The surgeons at Carrollton Surgical Group have been providing state of the art surgical care to the residents in West Georgia and East Alabama for the past 50 years. Continuing our commitment of excellence to the community, we have opened our new Comprehensive Breast Care Center of West Georgia which will exclusively specialize in the care of breast disease. Our staff and physicians are dedicated to providing personal, comprehensive surgical care for women with breast cancer as well as those with benign breast disease.

Dr. Raul G. Zunzunegui is a board certified surgeon who has joined our practice this year.  Dr. Zunzunegui is a Susan G. Komen Fellowship trained breast surgeon.  He received his training in breast surgical oncology at Women & Infants’ Hospital/Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and specializes in benign and malignant breast conditions.   He has extensive experience and training in advanced breast cancer diagnostic and treatment modalities.

Dr. Zunzunegui and all the surgeons staffing the Comprehensive Breast Care Center of West Georgia are experienced in breast conservation therapy (lumpectomy) for breast cancer and sentinel lymph node biopsy.  We are able to offer our patients minimally invasive biopsies of the breast in the office for an accurate and prompt diagnosis.  This is can be done by means of stereotactic or ultrasound guided Mammotome biopsy.

Sentinel Node Biopsy (SNL)- This offers a less invasive way to determine if lymph nodes under the arm (axilla) are involved with cancer in patients diagnosed with breast cancer.  It has become the standard of care in the staging of breast cancer.  It has essentially replaced the larger operation of removing most all the lymph nodes from the axilla.  SNL biopsy is performed in the operating room as an outpatient surgery and can have less long-term complications versus the larger axillary dissection.  Most patients are candidates for this less invasive procedure, although there are some exceptions. 

Breast Conservation Surgery (lumpectomy)- The treatment of breast cancer has gradually moved away from performing mastectomies and toward removing only the tumor and the surrounding breast tissue.  Studies have shown that it offers the same long-term prognosis for selected patients while it spares them the disfigurement of a mastectomy.  In most centers specializing in the care of breast cancer the majority of patients with breast cancer can be treated with breast conservation therapy.  This form of surgical therapy is usually combined with radiation therapy of the breast.

Mammotome Biopsy- This technology is used to obtain sufficient tissue to make an accurate diagnosis of a variety of breast problems, including breast cancer.  The procedure is performed under local anesthesia it is very well tolerated. We offer this type of biopsy for selected patients in our office without the need to go to the operating room for a biopsy.  Not all patients qualify, but those that do can have this done under the direction of the ultrasound in our office.

In-Office Procedures-We offer our patients many options to treat and diagnose breast problems without the need of a trip to the operating room.  Our in-office ultrasound allows us to treat breast cysts by aspiration. The ultrasound is also used in conjunction with the Mammotome to obtain tissue for biopsy. In some very select cases, small benign tumors (fibroadenomas) can be removed with the Mammotome in the office.