Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/42331
Philips Healthcare in a $38.4 million Global Advanced Imaging Innovation Center at UH Seidman Cancer Center. "Our PET/MRI is one of only four in the world and the only one in a cancer hospital," says Julian Kim, MD, chief medical officer, UH Seidman Cancer Center and chief of Oncologic Surgery at UH Case Medical Center. "PET/MRI is in a new class of diagnostic imaging that captures both functional and anatomic information in a single scan to help physi- cians better understand the cause, effects and development of disease processes. It also pinpoints precise cancer locations and guides clinicians as they develop patient-specifi c treatment plans." The intraoperative MRI was installed adjacent to an operating room at UH Seidman Cancer Center specially designed and equipped for cancer surgery. According to Dr. Kim, this is a huge advantage — especially for patients with brain tumors or tumors at the base of the skull, because this technology helps surgeons ensure that they have excised a tumor in its entirety before surgery is completed. "A brain tumor is resected through a very small and limited operative fi eld. In about 30% of cases, if you do an MRI the day after surgery, you'll see a residual cancer left behind which may require another sur- gery," says Dr. Kim, who is an internationally-recognized cancer surgeon. "With the intraoperative MRI, that residual cancer can be recognized during surgery and can be completely removed before the patient leaves the OR." For treatment, two advanced linear accelerators complement the latest radiation oncology technologies includ- ing Synergy-S Hexapod, TomoTherapy, image guided radiation therapy (IGRT), intraoperative radiation therapy, and CyberKnife and Perfexion Gamma Knife radiosurgery, along with a da Vinci Robot ic Surgica l System. Both CyberKnife and Gamma Knife are non- invasive and pain-fee alternatives to traditional open surgery and are primar- ily utilized for tumors of the head, neck and spine and have most recently been used to treat prostate cancer. The robotic Infusion stations offer patients a choice of privacy or community. In multidisciplinary team meetings, a plan of care for each cancer patient is formulated and reviewed weekly, sometimes by as many as 30 people. system is primarily used for prostate cancer and gynecologic cancers. "Right now there are clinical trials that are looking at the possibility of using radiosurgery for patients with early lung cancer," says Dr. Kim. "There is some evidence that, in certain patients, using this incisionless surgery may be as effec- tive as resecting the lung cancer. So that's pretty exciting." Recently, a more advanced form of external radiotherapy which utilizes proton beams (charged particles) has been developed. And it will be available at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in 2014, when construction of UH's $30 million Proton Therapy Center is expected to be completed. Right now, UH Seidman Cancer Center is on track to be the fi rst in Ohio to offer proton therapy. Also among the fi rst, are UH Seidman Cancer Center brain surgeons perform- ing minimally invasive AutoLITT procedures. AutoLITT is a specially designed laser probe system that uses directed heat to treat aggressive glioblas- toma multiforme (GBM) tumors. The MDNEWS.COM SPECIAL ISSUE, FALL 2011 MD NEWS Cleveland-Akron-Canton | 9