Category: Oncology

IORT with Oncoplastic Surgery: A Beautiful Combination?

Posted on by Greg Dennis
Julie Reiland SOS 2016 (1)
Julie Reiland, MD, FACS

Breast cancer care continues to see remarkable growth in knowledge of the disease and advances in treatment. That was certainly evident at the recent School of Oncoplastic Surgery (SOS), in Dallas last month.

The school, which was founded by breast surgeon Gail Lebovic, M.D. with a grant from the Mary Kay Ash Foundation, recently had its eighth annual session in Dallas. This year’s session was sponsored by the National Consortium of Breast Centers and the American Society of Breast Disease Clinical Track.

Among the highlights of that three-day training workshop was a talk by Julie Reiland, MD, FACS. An SOS faculty member, Dr. Reiland is a breast surgeon at Avera Medical Group Comprehensive Breast Care, in Sioux Falls, SD. Speaking to a packed room at SOS, Dr. Reiland talked about the convergence of oncoplastic surgery and intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT).

In particular she talked about Continue reading “IORT with Oncoplastic Surgery: A Beautiful Combination?” →

Expanding Scope of Practice for Vascular Access Specialists Can Improve Quality Care

Posted on by Greg Dennis

Part 2 of a two-part post.

Vascular_Access_Team_300pxThe Affordable Care Act (ACA), more commonly known as Obamacare, is 906 pages long. But amidst all that detail are a few driving goals. One of those is something few would argue with: higher quality healthcare at lower cost. That’s also the focus of a new white paper on vascular access.

It’s no wonder the ACA’s authors made that a priority. The U.S. lags behind other industrialized countries on both sides of the quality/cost equation. We have the most expensive healthcare, by far, among industrialized nations, according to both the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the healthcare-focused Commonwealth Fund. The U.S. also ranks worse than many of these nations on some measures of quality, including safety.

That brings us to Leslie Schultz, RN, Ph.D., Director of the Safety Institute at Premier, Inc., Continue reading “Expanding Scope of Practice for Vascular Access Specialists Can Improve Quality Care” →

How Vascular Access Clinicians Can Help Hospitals Avoid Infection Penalties

Posted on by Greg Dennis
Leslie Schultz
Leslie Schultz

At the recent annual meeting of the Association for Vascular Access (AVA), speaker Leslie Schultz, Director of the Safety Institute at Premier, Inc., introduced a provocative idea. Vascular access professionals, she said, can help their employers avoid the substantial financial penalties they face for high rates of central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs).

Schultz was referring to the substantial penalties mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare. The ACA tries to improve healthcare and lower costs by penalizing hospitals that trail most of their peers in preventing infections.

Schultz has a keen sense of the contributions nurses can make to minimizing a hospital’s CRBSI rate. In addition to her role at Premier, she is an RN as well as a Ph.D. Premier’s Safety Institute offers free information, tools, and resources to advance patient safety.

Before diving into how vascular access professionals can leverage their expertise to reduce CRBSIs and the associated penalties, here’s some crucial background. Continue reading “How Vascular Access Clinicians Can Help Hospitals Avoid Infection Penalties” →

ASCO Meeting Features First Independent Comparison of Breast Cancer Genomic Tests

Posted on by Greg Dennis

The combined MammaPrint and BluePrint genomic tests provide more information about the specifics of breast cancer than does the older, 21-gene test, according to the first independent assessment comparing the assays. That study was among the major new findings about breast cancer molecular diagnostics – also called genomic tests – emerging from this year’s recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Brufsky for DD blogAlso featured at ASCO were new insights about breast cancer in African-American women, drawn from research with MammaPrint and BluePrint conducted in the nation’s capital.

Together, the 70-gene MammaPrint and 80-gene BluePrint tests definitively categorize patients as Low Risk or High Risk for breast cancer recurrence and provide additional information about the specific biology of the cancer. The older and less sophisticated 21-gene test, on the other hand, stratifies patients into three risk-recurrence categories: Low Risk, High Risk, and Intermediate. Continue reading “ASCO Meeting Features First Independent Comparison of Breast Cancer Genomic Tests” →

Breast Cancer Alert: Teleconference on 12/13

Posted on by Greg Dennis

Shortcomings & Patient Concerns re: New Study of Breast Brachytherapy (APBI) –

What Women Need to Know Now

Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011

Noon EST

Call-in number:  1-480-629-9712

Please join us via teleconference to hear statements and discussion by four of the world’s leading clinical researchers in breast brachytherapy (accelerated partial breast irradiation, or APBI).

These experts will highlight their concerns about a controversial — and potentially misleading — new study on APBI presented at last week’s San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. They will also provide perspective on what women need to know now about breast cancer radiation therapy.

The teleconference will feature:

Robert Kuske, MD, (Phoenix) Co-Principal Investigator, NSABP B-39 study comparing five-day APBI to six-week whole breast irradiation

Peter D. Beitsch, MD, (Dallas) Co-Principal Investigator of the American Society of Breast Surgeons’ MammoSite Registry

Jayant Viadya, MD, (London, U.K.), pioneer of targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT)

Rakesh Patel, MD, (Pleasanton, Ca.), Chairman, American Brachytherapy Society

This event is open to the first 50 participants, including media and other interested parties.

(Note to media: To ensure your place on the call, please contact Liz Dowling, tel. 415-388-2794; Liz@dowlingdennis.net.)