Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Dr. Gil Lederman, Host of Radiosurgery New York on WOR at midnight Interview

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Dr. Gil Lederman, Host of Radiosurgery New York on WOR at midnight Interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

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  Speaker 1: On the line right now, Dr.
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  Speaker 2: Gil Lederman, host of Radio Surgery New York, right here
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  Speaker 2: at 710 WOR at midnight and on the weekends. Doc,
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  Speaker 2: it's the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and what
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  Speaker 2: are some of the things that our listeners really need
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  Speaker 2: to be aware of?
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  Speaker 1: Thanks, Curtis.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, and thanks, Larry, and thanks, Natalie, who I
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  Speaker 3: know is the brains behind the operation.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you.
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  Speaker 3: Well, you're laughing, but you know it's true.
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  Speaker 4: I'm laughing because she laughed.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we know the brains. We have to acknowledge the brains,
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  Speaker 3: and that's the way it is. WR is fantastic, and
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  Speaker 3: she's fantastic. So why are we here today? Well, we're
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  Speaker 3: here actually every day as breast cancer awareness because 325,000
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  Speaker 3: women a year are diagnosed with breast cancer. More than
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  Speaker 3: 40,000 die a year of breast cancer. So it's a
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  Speaker 3: vicious disease. And I see it every day. And I've
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  Speaker 3: been talking about it for 40 years since I came
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  Speaker 3: to New York. When I came to New York, the
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  Speaker 3: major hospitals, the big superstars were doing mastectomies on 97%
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  Speaker 3: of women. In my practice, 90% of women were keeping
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  Speaker 3: their breasts even back then, 40 years ago. So there's
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  Speaker 3: big differences. I think a lot of reasons women don't
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  Speaker 3: get screening is they're afraid of losing their breasts or
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  Speaker 3: having their body distorted by unnecessary surgery. So I think
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  Speaker 3: lesson number one is one in eight women will get
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  Speaker 3: breast cancer in their lifetime. So women need to examine
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  Speaker 3: their own breasts. Women need to see their physician about
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  Speaker 3: examining their breasts. Women need to get mammograms and ultrasounds
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  Speaker 3: on an annual basis. And there's nothing to fear. The
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  Speaker 3: worst thing is to have undiagnosed or advanced breast cancer.
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  Speaker 3: So it's much better to be diagnosed early. You find
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  Speaker 3: it early and the success rate is dramatically higher. You
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  Speaker 3: find it late and it's dramatically less. So early bird
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  Speaker 3: catches the worm and women can get checked out for
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  Speaker 3: almost all conditions, whether it's breast cancer or pap smears
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  Speaker 3: or colonoscopy. These are all things that every woman should
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  Speaker 3: be doing on a regular basis.
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  Speaker 4: It's so important that you said that because I just
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  Speaker 4: looked at studies and for the first time, in the
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  Speaker 4: last couple of decades, breast cancer is on the rise
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  Speaker 4: right now, and especially among the young who are not
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  Speaker 4: getting the necessary mammograms and the necessary checkups. And I'm
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  Speaker 4: not sure, except that something you said really stuck out
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  Speaker 4: to me. You said they're afraid of losing their breasts,
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  Speaker 4: but aren't they also afraid of dying?
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  Speaker 3: You know, it's amazing that I see so many, I
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  Speaker 3: spend my life with cancer and radiation. And there's people
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  Speaker 3: who fear the medical consequences more than dying. And we
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  Speaker 3: need to really change dynamics. And if you come to
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  Speaker 3: my practice, many women now with breast cancer are having
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  Speaker 3: treatment with not even a lumpectomy or mastectomy. So in
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  Speaker 3: the past, we were a big advocate to do lumpectomy
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  Speaker 3: and radiation. Many women are taking advantage of our program
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  Speaker 3: where we actually treat breast cancer with no surgery. no
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  Speaker 3: deforming whatsoever. And it's very appealing. You can't imagine how
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  Speaker 3: it appeals to so many women who otherwise don't want
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  Speaker 3: to see their doctor. So I think fear of distorting
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  Speaker 3: the body is one thing. Fear of dying is another thing.
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  Speaker 3: I just spoke to a prominent member of WOR staff
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  Speaker 3: whose own sister is just diagnosed with breast cancer. So
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  Speaker 3: it's not so far from any one of us. I
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  Speaker 3: see it every day. It's not so far from you
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  Speaker 3: at WOR. or from anyone in society, if you think
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  Speaker 3: about one in eight women will get breast cancer, go
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  Speaker 3: down the street and count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
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  Speaker 3: One of those women are going to get breast cancer.
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  Speaker 4: Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Lederman, a few years ago, a number of well-known women
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  Speaker 1: were opting to get preemptive mastectomies, which it blew my mind.
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  Speaker 1: Has that sort of trend stopped?
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  Speaker 3: Okay, well, most of that was in a BRCA positive.
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  Speaker 3: So there's a genetic condition in men and women, BRCA condition,
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  Speaker 3: where women are at higher risk for breast cancer and
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  Speaker 3: ovarian cancer. Angelia Jolie was a woman I think you're
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  Speaker 3: alluding to, and she wrote a letter, an article in
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  Speaker 3: the Wall Street Journal or New York Times saying why
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  Speaker 3: she got bilateral mastectomy. I think her mother had breast cancer.
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  Speaker 3: And that led to a big push in getting double mastectomies.
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  Speaker 3: I thought, if Angela Jolie can get it, then why
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  Speaker 3: shouldn't I get it to save my life? And I've
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  Speaker 3: seen many women who have done that. But the trend,
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  Speaker 3: as you say, and you're correct, is moving away from that.
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  Speaker 3: There's excellent treatment for women with breast cancer without deforming surgery.
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  Speaker 3: And we've been a big advocate for decades. And many women,
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  Speaker 3: as I say, come here because they just do not
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  Speaker 3: want to be deformed.
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  Speaker 4: Really important messages from you, Dr. Lederman. Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 4: And people can reach out to you at 212choices, right? 212choices?
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  Speaker 3: They can reach out to me. They can listen to
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  Speaker 3: your show. They can listen to WR. And they can
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  Speaker 3: listen to Natalie, who's the brains behind the organization.
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  Speaker 4: I'm not disagreeing. I just laughed at the face she made.
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  Speaker 4: That's all.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, it's all unanimous here. Dr.
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  Speaker 4: Gil, Bill Lederman, host of Radio Surgery New York at
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  Speaker 4: midnight and on the weekends. Really important to listen to
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  Speaker 4: what he has to say because, as you can hear,
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  Speaker 4: he's out in front on all of these issues. Dr. Lederman,
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  Speaker 4: thank you so much.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, and God bless you all.