Nationally recognized breast surgeon Robert B. Caplan, MD, watched his mother die of advanced breast cancer at a time when treatment options were limited.
Despite advances in treatment, Mrs. Caplan's likelihood of survival would be no better today. A medical environment that pushes the aggressive use of unnecessary chemotherapy, however, could well have prolonged her suffering.
Dr. Caplan finds this unacceptable. With little proof that chemo and radiation therapy are more effective than surgery alone, such treatments are commonplace, driving a multibillion-dollar industry at the expense of the women it purports to treat.
In And Then She Was Gone, Dr. Caplan describes the groundbreaking methods of early diagnosis and surgical treatment he spearheaded in the Breast Care Center of Portsmouth, Virginia, including replacing open surgical biopsies with stereotactic and ultrasound-guided needle biopsies to diagnose breast cancer in its earliest stages.
Historically, health care in the United States has failed women with fragmented and substandard treatments. Dr. Caplan has fought his entire life against this broken system. And Then She Was Gone will leave you angered-but with hope for the future.
About the Author: Nationally recognized breast surgeon Robert B. Caplan, MD, served his residency at New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center, and Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he received additional training in breast surgery.
In 1990, Dr. Caplan opened the Breast Care Center in Portsmouth, Virginia. The center offered mammography, breast ultrasound, and stereotactic biopsies while training more than 750 surgeons in these techniques. By combining ultrasound and mammography techniques, Dr. Caplan was able to create a highly reliable protocol for detecting early-stage cancer.
Dr. Caplan founded the American Society of Breast Surgeons in 1994. In addition, he served on the FDA panel of radiologic devices, the board of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, and the editorial board of The Breast Journal.
Now retired, Dr. Caplan continues to campaign for all women in America to have access to the lifesaving procedures he implemented at the Breast Care Center.
