One of the greatest sources of anxiety among patients with breast cancer can be waiting, for either physician visits or tests. At Johns Hopkins Health Care & Surgery Center — Green Spring Station in Lutherville, surgeons participate in multidisciplinary clinics several days a week so patients can be seen quickly.
“These clinics give patients the chance to meet with doctors from different specialties on the same day,” says Melissa Camp, lead breast surgeon at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center’s Breast Program at Green Spring Station. “This allows for creation of a treatment plan in a collaborative fashion by the end of the visit, with open communication between the patient and the specialists in the different disciplines.”
Clinics are tailored to patient needs, says Lisa Jacobs, division chief of breast cancer surgery at Johns Hopkins. Patients who have more advanced stages of breast cancer with large tumors or involved lymph nodes are good candidates for a preoperative multidisciplinary clinic, where they can meet with a surgeon, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist on the same day. Those with earlier stages of breast cancer may benefit instead from a postoperative multidisciplinary clinic, where they can meet with a medical oncologist or other specialists after procedures such as a lumpectomy or excisional biopsy so the medical team has all pathology results handy.
The Green Spring Station campus has the same resources for patients with breast cancer as The Johns Hopkins Hospital, says Camp. This includes breast health navigators to help patients line up appointments, as well as imaging services.
“Green Spring Station is also convenient and accessible for many patients,” Camp says. “With the exception of certain surgeries that can’t be performed on an outpatient basis, the procedures and treatments offered at Green Spring Station are the same as those at our various hospitals throughout the Johns Hopkins Health System.”
“In one building,” adds Jacobs, “you can see your medical oncologist and surgeon, and have breast imaging and surgery. Radiation oncology and plastic surgery are in the same location, which is a huge advantage. About 80% of patients can receive the entire treatment course for breast cancer on that campus.”
In spring 2019, Johns Hopkins opened Pavilion III at Green Spring Station, which hosts an ambulatory surgery center where patients with breast cancer can have all procedures performed aside from complex reconstructive surgeries, which still are offered at the main campus.
“The ambulatory surgery center is superlative,” says breast surgeon David Euhus. “People comment about the space being aesthetic, roomy and clean, and there’s a culture there of friendliness, engagement, care and efficiency. It’s a very good experience for both the surgeons and the patients.”
