Initial office visit

On your initial consultation visit to our office, please arrive at least 30 minutes in advance. Our office utilizes a computerized check-in system, and for most patients this tablet will take at least 30 minutes to complete. If you anticipate you will need longer than this, please plan accordingly. Late arrivals may result in our team having to reschedule your office appointment; we might be able to work you into the day later, but this might result in a longer waiting time.

If this is the first time to your office, please bring your insurance card, a photo ID, your insurance copay, and all pertinent reports and imaging. If images were obtained from a facility outside Columbus, we do not have access to these, and it is critical that you bring a CD of your images for Dr. Slam or the Nurse Practitioner to review. If you are a patient looking to establish breast care with The Comprehensive Breast Center at COSA, please bring all past medical history pertinent to your condition. This it may include operative reports, pathology reports, and old office notes from other surgeons.

Quality breast care involves a review of your past medical, surgical, and family history, a clinical breast examination, risk assessment, and review of radiographic imaging. Breast imaging alone does not guide management decisions. A patient referred to The Comprehensive Breast Center at COSA with abnormal imaging or a palpable breast mass often will not have diagnostic biopsy performed on the initial visit, as it is not possible for the team to prepare for the correct type of biopsy without knowledge of the above information. After a full patient assessment, Dr. Slam selects the proper work up for you, including proceeding with potential biopsy in the near future and/or additional imaging. In highly selected patients, it is feasible to perform a diagnostic biopsy on the initial visit, and this will be performed if the patient is agreeable.

Follow-up office visits/long term care

Continuity of care with ongoing office follow-up is critical to maintaining your breast health. Follow-up includes breast imaging, when necessary and at intervals specified by Dr. Slam, and clinical breast examination by the MD or NP. Physical examination and imaging are complementary modalities for breast cancer screening and a normal imaging report does not eliminate the need for office follow-up.

While each patient is different, generally speaking, breast cancer patients need to follow-up in the office for clinical breast examination once or twice yearly, in addition to follow-ups with medical and radiation oncology, when applicable. A breast cancer patient’s highest risk of disease recurrence is within the first five years of treatment. However, this risk of recurrence never is completely eliminated, hence the need for ongoing office follow-up.
Patients with benign breast conditions also need ongoing care, and six month or yearly clinical exam follow-up after benign office visits or breast biopsies is always recommended. After this, a patient might be returned to the care of her primary care physician or gynecologist, if deemed appropriate by the physician.

If Dr. Slam or the Nurse Practitioner orders breast imaging or blood work, patients are asked to please call the office within three to five business days for imaging results and the follow-up recommendations. If a patients has a critical imaging results that will necessitate surgery or biopsy, our office will attempt to contact you within three business days to arrange for office follow-up.

If needle biopsies are performed, surgical pathology results are typically available within three business days. Surgical excisional biopsies can take longer. Please contact the office within three to five business days for these results.