Dr. Kristine Slam, COSABreast

07/23/2025

This study is so exciting!!
For years, I have always told patients, I’d rather you take a little bit of tamoxifen for risk reduction, then completely refuse it. Many women are worried about endocrine therapy because of the potential lifestyle side effects.

Traditionally for risk reduction, we have used Tamoxifen at the same dosages as a treatment (20mg). The study actually looks at only 5 mg of tam (baby tam) for three years for risk reduction.
Risk reduction for the development of cancer was still 50%!

Clinical trials frequently include multiple end points that mature at different times. The initial report, typically based on the primary end point, may be published when key planned co-primary or secondary analyses are not yet available. Clinical Trial ...

07/18/2025

🚨 Calling all students ages 14–18!

Interested in healthcare? Join us for the Summer Youth Experience at Mount Carmel East on July 24–25!

✅ Hospital tours
✅ Career assessments
✅ Free meals
✅ Hands-on learning
📍 Space is limited — RSVP now: https://bit.ly/3IPVpiQ
📧 Questions? Gregory.wickings@trinity-health.org

07/18/2025

Join me for a super fun Back to School event on Aug 2nd at Gym Skills Columbus
No RSVP necessary, just come and play 🤸

I will have complementary breast cancer risk assessment screening in collaboration with CosaBreast/Central Ohio Surigical Associates and Mount Carmel Health.

This free event is open to the community, and has a ton of stuff for the kids to do, including Mifflin Township fire, Kona ice, petting zoo, other vendors, and of course, play! 

710 Cross Pointe Rd
Gahanna, Ohio 43230
Just a few minutes from my East Office location! 

07/09/2025

I have had several high risk patients being managed by circulating tumor DNA for follow up, and I have been intrigued to follow their progress. As we get more information about this monitoring technology, it may help more patients in the future! 

Panelists discuss how circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) serves as a highly predictive prognostic biomarker in breast cancer, guiding personalized treatment intensification and informing important patient decisions while enhancing risk stratification and motivating proactive care despite ongoing research...

07/06/2025

Just move
Everyday, just move.

07/02/2025

Dr. Segal is one of the best!
I’m so privileged to have worked with him.
Happy retirement 💕🎉

06/30/2025

Just be there, don’t offer advice unless requested. Just be there for someone, however THEY need.

People who get cancer say their friends often disappear when they hear the bad news. Don't be that person! Here's advice for what to do and say — and what not to say — when a loved one faces cancer.

06/19/2025

On “Freedom’s Eve,” or the eve of January 1, 1863, the first Watch Night services took place. On that night, enslaved and free African Americans gathered in churches and private homes all across the country awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect. At the stroke of midnight, prayers were answered as all enslaved people in Confederate States were declared legally free. Union soldiers, many of whom were black, marched onto plantations and across cities in the south reading small copies of the Emancipation Proclamation spreading the news of freedom in Confederate States. Only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation end slavery throughout the United States.

But not everyone in Confederate territory would immediately be free. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as "Juneteenth," by the newly freed people in Texas.

Source-National Museum of African American History.

06/16/2025

I unfortunately have this conversation too many times.
There are indications for incorporating complementary medicine into breast cancer treatment. Lifestyle modification, sometimes supplements, etc. have some data to improve survival and quality of life, but they do not REPLACE traditional medical care.
I think sometimes patients are scared of what medical care means, so they immediately think complementary medicine is their only option.

I love to have conversations with these patients, and try to explain how traditional medical care is a balance of giving the best potential for survival, while discussing a patient’s acceptance of risk and side effects.
Treatment is not the same for everyone.
But please, screening mammograms and traditional treatment are your best chance of survival. 

While less than 1% of cancer patients refuse conventional therapy, some choose alternative care, which can have dire consequences.

06/04/2025

Evidence-based medicine matters!

The 5-year disease-free survival was 80.3% in the exercise group and 73.9% in the health-education group. The 8-year overall survival was 90.3% in the exercise group and 83.2% in the health-education groups. (That is a 7% survival benefit!!!)

I encourage my patients to routinely exercise. For many, we need a formal program to keep motivated and pushing ourselves. The study is specifically for colon cancer patients, but I hope investigation on breast cancer soon follows.

Preclinical and observational studies suggest that exercise may improve cancer outcomes. However, definitive level 1 evidence is lacking. In this phase 3, randomized trial conducted at 55 centers, ...

06/03/2025

Please join us on Thursday, June 26 from 1-3 PM to celebrate Patient Appreciation Day. Enjoy mindfulness practice, a cooking for wellness demonstration, a drumming circle, crafts and more.

05/20/2025

Certain cancers need chemotherapy before surgery. Most of the time, patients get follow up imaging before surgery; and at times this imaging is suggestive of a complete response.

In this case, is it still necessary to operate?
At this time, the answer still remains YES. No imaging study has been found to be accurate enough to prove surgery is able to be skipped after chemo.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/hematologyoncology/breastcancer/115462?th=1&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=fb-md-cbtm-onc-novk&trw=no&scrf=1&xid=fb-md-cbtm-onc-novk&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMABhZGlkAAAGHs4J34UBHkzcwNBN8vSkkSfekQqbbBlticGXOEbUH_ocjZcnQV44JKC133Do1OjqAYC4_aem_5Y0zVpqiiuVmoaUc60L1eA&utm_id=6594694154877&utm_content=6729375000677&utm_term=6723115656277

Biopsy plus trimodality imaging after neoadjuvant chemotherapy not enough to predict pCR