Breast Cancer Clinical Trials Offer Advanced Treatment Options
A few weeks before she was scheduled to have her first mammogram, Kristen Moss discovered a lump in her breast.
A biopsy confirmed that the lump was cancer-specifically, HER2-positive breast cancer, a typically aggressive form. When Moss, 40, asked a friend at the American Cancer Society where she should go for treatment, the friend sent her to Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.
At Winship, Moss was enrolled right away in a clinical study testing a novel combination of chemotherapy drugs formulated for her specific type of tumor. After only eight weeks of treatment, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed no signs of the cancer. She finished the 20-week chemotherapy regimen in October, followed by a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
"If I had to have breast cancer, I'm glad I had it now when so many advances have been made, and I'm glad I could be treated at Emory," says Moss. Just a few years ago, Moss would have had to go out of state to find this kind of treatment.
However, in recent years, both Emory and the state of Georgia have been pouring massive resources into Winship to build a world-class matrix cancer center. The Institute offers a breadth and depth of cancer care, from basic science research and clinical trials to prevention in the larger population.
In April, Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute earned the coveted National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center designation, becoming the first medical facility in Georgia to earn this distinction. As an NCI-designated Cancer Center, Winship joins an elite group of 65 cancer centers nationwide that are on the forefront of the battle against cancer.
Winship's NCI designation will benefit patients through increased access to new clinical trials and technologies that are available through NCI-designated Cancer Centers.
For her part, Moss was unaware of the research and translational clinical trials going on at Winship. She just knew she was getting the best cancer care possible, and she was getting it at home. And that is all that mattered.
To learn more about Winship-sponsored events for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, please visit www.emoryhealthcare.org/breasthealth.
--Story Contributors: Vince Dollard, Sarah Goodwin, Martha Nolan McKenzie
