PREFERRED TITLE/ROLE:
Physician, Assistant Professor
EDUCATION:
Fellowship, Breast Imaging, University of Virginia Medical Center (Charlottesville) (2010)
Residency, Radiology, Diagnostic, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (2009)
Internship, Transitional, St. Luke's Hospital - Bethlehem, PA (2004)
Medical School, D.O., Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (2003)
Preferred email: achetlen@hmc.psu.edu.
Phone (717) 531-1495 (office)
2013 SUMMER RESEARCH PROJECT PENN STATE HERSHEY BREAST CENTER
Student Mentors: Alison Chetlen, D.O. and Susann Schetter, D.O.
Our research project will take place in a clinical setting, the Penn State Hershey Breast Care Center, and will be most suitable for a student considering a career as a physician or physician-scientist.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women numbering over 200,000 cases per year in the US. The early detection of breast cancer has effectively lowered the mortality from this disease by up to 30% across those invited to screening, over age 40. Mammography is less effective in the early detection of cancer in women with high breast parenchymal density, younger women, and women of higher risk (identified by the NCI risk assessment criteria). Women with increased parenchymal breast density have a known increase in the incidence of breast cancer.
Supplemental screening methods studied to date include ultrasound and MRI, both of which have contributed to additional cancers identified in these populations. MRI is advocated for women with a lifetime risk of over 20%, but is expensive and is not available to women with risk 15 – 20% the general population. Ultrasound is advocated as supplemental screening for high risk women with increased parenchymal breast density, but is fraught with problems of reproducibility and technical variation.
Mammography is less sensitive when there has been surgical alteration in the appearance of the breast. This is true for women who have been treated for breast cancer with lumpectomy or partial mastectomy. These women may have sufficient alteration in the appearance of the breast to limit mammographic sensitivity.
We will investigate a dual energy method of breast imaging that is FDA approved and requires the IV injection of iodinated contrast, used commonly in other imaging studies. Preliminary studies show that this method offers an objective means of identifying occult breast malignancy that would be less subject to the user variability of ultrasound, less costly than MRI and may prove more sensitive in the “difficult to image breast”.
The student’s roles in this 10 week project will be to assist in recruitment of patients, perform data management, and assist in writing scholarly papers describing the initial results. The student will additionally be immersed in the field of radiology and will be expected to attend medical student ‘breast imaging’ introductory lectures, 1.5 hour daily radiology resident lectures, and multidisciplinary breast conferences to gain a well-rounded appreciation of breast radiology.
This summer research project would be most suited for a student considering a degree as a M.D/D.O. or M.D./Ph.D.