Surgery: Brian C. Smeal, M.D.
Nothing Mild in This Surgeon's War to Vanquish Breast Cancer
His manner may be mild and his words soft-spoken, but make no mistake about Brian C. Smeal, M.D. He is a warrior. A cancer warrior.
Brian C. Smeal, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Dr. Smeal, engaged in combat against breast cancer for 14 years, repeats a single phrase so often it could well be his guiding mantra:
"Women should die from old age, not breast cancer."
In a wide-ranging interview, Dr. Smeal outlined his views on breast cancer detection, treatment options, his work in breast-conserving sentinel node biopsy, and the need for open communication with patients.
His aggressive approach includes interviewing new patients about their family history with a detective-like intensity. His passion in leaving no stone unturned in hunting down the disease is fed by his front-line experience witnessing just what cancer can do to a woman.
"Breast cancer used to be a dirty little secret," he said. "Nobody in the family talked about Aunt Rose having her breast removed. I've seen patients show up in the emergency room with a necrotic, fungating breast cancer that you can smell walking in the door. It was really sad. Basically what happened was it was a dirty little secret."
"And so I ask a new breast cancer patient if there is anybody in the family with thyroid cancer, with gynecologic cancers because it really does increase the risk and it also can help predict if there is a genetic component to the breast cancer."
Joining Dr. Smeal in this campaign against breast cancer will be his colleague, board- certified general surgeon Matthew J. Finnegan, M.D., who has extensive experience in breast surgery and also is concentrating on colorectal and gastrointestinal surgery at Lourdes. His other colleague, James O. Finnegan, M.D., brings 40 years of thoracic/lung and esophageal surgery expertise to Lourdes.
Dr. Smeal said he will have no problem motivating patients to begin treatment. "That's because women with breast cancer are ready for treatment and surgery the day before they visit the office," he said. "They want to know how expeditiously you can get their biopsy done and cancer treated."
To that end, Dr. Smeal plays a major role in helping the patient navigate the system. He establishes lines of communication with those physicians and departments—the oncologist, radiation oncologist and others—scheduled to see his patient in the course of treatment. "My role in the beginning is to coordinate it, get surgical treatment under control, then send the patient out to various places. Then I see my patients yearly and follow them pretty much forever after that."
Like Drs. Finnegan, Dr. Smeal offers glowing commentary about the high quality of care at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center where he is now serving his patients.
Dr. Smeal also specializes in wound management and is active in his surgical practice's program of dealing with non-healing wounds of bedridden and/or immobile patients in the medical center and area nursing homes. The incidence of such wounds is mounting, he said, and can strike the unsuspecting.
