Breast Disease Clinic
Ambulatory unit, 1000 DePalma Drive K9A 5W8 Cobourg, ON, Canada

Please keep in mind that the first photo was taken in the pre-COVID era when life was more normal.

From our hospital’s wonderful foundation, a major supporter of health care at Northumberland Hills County Northumberland County, Ontario

Wishing you all a happy thanks giving! Stay safe and take care.

Follow up imaging for lesions that are indeterminate (of unclear importance), is that safe? Imaging of the breast is an integral part of the process to assess breast symptoms and findings. Our radiology colleagues sometimes might ask you to come back a few months later for a short follow up set of new imaging studies. You might wonder how safe is that. Breast lesions are classified from the imaging perspective according to a well known scheme know by its acronym: BIRAD. This ...goes from 1 to 6; in a nutshell: the higher the number the more concerning the finding is. BIRAD 3 usually means the finding is likely benign (<2% chance it is malignant) and a short follow up to confirm that is required. While many physicians and patients alike do not favor such distinction, it is sometime helpful to separate those patients who can avoid an otherwise more invasive procedure from those who actually do need such a procedure. Your team is very well equipped to identify those cases who need a follow up imaging study. The risk of such a delay is carefully calculated when such a decision is made. Your rights: You are encouraged to discuss this decision with your team (radiologist, Breast surgeon, GP), and ask for more information. You are encouraged to request more information about the feasibility of a biopsy vs a repeat exam and the risks involved in either approach. Your right is to have your questions answered in a satisfactory way. Our team is here to help. For more info, call our clinic. https://www.diagnosticimaging.com//post-bi-rads-3-mammogra

How can the surgeon localize the area of this nrereat that is destined to be removed? one option is a needle wire localization procedure. This is one of the options performed at NHH. Other options include US guided surgery, or using special radioactive beads (this one is not currently available at NHH). But how does needle localization work? https://www.cancer.ca//tests-an/wire-localization-biopsy/

Breast congenital abnormalities. There options to take care of these conditions. https://www.bapras.org.uk//congenital-breast-and-chest-con

Happy Canada day!! We are so blessed and fortunate to belong to this wonderful country and home. God bless you all. Stay safe!

To our wonderful nurses who always go above and beyond. Happy #nursesday

Dear everyone These have been and continue to be very difficult times for all of us, for patients, families, and even your healthcare teams. Thank you for helping out by following #stayhomestaysafe #socialdistancing and other measures in fighting this disease. These measures as hard as they are on many, have saved lives.... At this stage, some of our hospitals including our very own, have started slowly and in a very limited way, offering urgent surgeries again to those with cancers that were postponed as a result of the #COVID19 crisis. We are constantly in discussion with our administrators and health officials regarding who is offered surgery and when. The first batch of cases went through implementing the new #COVID19 precautions. This is certainly great news as we try to slowly move forward. We will keep you updated as usual, feel free to contact us if you have any questions, email works better at this stage. Stay safe! Dr. Kaes Al-Ali Breast Surgical Oncologist and General Surgeon Northumberland Hills Hospital

#stories Real stories and lessons from brave cancer patients like yourself while you navigate the #COVID19 pandemic. #fightcancer #cancerpatients https://www.fredhutch.org//lessons-from-cancer-patients-in

A HUGE THANK YOU TO: Our wonderful medical and admin staff everywhere; doctors, nurses, auxiliary staff (cleaners, security, lab techs, radio-techs, physiotherapists, etc), you all rock!! To our wonderful community for helping us with this pandemic by staying home!... We are in this together and it certainly takes 2 to tango! Stay safe!! #COVID19

#cancer surgeries in the #COVID19 era. Dear all This pandemic has forced us all to make some really difficult decisions, many of which involve your care directly. We as physicians are asked to make these incredibly difficult choices because of resource allocation and fear of spreading the pandemic.... Cancer Care Ontario has published a guideline to help standardize the way cancer physicians approach this issue, keeping your interest and everyone's safety as a top priority when this document was drafted. To summarize: Wait times for cancer cases in Ontario follow a well known triaging system, this will have to be adjusted to account for the current situation. Emergency cancer surgeries are to continue uninterrupted: these include brain cancers, rapidly expanding cancers, or cancers in which a substantial negative outcome will occur if a 4 week delay occurs. Less emergent but still urgent cases, will be deferred for 4 weeks for now, there is ample clinical evidence about the true risks of doing this, and while it will not be zero, it likely will not be substantial, and weighing the risks from acquiring COVID-19 while you navigate our stressed health system vs the risk of waiting, a 4 week was assessed to be a reasonable compromise. Meanwhile, we as cancer physicians, are keeping a close eye on the situation, have created different lists of patients with cancer depending on how urgent their surgery needs to happen, and will continue to advocate for our patients. We are in this together, and we have not seen the worst yet. This is going to be a marathon unfortunately and tough choices will have to be made along the way, I can't but say that we appreciate that you are very worried but rest assure that we will always advocate for our patients and work to your best. Dr. Kaes Al-Ali Breast Surgical Oncologist and General Surgeon Northumberland Hills Hospital