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Renowned Ashikari Breast Team Joins Hudson Valley

CORTLANDT—Although the Hudson Valley Hospital Center’s new Cancer Center doesn’t open until October, members of the Ashikari Breast Team have already begun taking patients at the hospital. The innovative team has pioneered prophylactic breast surgery for high risk patients and one-time surgeries where patients receive implants at the same time as a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. Dr. Roy Ashikari, founding member of the team, and one of the most accomplished oncology surgeons in the nation, was able to take a moment and speak to The Daily Cortlandt. The team is made up of Dr. Roy Ashikari, his son, Dr. Andrew Ashikari, and Dr. Pond Kelemen.

The Daily Cortlandt: What made you decide to found the Ashikari Breast Team?

Dr. Roy Ashikari: So for instance, a patient comes to our office with a lump, we can do all the tests at once in the same institution, we have everything. The radiologist takes a look at the tomography, at the spot, then I can look together. If we need a biopsy, we can do the biopsy. In 20 minutes we can get the result. So all together, in a couple hours, a patient coming in with a lump, we can make the diagnosis in a couple hours. Then we can discuss how to treat the patient. So, it’s so convenient.

The Daily Cortlandt: You’ve been studying breast cancer for about 40 years now, what kinds of new treatments are available?

Dr. Roy Ashikari: I was head of Sloan-Kettering at one time, Chief of Breast Service, so I know pretty much Sloan-Kettering is nationwide. But besides we do some few special procedures even the memorial hospital does not do. We have a program for the patients that are high risk-- which means that the patient has a very strong family history. We also do the gene test.

So we started doing these high risk patients about 8 years ago, and we can get the patients from California, Florida, Texas, some of them come from Hawaii, because of the internet, and we have operated over 300 already.

Radiation therapy, this is what we started too. We call it intraoperative radiation therapy, which means when we do a lumpectomy or a mastectomy, we do radiation in the operating room. This I started, we started about 8 years ago. And this is getting very popular by the way, in the nation. This radiation therapy, we used to give radiation therapy for five or six weeks every day after lumpectomy, now we giving one radiation therapy at the time of the operation. So we do the few things that are getting the patient from the different portion of the country.

The Daily Cortlandt: What kinds of advances have you seen in the field since you began practicing medicine in the 1950s?

Dr. Roy Ashikari: Number one, early diagnosis, we start seeing a smaller cancer. Number two, we used to do mastectomy, taking a breast out. When I was at Sloan-Kettering, 100 percent total mastectomy. Now, after, 70 percent of all breast cancer’s treated by partial mastectomy, two things that are very improved. Also, additional treatment like chemotherapy or hormonal treatment using different drugs, this is another improvement of the treatment. That’s why survival in this country from the breast cancer improved.

The Daily Cortlandt: What’s it like working with your son?

Dr. Roy Ashikari: We never fight, we never argue, and we’re getting along quite well. We’re using each other’s capabilities. When I negotiate with the hospital, I do it for him, because he’s young. He studied quite a bit, gives lectures, so I learn from him too. So we have a very good relationship.

The Daily Cortlandt: How has the politics of medicine changed since the mid-90s?

Dr. Roy Ashikari: Medical science I’m sure is improving, because it’s easy to say the people live long, which means the health care is improved compared to 30 years ago, but finance for the doctors is not. It’s amazingly involved, the pharmacies, the drugs, it’s so expensive. So many things the public doesn’t know about this. So you used to say ‘If you want to be a rich person in this country, be a doctor or lawyer.’ But no, doctors cannot be wealthy anymore. Malpractice insurance keeps going up, up, up.

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