Kansas City, Kan- Key points from today’s guests:
Dr. Sean Kumer, chief medical officer, Kansas City Division, The University of Kansas Health System
- Cancers of the esophagus, stomach, or colon can traditionally involved surgery that partially or completely removes that organ.
- Today, we’re exploring a less drastic option, an endoscopic option, with a camera and surgical tools reaching down the throat and into the GI tract. This lets doctors remove just the tumor, but only if the right doctor is at the controls.
- Please consult with your healthcare experts as there are wide-ranging treatments for all sorts of different cancers, and you may be a candidate for minimally invasive surgery.
Gary Peterson, gastric cancer survivor
- Gary has battled throat, stomach, and lung cancer.
- He found out he had stomach cancer through a biopsy, but doctors weren’t sure what kind of cancer, so he contacted Dr. Tuba Esfandyari at The University of Kansas Health System.
- He said she was able to find the type of cancer that no one else could find.
- After the special procedure to remove the stomach tumor, he said his recovery was fast.
Jennifer Bowlen, Gary’s wife
- Jennifer said the doctors here are amazing, and she feels like Dr. Esfandyari is a friend now.
- She was impressed how everything was explained clearly.
- It made this journey much more relaxed because they understood everything that was going on.
Dr. Tuba Esfandyari, gastroenterologist; director, GI Motility, The University of Kansas Health System
- We were able to remove the stomach tumor with a procedure called ESD -- endoscopic sub-mucosal dissection.
- Traditional surgeries have been found to have some types of complications in some patients and an impact on their overall quality of life if large sections of an organ are removed.
- This ESD procedure was developed in Japan in the late 1990s. And then gradually, from Japan, it went to the other Asian countries and then to Europe and North America
- Not every cancer is suitable for this procedure -- only a superficial type of cancer, like Mr. Peterson's cancer that was barely even recognizable.
- We use teamwork to determine what is the best approach for each patient.
Infectious Disease Updates
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director, Infection Prevention & Control, The University of Kansas Health System
- As of November 1, hospitals must resume reporting COVID numbers to the federal government.
- For the week starting October 28, we have a little bit higher COVID admissions --COVID admissions compared to the previous couple weeks.
- It is vitally important that everybody does get their influenza vaccine for this season and their updated COVID vaccine. Why is that important? Because even in children, we know that the COVID vaccine can help protect against that multi-system inflammatory disorder. There was a recent study published on that as well.
- We also know that long COVID affects people on a daily basis, impacting their quality of life. We know that the vaccine for COVID can help reduce your risk of getting long COVID and long COVID symptoms, or persistent symptoms.
- We are also monitoring other respiratory viruses such as flu and RSV, but we’ve seen no significant change in numbers as there is still very little activity overall in our community and nationally.
Thursday, Nov. 14 at 8 a.m. is the next All Things Heart. Hear more about how a second opinion led to a much less invasive solution than open heart surgery.
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