Press release

Breast surgeon Jay K. Harness, MD, recently co-edited what is being hailed as one of the most comprehensive textbooks regarding state-of-the-art mastectomies. Last week, Dr. Harness gifted a copy of the textbook to Northern Inyo Healthcare District’s medical team.

Dr.Harness

Dr. Kevin Flanigan, CEO of Northern Inyo Healthcare District, accepts the new comprehensive textbook on nipple-sparing mastectomies from Dr. Jay Harness, NIHD’s breast surgeon and co-editor and author of the textbook, as NIHD Patient Navigator Rosie Graves looks on. Photo by Barbara Laughon/Northern Inyo Healthcare District

The textbook, Operative Approaches to Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy, features 23 chapters, each written by experts in this field. The book is designed to present a broad overview of the evolution, surgical approaches and outcomes of nipple-sparing mastectomies to general, breast and plastic surgeons.

“It’s been an honor to work on this project,” Dr. Harness said. “This book is really the first of its kind in that it is a single reference source on nipple-sparing mastectomy. We wanted it to summarize the approaches and outcomes from the physicians and health centers that have evolved this technique as an option for women who need or desire a mastectomy for the treatment or prevention of breast cancer.”

For the better part of his career, Dr. Harness has worked to advance techniques used in breast cancer surgery. His methods strive to balance removal of cancer with physical and emotional reconstruction for his patients.

Dr. Harness partnered with breast radiologist Stuart Souders, MD, general surgeon Robbin Cromer-Tyler, MD, and patient navigator Rosie Graves last fall to launch NIHD’s Breast Health Center. To date, the NIHD Breast Health Center has provided service to 35 patients.

Upon receiving the book, NIHD’s Chief Executive Officer, Kevin S. Flanigan, MD MBA, noted that he could not be more pleased to see the Board of Directors vision become a reality so quickly. “We truly are a leader of healthcare in the Eastern Sierra through the partnership with Dr. Harness, and the hard work of Drs. Souders and Cromer-Tyler and Rosie Graves.”

Nipple-sparing mastectomy is the removal of all of the breast tissue without removal of any of the skin or the nipple. The breast is then reconstructed with the natural nipple and surrounding tissue returned. Actress Angelina Jolie, whose family history increased her odds of developing breast cancer, opted for nipple-sparing mastectomies when she underwent her preventative double mastectomy in 2013.

Dr. Harness edited the book with Shawna C. Willey, MD. Dr. Harness also wrote the preface and one of the chapters, which details the history of the nipple-sparing procedure.

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About Northern Inyo Healthcare District: Founded in 1946, Northern Inyo Healthcare District features a 25-bed critical access hospital, a 24-hour emergency department, a primary care rural health clinic, a diagnostic imaging center, and clinics specializing in women’s health, orthopedics and neurology, pediatrics and allergies and general surgery. Continually striving to improve the health outcomes of those who rely on its services, Northern Inyo Healthcare District aims to improve our communities one life at a time. One team, one goal, your health.

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