Kambiz Dowlatshahi, MB, FRCS, FACS

Kambiz Dowlatshahi is professor of surgery at Rush University, Medical Center, Chicago IL. He received his medical training at the University of London and surgical training in Oxford and Bristol, United Kingdom. In 1981 Dr. Dowlat joined the faculty of surgery at the University of Chicago. In 1985 he introduced the first stereotactic unit for needle biopsy of mammographically detected breast tumors into the United States. Over the next 5 years, he validated the accuracy of "needle vs. knife" and published the results^1–3. This paradigm shift was initially accepted by radiologists and later by surgeons. From 1997 onwards, the American College of Surgeons prompted to invite Dr. Dowlat to organize and teach courses in image-guided breast biopsy.

In 1988 at Rush University, Dr. Dowlat began to test the concept of laser ablation of breast cancer first experimentally and later in patients with liver tumors and finally in patients with small (<1.5 cm) breast cancers. He has patients with breast cancer treated with a laser needle, which are alive and well up to 7 years after treatment ^4–6. The technique has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of benign breast tumors. Dr. Dowlat has been invited to discuss the application of thermal ablation of breast cancers in a workshop later this fall.

In 1995, as a member of an NIH-sponsored research study, Dr. Dowlat investigated the value of the sentinel lymph node for staging of early breast cancers using a radioisotope tracer. He went on to discover and report the value of complete thin cutting of sentinel nodes to detect tiny clusters of cancer cells which would have otherwise been missed ^7–9. In 2002, Dr. Dowlat organized a multi-center clinical study for brachytherapy (radiation treatment) of breast cancer using a balloon/ catheter device (Mammosite)¹⁰. In 2005 Xoft Corporation invited him as their Principal Investigator to test their brachytherapy device.

Dr. Dowlatshahi is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and the Royal College of Surgeons in England. He served on the National Mammography Quality Assurance Advisory Committee of FDA from 1998 to 2002 and is currently on the Board of American Society of Breast Surgeons.

References
1. Dowlatshahi, K., Jokich, P.M., Schmidt, R., Bibbo, M., Dawson, J. Diagnosis of occult breast lesions using stereotaxic needle cytology. Arch. of Surg. 122:1343–1346, 1987.
2. Dowlatshahi, K., Gent, H.J., Schmidt, R.A., Jokich, P.M., Bibbo, M., Sprenger, E. Diagnosis of non-palpable breast tumors using stereotaxic needle cytology. Radiology 170:427–433, 1989.
3. Dowlatshahi, K., Yaremko, L., Kluskens, L.F., Jokich, P.M. Stereotaxic needle core biopsy and fine needle aspiration cytology of 250 non-palpable breast lesions. Radiology 181:745–750, 1991.
4. Dowlatshahi, K., et al. Histologic evaluation of rat mammary tumor necrosis by interstitial Nd: YAG laserthermia. Lasers in Surg and Med 12:159–164, 1992.
5. Dowlatshahi K, Francescatti D, Bloom KJ, Laser Therapy of Small Breast Cancers–A Progress Report, Am J of Surg 184(4): pp. 359–363, October 2002.
6. Dowlatshahi, K, Dieschbourg, JJ, Bloom, KJ. Laser Therapy of Breast Cancer with 3-Year Follow-Up: A Case Report. Breast Journal 10(3): pp. 240–243, May–June 2004.
7. Dowlatshahi, K., Fan, M., Snider, H., Habib, F. Lymph Node Micrometastases from Breast Carcinoma. Cancer. Vol. 80, No. 7, pp 1188–1197, Oct. 1997
8. Krag, D., Dowlatshahi, K. et.al. The Sentinel Node in Breast Cancer: A Multicenter Validation Study. The New England Journal of Medicine Vol.339, No.14 pp 941-946, October 1, 1998.
9. Dowlatshahi K. Fan M, Anderson JM, Bloom KJ, Occult Metastases in Sentinel Nodes of 200 Patients with Operable Breast Cancer, Annals of Surgical Oncology. Vol.8 No.8, pp.675-682, Sept.2001.
10. Dowlatshahi, K, Snider H, Gittleman M, Nguyen C, Vigneri P, Franklin R. Early Experience with Balloon Brachytherapy of Breast Cancer. Archives of Surgery, 139:603-608, June 2004.