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Atrium Health trial offers certain breast cancer patients option to opt-out of surgery

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dianne Mallard said she was shocked when doctors told her she had breast cancer earlier this year.

“Everybody around you, everybody has cancer, but you never think it was you. The first thing was, ‘Am I going to die? What stage is this?’” Mallard said.

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Doctors found a large tumor and an affected lymph node. They removed the lymph node and some tissue around the tumor.

But instead of having a lumpectomy, a procedure to remove the tumor, Mallard opted out. She started chemotherapy followed by radiation.

Within a few months, her cancer was gone.

>> In the video at the top of this page, Channel 9’s Gina Esposito explains the trial at Atrium Health’s Levine Cancer Institute that’s allowing some breast cancer patients to take surgery out of the equation.