Breast Cancer Survivor Underwent Nerve-Sparing Procedure She Developed

When San Francisco-based surgeon Dr. Anne Peled decided to undergo a sensation-preserving mastectomy following her second diagnosis of breast cancer, she was already incredibly familiar with the procedure – after all, she co-developed it.

Peled sat down for an interview with CURE to discuss the nerve-sparing technique developed to protect post-mastectomy sensation. When she underwent the surgery earlier this year, her husband, nerve surgeon Dr. Ziv Peled, performed the operation alongside a Los Angeles-based team who she helped educated and train.

Transcript:

Can you tell me about the sensation-preserving mastectomy you underwent after developing it yourself?

I think now, having been through this myself, it really was so game changing to not go into surgery and feeling like I might be like one of my friends who had a non-sensation-preserving mastectomy and doesn't even know her sports bra is on. And I do think the concept of trying to keep sensation and not have a huge part of your body that's numb for the rest of your life, and then also avoiding chronic pain that comes with nerve , is so important. So I am really grateful that my husband, who helped pioneer this procedure with me, was able to be there for my surgery, essentially to look for nerves that could be saved and reconstruct ones that couldn't be so that over the next year to two, most of my sensation hopefully will come back, and it's already working, which is really exciting.

I always love reminding people how important it is to really trust your gut. And also, know that getting more information through multiple opinions is always important. Breast cancer, in so many positive ways, is constantly evolving and changing, and there are certainly things that were available to me now with this cancer diagnosis that weren't available when I was first diagnosed in 2017. And so, making sure that you're getting access to the best techniques, technologies, approaches, maybe clinical trials if something comes up, is so incredible, because things change and evolve, and we want to make sure people are getting the best care.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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