At Pacific Breast Care Center in coastal Orange County, we treat all breast health concerns and offer our patients the most advanced diagnostic technologies, including 3D screening mammograms and ultrasound exams that are performed in our offices, usually with results available during the same visit.
We also offer:
Pacific Breast Care Center is a one-stop shop for all your breast health needs. Our onsite fellowship-trained breast imaging specialist and breast surgeons allow us to offer our patients breast imaging, a biopsy, a surgical consult, a diagnosis and schedule your surgery — often within a matter of days.
Patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer often have more than one treatment option. We discuss these options with you and recommend the best choices given your particular circumstances. Advances in early detection and treatment for breast cancer make it possible for many patients to have an excellent prognosis to live a full and cancer-free life.
Center of excellence
The Pacific Breast Care Center is designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR). This designation recognizes centers that have achieved high practice standards, including imaging excellence and staff expertise, and have earned accreditation in mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, breast ultrasound and MRI.
Fast response
- Our on-staff radiologist strives to provide same-day readings for patients whenever possible.
- If a more in-depth diagnostic evaluation is required, it can be done on the spot.
- Working together, our radiologist and surgeons can arrange same-day biopsies, with results delivered within 48 hours.
Leading-edge technology
At Pacific Breast Care Center, we offer the latest technology and treatments. We are the only center in Orange County and the surrounding area to use the MarginProbe® system, which allows us to remove all cancer during a lumpectomy in one procedure. This important technology reduces by 50 percent the need for a second surgery, and it was chosen by Popular Science as one of the best medical innovations.
We are the first in California to pair the surgical device with intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT), a safe and effective alternative to traditional radiation therapy. We also are the first in the United States to use Savi Scout®, a minimally invasive surgical guidance system that more precisely tags a tumor site.
Our patients also benefit from:
- Upright seating for stereotactic biopsies
- The region's most sensitive and accurate state-of-the-art MRI that is less claustrophobic for patients. It also is more sensitive and accurate than similar devices in Orange County and the surrounding region.
Gentle, personalized care
Diagnostic technology is only as good as the physician reading the scans.
- Dr. Freddie J. Combs is an experienced radiologist who is specialty trained in breast imaging. His early medical training in family medicine is evident in the care and concern he shows our patients.
- Our experienced surgeons, Dr. Karen Todd Lane and Dr. Kari Kansal are skilled at all breast surgeries — including benign and malignant tumor lumpectomies and mastectomies. They use minimally invasive techniques that minimize nipple scarring and help preserve skin to achieve optimal aesthetic outcomes.
- Our board-certified medical oncologist Dr. Paul H. Coluzzi specializes in the medical treatment of patients with breast cancer. He is dedicated to providing physical, emotional and spiritual support for his patients by focusing on the whole person.
- For every member of our radiology team, caring is as much a prerequisite as competency. We take a gentle approach to ensure that your imaging experience is as comfortable as possible.
Advanced treatment
- If you need a mastectomy and choose to have reconstruction, we work with the same experienced plastic surgeons that we would choose for our family members. You may choose from several different techniques that are tailored to your specific needs.
- For patients who need radiation therapy, we give you options to ensure that you have the best possible outcome.
- For patients who need chemotherapy, we understand that this may be a fearful prospect. Our patients see medical oncologists who care for the person as well as treat the disease. Our oncologists work with you to preserve your quality of life during your treatment.
- A medical oncologist also leads our multidisciplinary tumor board, which allows every patient access to several opinions.
- As part of Orange County’s only university academic medical center, you have access to the most advanced treatments and innovative therapies by participating in leading-edge clinical trials.
Emphasis on prevention
The science of genetics is part of a complete breast cancer program. We are the only center in Orange County and the surrounding area to offer myRisk™, the most sensitive test available for gene mutations linked to breast, colon and ovarian cancers.
Our specialists also work with you on risk-reduction strategies, including nutritional and lifestyle counseling.
Patient promise
Our UCI Health physicians, nurses and healthcare professionals are highly skilled caregivers who bring their compassion and experience to every patient interaction. To us, you are family. We promise to bring you all the latest and best in breast health care.
At the Pacific Breast Care Center, we are involved in clinical trials and research endeavors so that our patients can benefit from the latest diagnostic and treatment solutions for breast cancer.
We were one of the few breast health practices in California and the nation to participate in a clinical trial of the MarginProbe® system. The device allows us to evaluate tumor margins in the operating room in real time, saving patients the need for a second procedure to remove additional cancer cells. Second procedures occur in at least 30% of lumpectomies nationally, which adds significantly to the overall cost of treatment and is an emotional drain on patients.
Our surgeons also participated in clinical trials using intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) to deliver targeted X-rays to the tumor site during lumpectomies. The procedure may spare a patient from undergoing traditional radiation treatment and its side effects.
We are also actively involved in UCI Health clinical research protocols at the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Orange County.
Pacific Breast Care Center's guiding philosophy is to treat every patient who enters our doors as a family member. Our physicians, nurses and healthcare professionals bring their compassion and experience to every patient encounter.
At Pacific Breast Care Center, we do the navigating for you, whether you are diagnosed with our world-class imaging technology or at another facility. We get your records and films, and we transfer them to the appropriate parties so that your care is handled effectively and efficiently.
We are dedicated to ensuring that you receive the most timely and accurate information, as well as the best possible care for your unique situation.
Learn more about our physicians:
