The number of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System is steady today. 36 people with the active virus are being treated, down from 38 Friday. Of those patients, 11 are in the ICU, up from 10 Friday. Six of those ICU patients are on ventilators today, up from four Friday. 36 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 34 Friday. That’s a total of 72 patients, same as Friday. In addition, HaysMed has a total of 14 COVID-19 inpatients, down from 16 Friday, with ten of those active patients and four in the recovery phase.
On today’s Morning Media Update, breast surgeon oncologist Dr. Kelsey Larson joined to update a radiation therapy for some cancer patients which couldn't have come at a better time. She explains why it keeps patients safer during a pandemic while still providing the radiation they need. It's also for patients with an earlier diagnosis, so another motivation to get screened. We also heard from a patient who just received this new treatment.
We were introduced by video to Betty Dickinson, who was diagnosed with breast cancer after a regular screening mammogram. Because it was caught so early, she qualified for a new therapy called Intraoperative Radiation Treatment (IORT). It involves giving patients who are having a lumpectomy a single dose of radiation at the same time as their surgery rather than having to come for multiple visits over many weeks. She was happy she didn’t have to travel to the KU Cancer Center from her home some distance away and had a great outcome.
Dr. Larson explained IORT is not new, having been approved by the FDA in 1999, but was slow to catch on in the Midwest. The KU Cancer Center was the first in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma to offer the therapy. It’s for patients 45 and older with small and early stage breast cancer who are going to have a lumpectomy. She says the outcomes are the same as for patients who have traditional radiation to go along with their surgery and there are fewer side effects with better cosmetic results. She also noted that there has been a 50 percent reduction in breast cancer diagnoses since the pandemic began but does not believe cancer has actually dropped that much. She blames it on fewer people getting their mammograms out of fear of COVID-19 and explained the safety measures in place for these screenings. She urges all women to get their mammograms without delay, and says the sooner breast cancer is detected, the more likely a patient will qualify for IORT.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, says getting the vaccine should not affect getting a mammogram. He noted the prevailing thought is still that people need two doses of the vaccine to achieve full effectiveness. He added there is no minimum time between getting the infection and getting the immunization but says not to get the shot within 10 days of having the active infection, so you don’t spread the virus to others at the clinic. He says we’ve been happy with the lower numbers of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths and urges us all to be vigilant in following the rules of infection prevention, especially with the weather finally warming up.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health system, observed a “somber milestone” of 500,000 deaths from COVID-19. He says that’s more than the number of deaths in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam war combined. He noted the flu pandemic of a hundred years ago caused 675,000 deaths, but since this pandemic is not over, it’s still possible to reach that mark. He explained why Dr. Fauci said we might still be wearing masks in 2022, blaming the slower than expected vaccine rollout. But he says we might not have to go that long if 90 percent of the population gets vaccinated. He discussed the mental health problems which have skyrocketed during the pandemic and said so far employee vaccinations at the health system have caused absenteeism from the virus to plummet. He advises us not to let fear drive our choices and good infection control techniques will keep us safe.
Tuesday, February 23 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman joins to talk about efforts underway to fix vaccine data reporting issues in Kansas and why providers need to help with the challenge as future vaccine allocation could depend on the state's reporting record.
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