Renowned Breast Surgeons Join Hudson Valley Hospital Center

July 27, 2011 - PRLog -- Surgeons of the renowned Ashikari Breast Center are now seeing patients at Hudson Valley Hospital Center, offering residents of the greater Hudson Valley and beyond the latest and most advanced treatment in breast cancer care.

The Ashikari Breast Center is headed by noted surgical oncologist Roy H. Ashikari, M.D., FACS, the former Chief of Breast Service at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, along with his son Andrew Ashikari, MD, FACS, and Pond Kelemen, MD, FACS.

Their arrival comes as Hudson Valley Hospital Center is poised to open a new $25 million Comprehensive Cancer Care Center and Medical Office Building that will offer total cancer care in one location including tomotherapy, radiation and infusion therapy as well as all support services.  The Center is set to open in the fall.

“People traveled from nearly all 50 states to receive the expert care of Dr. Ashikari and his skilled surgeons,’’ said John C. Federspiel, President of Hudson Valley Hospital Center. “Now they can receive this world-class treatment right here at Hudson Valley Hospital Center. We welcome Dr. Ashikari and his team. We are very fortunate to have surgeons of this caliber at our Hospital.’’

Although the Cancer Center will not open until the fall, Dr. Ashikari and his team will have office hours at the Hospital starting July 5. For appointments, patients can call 914-734-3490.

Ashikari Breast Center provides cutting-edge care in a caring and compassionate manner. This reputation, coupled with their expertise and superior outcomes, has attracted patients nationally and internationally to their center.
Ashikari surgeons see an average of over 6,000 breast patients each year and perform more than 250 breast cancer operations every year. When cancer is detected, they make every effort to preserve the patient’s breasts, and are successful in over two thirds of cases. When combined with radiation therapy, breast preservation or lumpectomy is as effective as mastectomy or whole breast removal. Their rates of recurrence after such therapy is roughly 4 percent, which is at least 50 percent lower than the published national averages of 8 to 14 percent. When a mastectomy is indicated, Ashikari advocates immediate breast reconstruction. The pioneering New York Group for Plastic Surgery is also now on staff and will work with the Ashikari Breast Center group in the new Comprehensive Cancer Care Center.

The Ashikari Breast Center was recently involved in a ground-breaking study, which found that certain women who undergo a lumpectomy may not need to have their lymph nodes removed and that the removal of lymph nodes does not prolong survival or prevent recurrence of cancer.

Much of the center’s success has been due to the training and expertise of its surgeons.
Dr. Roy Ashikari, founder of the center, was Chief of The Breast Service at Sloan- Kettering during the 1970’s and 1980’s. He has been the Premier Senior breast surgeon in Westchester County for the past two decades. He has written the seminal research papers on Paget’s disease, Ductal (DCIS) and Lobular (LCIS) Carcinoma In-Situ, Male breast cancer, and breast cancer in Pregnancy.

Dr. Andrew Ashikari received his general surgery training at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein School of Medicine and attended the surgical oncology fellowship at University of Chicago Hospitals. He has published research on the topic of tumor immunology where he developed his clinical interest in melanoma. He also specializes in gastrointestinal tumors, breast cancer, and sarcoma. He has a strong clinical interest in women at high risk for breast cancer and prophylactic nipple-sparing mastectomy. Dr. Ashikari is a Principal investigator for the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP).

Dr. Pond Kelemen finished his surgical pathology residency at The University of Illinois at Chicago and received his general surgery training at The University of Chicago Hospitals. He later completed his surgical oncology Fellowship at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica. He is well-published in the field of sentinel lymph node biopsy and the use of PET Scan Imaging in Surgical Oncology. His other clinical interests are endocrine surgery, breast cancer, gastrointestinal surgery, and sarcomas. Dr. Kelemen is a principal investigator for the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG).

The new Comprehensive Cancer Care Center and the arrival of the Ashikari Breast Center follows the recent opening of a four-story, all-private room patient tower at Hudson Valley Hospital Center. The $100 million renovation and expansion also included a new lobby, 84 all-private patient rooms, doubling the size of the Emergency Department and the addition of new, state-of-the-art Surgery Center and 450-space parking garage.

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Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor. NY provides quality, comprehensive medical care and state-of-the-art diagnostic treatment, education and preventive services. Call 914-737-9000 or visit www.hvhc.org We practice Patientology!