Surgery
Webcasts
Surgeons from Dana Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center have begun broadcasting cutting-edge procedures over the Web in an effort to familiarize doctors with new surgical techniques and to inform the general public about medical advances.
Ovarian cancer awareness webcast
This year, more than 16,000 U.S. women will die from ovarian cancer. Many women don't seek help until the disease has begun to spread. But if detected at its earliest stage, the five-year survival rate is more than 93 percent. Join this live, online discussion. What you learn could save your life, or the life of your mother, sister or friend. (September 26, 2007, 7 p.m.)
Liver cancer procedure
Join expert gastrointestinal surgeons from Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center to view a hepatectomy (liver resection) using radiofrequency. This procedure allows safer division of the liver with less blood loss and improved results. The live Webcast took place on Nov. 16, 2006, but visitors are able to view it at any time.
Pediatric neurosurgery webcast
Children's Hospital Boston's neurosurgeon Joseph R. Madsen, MD, performed an MRI-guided brain tumor resection with cortical mapping on a 13-year-old patient live from Children's new intraoperative MRI on Oct. 25, 2006. The MR/OR is an operating room fitted with a 15,000-pound ceiling-mounted, movable MRI scanner. This is the first and only system of its kind at a pediatric hospital in the country, and young brain tumor patients treated through Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Care can access this new technology. This advanced technology allows surgeons to determine the extent of a tumor while the patient is undergoing surgery to ensure its accurate removal.
Breast Cancer Surgery: Multidisciplinary treatment of breast cancer
Learn about the latest in treatment for breast cancer, including biopsies for diagnosis, pre-operative chemotherapy for specific tumor types, innovative anesthesia approaches and surgical treatment. Join J. Dirk Iglehart, MD, Chief of Surgical Oncology at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, and attending surgeon BethAnn Lesnikoski, MD, for this informative Webcast.
Improved surgical techniques for prostate cancer
Surgeons from Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center hosted a live Webcast on Sept. 30, 2004, in which surgeons performed a bilateral nerve sparing radical prostatectomy and demonstrated specific techniques designed to reduce side effects of surgery, including incontinence and sexual dysfunction.
Extrapleural pneumonectomy for mesothelioma
The second installment in this series will demonstrate a type of cancer surgery called extrapleural pneumonectomy that generally extends the lives of patients stricken by mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer most often associated with exposure to asbestos. The Webcast took place on May 1. The surgery was performed by David Sugarbaker, MD, a pioneer in this complex surgical technique.
Total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer
The first Webcast, which took place on March 6, from Brigham and Women's Hospital was a specialized rectal cancer surgery known as a Total Mesorectal Excision (TME). During the procedure, surgeons dissected and removed the cancerous area of the rectum, including the fatty regions where the lymph nodes are located. The surgery is considered innovative because, unlike other similar procedures for rectal cancer, the surgeon used nerve and sphincter sparing techniques. Other resection techniques often result in the patient becoming dependent on a permanent colostomy bag.
