cancer experts.

If you want to transfer from North York to one of these other hospitals, I believe that all that is necessary is a referral from one of your current doctors.  I started at Trillium and had no problem transferring to PMH.

Lilyn

I was treated at North York General at the Breast Diagnostic Clinic. The breast surgeons at this hospital are some of the

best in Toronto. Dr. Nancy Down was my surgeon and cant say enough about their expertise and care. 

DiveCat

There is no true "breast surgeon" specialty in Canada. As in, you do not get licensed as a "Breast Surgeon". What you want is someone who has lots of experience (including recent experience) in breast surgery, whether it is what they focus on 100% exclusively or not. 

My "breast surgeon" who does my high risk monitoring and who will be doing my PBMX this month is a general surgeon, but he works primarily out of a breast health centre/cancer center at a major city hospital and I was referred to him by the high risk clinic. 90% of his surgeries are breast/breast oncology related (lx's, mx's, etc) He DOES do some other surgery as well, but I do not think this in anyway takes away from his experience and skill in breast surgery. He is wonderful and I have great confidence in him.

You DO need to feel confident in your surgeon. If you are not confident in this surgeon, then ask for a referral, just know that even a surgeon who works out of a dedicated breast clinic/cancer centre may do the occasional other surgery. I would not say breast surgery is "particularly difficult" from what I understand as you are working with soft tissues (not organs, spine, etc) but you do want someone who can identify suspicious areas and know what to do to get clean margins (though even the best need to go back sometimes as it is very hard to identify healthy breast tissue from cancerous tissue at times), or who knows how to remove as much tissue as possible to reduce risk, while balancing other concerns.