Voice: (860) 423-5000
FAX: (860) 423-4838

This e-mail link is for non-urgent questions only. If you believe you may need immediate medical attention, please call our office directly or go to the nearest Emergency Room.

Hours
9 a.m. - 5 p.m
Monday - Friday
Closed on Holidays

Surgeon Dr. Herbert Ridyard doing rounds at Windham Hospital in Willimantic, Connecticut

Surgeon Dr. Herbert Ridyard doing rounds at Windham Hospital in Willimantic, Connecticut

What we do...

Breast Surgery

The surgeons in Windham Surgical Group: Drs. Ridyard, Kloss and Kolodziejczak are board certified general surgeons and highly skilled in the evaluation and care of breast diseases.

Many breast problems do not need surgery; for instance breast pain, non-bloody nipple draining, benign (noncancerous) breast lump, or benign breast cysts. We can discuss these issues with you and discuss a variety of possible evaluations and/or treatments. If indicated an ultrasound, MRI or mammogram can be performed at Windham Hospital. We will review these tests with you.

Kind and caring bed-side technique will make you feel comfortable and a thorough evaluation will make you confidant that what ever the issue is, it has received appropriate attention.

Occassionally a breast issue needs surgical treatment. A mammographic abnormality (calcifications you can not feel) or a lump in the breast you can feel, may need surgery. Our surgeons have all extensively trained in minimally invasive breast surgical techniques. Sometimes the lump you can feel can even be biopsied in the office with a very small needle.

The care and warmth of the same-day-surgical staff at Windham Hospital is second to none; if a surgical biopsy is necessary, the nurses and staff will make your surgical experience as stress free as possible. In several days, the surgeon will call you with the results of your biopsy.

Windham Hospital has partnered with Hartford Hospital and the radiology group from Jefferson XRAY to provide the finest and most advanced breast diagnostic imaging. This is a great addition to the Windham Hospital! Our patients benefit from the expertise of breast imaging specialists in Hartford, but don't have to leave the Windham area!

Rarely, more extensive surgery is necessary for a breast cancer and our surgeons are highly trained in both BREAST CONSERVING surgery for cancer and also in mastectomy if necessary. If necessary, sentinel lymph node biopsy is necessary to evaluate the armpit (auxiliary glands) lymph nodes. This type of lymph node biopsy is done through a very small incision and will give us the information we need.

Following the evaluation of your breast health issue, the surgeon will contact your primary care doctor and relay all of the findings. If a breast cancer is discovered, the medical oncologists from Hartford Hospital: Drs. Hong, Baker, Dailey and Ray are available right here in Windham Hospital to help care for you. And Dr. Kolodziejczak is a specialty trained surgical oncologist. In this way we can complete your cancer care right here in Windham Hospital!

...more information on breast cancer & sentinel lymph node biopsy

Is Breast MRI a Useful Screening Tool?(www2.mdanderson.org)
From the National Cancer Institute, BREAST CANCER RISK CALCULATOR
From the American Cancer Society How To Do A Self Breast Exam
From US News and World Report: "On Call Plus Treatment"

From the University of Michigan: "Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy: What Breast Cancer Patients Need to Know"

From the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas: Detection of Micrometastases Leads to More Precise Staging of Breast and Melanoma Tumors

From the American cancer society: How is breast cancer treated?

From the Susan Koman Foundation: How to survive breast cancer

Information on Genetic Testing for Breast Cancer Risk

Myriad Tests (www.myriadtests.com)
Vital Options International(www.vitaloptions.org)

162 Mansfield Avenue Willimantic, Connecticut 06226

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