This edition has more than 700 illustrations, including over 600 in full color. Dr. Ioachim is joined by a new co-editor, L. Jeffrey Medeiros, MD, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. All chapters have been extensively revised and a new chapter on genetics has been added.

A companion Website will offer the fully searchable online text and an image bank.

Montgomery’s Snider reflects on year at helm of American Society of Breast Surgeons

Dr. Howard Snider has treated breast disease patients for 36 years in his Montgomery practice, and has been a part of trends both in patient care and professional development for other surgeons.

Snider just completed his yearlong term as the president of the board of directors of the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS), the primary leadership organization for general surgeons who treat patients with breast disease.

Snider served as president of the board while still treating patients in his practice at Alabama Surgical Consultants. This past year, it wasn’t unusual for him to finish a case in the operating room and come out to find 20 emails of ASBS business to tend to.

“It’s been a busy year, but very rewarding,” Snider said.

Asked to talk about some of those rewards, Snider points to the position statements that the ASBS periodically issues to help guide surgeons in how they take care of their patients.

One example is the controversial recommendation from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force in late 2009 that women should start mammography screenings at age 50 and should only have them performed every two years. The recommendation was widely reported in the media.

The ASBS issued a position statement in August affirming the long-held standard that women should begin annual mammography screenings at age 40.

It comes down to a cost issue, Snider said; the task force is correct in its finding that fewer screenings save money. “By their calculations, it’s not cost-effective to do it annually starting in the 40s,” he said.

“They acknowledge that, yes, some women are going to die as a result of not screening it, but they look at the other side of it, and the unnecessary biopsies and trauma that women go through, and weigh those two things, and come down on the side of, it’s not worth it.”

It’s a societal issue, Snider said, “but there’s no question you’re going to find more cancers if you screen starting at age 40 and doing it annually.”

Quality measures

The ASBS has also taken a leading role in helping to define the quality measures that are used to evaluate breast surgeons.