Meet Dr. Holmes
Dr. Dennis Holmes is an internationally recognized breast surgeon with over two decades of experience dedicated to advancing breast cancer treatment. His pioneering work in cryoablation has positioned him as a leader in the field. Dr. Holmes' commitment to personalized patient care and his innovative approach to treatment make him a trusted expert and advocate for those battling breast cancer.
Awards and Recognition
Dr. Dennis Holmes is widely recognized worldwide for his expertise in cryoablation.
Expert
Dr. Holmes is an internationally-renowned dedicated breast surgeon and cancer researcher who has held the position of Breast Center Medical Director at multiple hospitals in Los Angeles.
Leader
Widely respected by colleagues for his innovative approach to breast cancer care, Dr. Holmes has gained worldwide acclaim for his pioneering work and leadership in the field of cryoablation (tumor freezing). With over 20 years experience performing cryoablation of benign breast tumors and over 15 years experience cryoablating breast cancers, Dr. Holmes is one of the most experienced cryoablation providers in the U.S. and abroad. In addition, he has been a pioneer in the field of intraoperative radiotherapy, minimally-invasive breast surgery, oncoplastic surgery, and lymph node-sparing surgery.
Innovator
Dr. Holmes serves in the leadership of several national surgical societies and is a frequent lecturer at conferences internationally. Dr. Holmes is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and recently served as President of the TARGIT Collaborative Group, a national intraoperative radiotherapy research and education organization, and Conference Program Chair of the 20th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the nation’s largest breast surgeon society.
Advocate
Dr. Holmes is a strong advocate for individualized or personalized cancer therapy that adapts the extent of care to the severity of the cancer, minimizing unnecessary side effects. It is from this perspective that Dr. Holmes views cryoablation. Dr. Holmes sees opportunities to optimize cancer control as well as patient quality of life. However, what distinguishes Dr. Holmes most is his high level of commitment to providing women with treatment options that suit their physical and emotional needs while also managing the breast cancer problem effectively.
Words from Dr. Holmes’ Patients
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Family of MT
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Patients from Near and Far
Dr. Holmes’ innovative treatment has drawn patients from over 20 countries and 37 U.S. states, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, South Africa, and more.
A Letter from Dr. Holmes
I started performing cryoablation of benign breast tumors (fibroadenomas) in 2002, not because I was interested in treatment of fibroadenomas, but because I had the foresight that cryoablation would one-day become an important treatment option for patients with breast cancer, and I wanted to lead the effort.
To develop my skills and to educate junior surgeons, in 2004, I started a minimally-invasive breast biopsy clinic at the Los Angeles County U.S.C. Medical Center to provide patients a treatment option for fibroadenomas and to teach breast surgeon trainees cryoablation procedures and other minimally-invasive breast biopsy procedures. In 2009, I traveled to Japan to study with Dr. Eisuke Fukuma (see image) of Kamogawa Medical Center who had already begun treating breast cancers with cryoablation.
Later that same year, I became a principal investigator in the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group’s (ACOSOG) Z1072cryoablation-followed-by-surgical removal feasibility trial which later found cryoablation to be highly effective at ablating small breast cancers. When the Z1072 trial closed in 2016, I launched an investigator-initiated, multi-center cryoablation-without-surgical removal trial, which I named the FROST (Freezing without Resection Of Small Tumors) Trial, an ongoing clinical trial which thus far shows cryoablation to be an effective alternative to surgery for stage I breast cancer.
Although the ACOSOG and FROST Trials were exclusive to women with stage I invasive breast cancer under < 2 cm, along the way I developed extensive experience treating women with larger or higher stage invasive breast cancer as well as non-invasive breast cancer called Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS). Some of these patients require multiple ablations performed in the same visit to complete the cryoablation procedure. Most of these patients are treated outside of the clinical trial.
You can read more about my philosophy regarding cryoablation for different stages of breast cancer by reading this article.
– Dennis R. Holmes, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Contact Dr. Holmes
For more information about Dr. Holmes, visit his Website or YouTube Channel.
