In a career devoted to life-long learning, Dr. Hisa Yamaguchi’s best teachers have been her patients. “They’ve taught me that women are extraordinarily strong,” she says. “They endure the strongest chemo imaginable and continue to fight.”
Dr. Yamaguchi, who’s practiced in Gwinnett since 1995, is a surgeon at Eastside Surgical Associates. Although she performs general surgery, about 85% of her practice is devoted to breast disease and breast cancer surgeries, and she’s known for the positive impact she’s had on thousands of patients in our community.
“My patients are like family to me. I bond to them. I have patients I follow for years after their surgery,” she says. “They are my patients for life.”
Dr. Yamaguchi’s relationship with her patients starts with their first call to the practice. “We focus on getting patients into the office very quickly, usually within 48 hours and for high-risk individuals, often within 24 hours,” she says.
Her affiliation with Eastside Medical Center and collaboration with all of the specialists needed for breast cancer care means “our patients have access to world-class treatment.” Today’s multidisciplinary approach most often involves not only a surgeon like Dr. Yamaguchi, but also the medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a radiologist, a pathologist, a nutritionist, a physical therapist, a cancer navigator, nurses and technicians.
“We talk about every case as a team,” explains Dr. Yamaguchi. Many of the physicians and specialists in the Eastside care network have worked together for two decades and that knowledge and collaborative synergy is a tangible benefit to patients, she believes.
Another factor she believes is instrumental to cancer patients harkens back to the strength she so admires. “A determined will and fighting attitude really helps. The mind has a lot of control over our physiology.”
For more info, contact Eastside Surgical Associates at 770-972-7999 or visit EastsideSurgicalAssoc.com.
