SurgOnc Today

In this episode, Dr. Anna Weiss from the University of Rochester moderates a discussion with Drs. Lola Fayanju at the University of Pennsylvania and Rita Mukhtar at UCSF about surgical management of invasive lobular carcinoma. This histological subtype poses challenges for systemic management and is often underrepresented on conventional breast imaging with concomitant potential for understaging.

We're bringing the heat as Dr. Laura Enomoto, Dr. Melanie Ongchin and Dr. Alissa Greenbaum discuss key highlights and updates in Peritoneal Surface Malignancy and HIPEC presented at the 2025 SSO Annual Meeting. This episode explores evolving evidence, multidisciplinary approaches, and clinical trials shaping the future of care in this complex disease space

Join us on SurgOnc Today as we delve into the complexities of surgical treatment for stage IV gastric cancer. This episode explores the latest strategies and considerations for patients with advance disease including patients with positive peritoneal cytology, peritoneal carcinomatosis, liver metastasis and para-aortic nodal disease. We discuss the evolving role of surgery in improving outcomes for these patients. In this episode of SurgOnc today, Ahmed Dehal and Erin Ward from the SSO GI disease site working group Interview Dr. Lordick From University of Leipzig and Dr. Badgwell From MD Anderson Cancer Centre to discuss the topic.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today, we hear from three experts Drs. Rebecca Gladdy, Alessandro Gronchi, and Christina Roland in the work up, treatment and follow-up of patients presenting with vascular leiomyosarcomas, a rare soft tissue tumor with special technical considerations for surgical management.

In this new episode of Speaking of SurgOnc, Dr. Rick Greene discusses with Dr. Aaron Bleznak the results of a comparison of guideline-concordant surgery, which is modified radical mastectomy without immediate reconstruction following chemotherapy, for lobular versus ductal inflammatory breast cancer, as reported in their article, "Guideline-Concordant Surgical Care for Lobular Versus Ductal Inflammatory Breast Cancer.”

Dr. Bridget Fahey, Section Editor of the Palliative Oncology Editorial Board section of Surgical Oncology Insight, discusses with Dr. Kim Kopecky the results of a scoping review of language used by researchers evaluating palliative general surgical interventions for adult patients. Dr. Kopecky is author of "The language of palliative surgery: A scoping review," published in the June 2024 issue of the journal.  

“Can they even call it that anymore?” Yes, we can because diversity is not a dirty word. It represents a healthy ecosystem. Diversity is better for forests, microbiomes, ocean-dwelling species, T cell function, and yes the workforce. Join Susanne G. Warner, MD and LaDonna Kearse, MD for a conversation with three phenomenal surgical oncologists and leaders — Callisia Clarke, MD, MS, FACS, FSSO, John H. Stewart IV, MD, MBA, FACS, and Sarah Shubeck, MD — as they explore how to build teams that synergize toward maximized potential, how to navigate the discomfort of actual change, and how to be about it when not everyone will talk about it.

The International Career Development Exchange (ICDE) program provides support for up-and-coming, early career surgical oncologists with leadership potential to receive one-on-one mentoring and engagement with a distinguished senior SSO member. SSO supports a participant from each of our 15 Global Partner Societies, plus two SSO member participants from countries not connected to one of our Global Partners. Participants receive complimentary registration for the SSO annual meeting and the opportunity to participate in a minimum one-week clinical observership at a US-based SSO member's institution. Each participant is paired with an SSO Member Mentor with the goal that a long-term professional relationship will develop and continue over the course of the participant's career. In this episode past ICDE recipients are interviewed about their experiences and the impact of the ICDE program on their career trajectories.

In this podcast Dr. Noah Cohen and Dr. Brett Ecker review the current state and future directions of the management of gastric carcinomatosis with international gastric carcinomatosis expert Dr. Maheswari Senthil.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today, Dr. Julie Hallet, chair of the HPB disease site working group, and Dr. Callisia Clarke, member of the SSO board of directors, are joined by Dr. Jessica Maxwell and Dr. Alexandra Gangi to explore the evolving field of surgery for neuroendocrine tumors liver metastases. They discuss patient selection, pre-operative optimization, and unique surgical techniques to optimize perioperative and oncologic outcomes.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today, Dr. Julie Hallet and Dr. Patricio Polanco, Chair and Vice-Chair of the SSO HPB Disease Site Working Group review key updates and takeaways from the recent AHPBA Annual Meeting held in March 2025 in Miami. They are joined by Dr. Ryan Ellis and Dr. Michael Lidsky to review clinical trials on locally advanced pancreas cancer, hepatic artery infusion pump, colorectal liver metastases, and pancreas neuroendocrine tumors.

Appendiceal neoplasms present with peritoneal carcinomatosis and despite aggressive CRS/HIPEC, often recur and are chemotherapy resistant. In this Colorectal DSWG SSO sponsored podcast episode, we discuss an overview of the recent publication of "Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4/6 Inhibition as a Novel Therapy for Peritoneal Mucinous Carcinomatosis with GNAS Mutations" by Dr. Lowy's research lab at UCSD. The authors treated 16 patients in this Phase 2 study of oral Palbociclib in recurrent appendiceal adenocarcinoma patients and identified excellent treatment and long-term response with 13/16 of patients treated having reduction in CEA and excellent survival (median FU of 17.6 months, OS not reached). Dr Lowy provides informative background, study details and discusses next steps for this novel treatment approach. A link to the paper in question is https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39413348/

In this episode of SurgOnc Today, Laura Dominici, MD is joined by Laura Rosenberger, MD and David Anderson, MD, to discuss the current strategies around diagnosis and management of phyllodes tumors.

Dr. Deepa Magge invited Dr. Belain Eyob and Dr. Kimberly Kopecky to discuss highlights from the 2025 ACT meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona. The guests discuss the three major portions of the ACT 2025 conference, including the HPB section, the PSM component, as well as the melanoma and other regional therapies portion.

Listen to the final episode of this 4-part Women in Cancer Surgery podcast series on finance hosted through SurgOnc Today®. In this episode, Dr. Melissa Hogg, a member of the Women in Cancer Surgery Committee, and Dr. Tari King, Chief of Breast Surgery at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center discuss organizational fund flow and share insights on managing financial matters in the field.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Patricio Polanco, from the University of Texas Southwestern and Vice-chair of the SSO HPB disease site working group, and Dr. Sandra DiBrito, from Albany Medical College and member of the HPB disease site working group, are joined by Dr. Marc Besselink, of Amsterdam University Medical Center, and Dr. Amer Zureikat, of University of Pittsburgh. This is the second episode in our Minimally Invasive Techniques in Hepatobiliary Surgery Series. We will focus today on minimally invasive pancreas surgery.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Patricio Polanco from the University of Texas Southwestern and Vice-chair of the SSO HPB disease site working group and Dr. Sandra DiBrito from Albany Medical College and member of the HPB disease site working group are joined by Dr. Asmund Fretland of the University of Oslo and Dr. Laleh Melstrom of City of Hope. This is the first episode in our Minimally Invasive Techniques in Hepatobiliary Surgery Series. We will focus on the minimally invasive surgery techniques on the liver, discussing patient selection, benefits of the MIS approach, potential drawbacks, and the impact of this approach on patient outcomes.

Listen to Part 3 of this 4-part Women in Cancer Surgery podcast series on finance hosted through SurgOnc Today®. In this episode, Women in Cancer Surgery Committee Members, Drs. Anita Mamtani and Erika Schmitz, are joined by Bryan Neel, Lead Staff Financial Planner for Physicians and Executives at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. Together, they'll discuss financial literacy as it relates to insurance, disability, retirement, and more.

Speaking of SurgOnc® has a new home! New episodes can now be found under the Society of Surgical Oncology's podcast, SurgOnc Today®, available on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe today to receive updates on new episode releases.  In this new episode of Speaking of SurgOnc®, Dr. Rick Greene discusses with Dr. Jeffrey Velotta the hypothesis that additional D2 dissection in Siewert II gastroesophageal junction cancer does not lead to increased survival and may not need to be routinely performed, as reported in their article, "The Impact of D2 Versus D1 Lymphadenectomy in Siewert II Gastroesophageal Junction (GEJ) Cancer."

Native Americans are located throughout the United States in both urban and rural environments. In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Drs. Michelle Huyser, Jennifer Erdrich, and Vanessa Jensen discuss challenges and unique aspects of providing Native American Cancer Care to this population from both an academic as well as community perspective.

Listen to Part 2 of this 4-part Women in Cancer Surgery podcast series on finance hosted through SurgOnc Today®. In this episode, Women in Cancer Surgery Committee Members, Drs. Maggie DiNome and Andrea Barrio, are joined by Karen Price, Senior Revenue Manager - Department of Surgery, at Duke University. They will focus on an in-depth discussion of coding strategies and tips to improve billing, understand the use of relevant modifiers, and the use of time-based billing.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, the Breast DSWG and the Community Practice Surgeons Committee examine emerging technologies in the ablative setting for patients with breast cancer.

Join us for Part 1 of this 4-part Women in Cancer Surgery podcast series on finance hosted through SurgOnc Today. In this episode, Chair of the Women in Cancer Surgery Committee, Dr. Sarah McLaughlin, and Committee Member, Dr. Aimee Crago, will be joined by Alice Rigdon, Chief Financial Officer at the Mayo Clinic in Florida to provide a primer on financial literacy as it relates to department, division, and institutional finances. It will provide a broad framework of common terms and associated financial definitions.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Rebecca Snyder, from the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Dr. Akhil Chawla, from Northwestern University, both members of the HPB disease site working group, are joined by Dr. Cristina Ferrone, from Cedars Sinai Medical Center, and Dr. Steven Gallinger, from the University of Toronto. We will discuss the details, similarities, and differences of their respective clinical trials for neoadjuvant therapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, ALLIANCE A021806, and NeoPancONE.   References/Resources: ALLIANCE A021806 NeoPancONE

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Micah Brainerd, MD, is joined by Dr. Mediget Teshome, MD, MPH, Dr. Ronald P. DeMatteo, MD, FSSO, and Dr. Anthony Visioni, MD, reflecting on their journeys to their current leadership position, and the advice they would give their younger selves as they navigated the process. This is the second of the two-part series where each will discuss their ways of managing the demanding career of a surgical oncologist with their personal lives.

Speaking of SurgOnc® has a new home! New episodes can now be found under the Society of Surgical Oncology's podcast, SurgOnc Today®, available on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe today to receive updates on new episode releases.  In this new episode of Speaking of SurgOnc®, Dr. Rick Greene discusses with Dr. Mark Truty the prognosis, and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, of resected invasive intraductal papillary mucinous cystic neoplasms compared with de novo pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, as reported in their article, "Outcomes of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Invasive Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm Compared with de Novo Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma."

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Micah Brainerd, MD, is joined by Dr. Mediget Teshome, MD, MPH, Dr. Ronald P. DeMatteo, MD, FSSO, and Dr. Anthony Visioni, MD, who reflect on their journeys to their current leadership positions and the advice they would give their younger selves as they navigated the process. This is the first of a two-part series where each will discuss their journey to their current leadership positions and reflect on their professional growth in and out of the operating room.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Olga Kantor discusses with Dr. Chandler Cortina and Dr. Puneet Singh the locoregional highlights of the 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, including the COMET, INSEMA, EUROPA and Alliance 11202 trials.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Drs. Colleen Kiernan, Heather Wachtel, and Jason Liu review endocrine surgery topics for the oral boards. They discuss three endocrine related, oral board style questions and highlight important aspects of each topic. 

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Sinziana Dumitra discusses the evaluation and management of patients with peritoneal metastases from MSI-high colorectal cancer with Dr. Joshua Leinwand and Dr. Zachary Brown, including the role of HIPEC, immunotherapy, and differences in clinical characteristics and outcomes compared with microsatellite-stable disease.

Speaking of SurgOnc has a new home! New episodes can now be found under the Society of Surgical Oncology's podcast, SurgOnc Today®, available on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe today to receive updates on new episode releases. In this new episode of the ASO Episode Series of SurgOnc Today® (previously Speaking of SurgOnc), Dr. Rick Greene discusses with Dr. Michael Offin the clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes of a large prospective cohort of well-differentiated papillary peritoneal mesothelial tumors, as reported in their article, "Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients with Well-Differentiated Papillary Peritoneal Mesothelial Tumors."

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Steve Kwon, MD, and Mike Mavros, MD, are joined by Joo Ha Hwang, MD, and Yanghee Woo, MD, for a discussion of managing patients at high-risk of gastric cancer development at the population-level and at the patient-level. The panel will also discuss nonoperative and operative strategies in managing precancerous gastric lesions and early gastric cancers.

In this SurgOnc Today® SOI Article Series episode, Dr. Shishir Maithel, Editor of Surgical Oncology Insight, discusses with Dr. Heather Wachtel and Dr. Sara Ginzberg rates of guideline-concordant postoperative radioactive iodine therapy in patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer across six constituent hospitals, before and after the release of the 2015 American Thyroid Association guidelines, as reported in their article, "Implementation of the 2015 American Thyroid Association Guideline Changes Across a Health System: A Quality Improvement Opportunity."

This education episode of SurgOnc Today® features a roundtable discussion with input from surgical oncologists and a surgical oncology APPs on exploring the different ways APPs can contribute to a surgical oncology practice, both in the inpatient and outpatient settings.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today, Dr. Julie Hallet and Dr. Patricio Polanco, Chair and Vice-Chair of the HPB disease site, are joined by Drs. Ryan Ellis from Indiana University Scholl of Medicine and Allison Martin from Duke University. They will wrap the 2024 HPB year with us by reviewing the top HPB surgical oncology published this year. References/Resources: #5 NETTER-2 #4 NEOLUPANET #3 TRANSMET #2 PANDORINA #1 NORPACT

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Julie Hallet, Chair of the HPB Disease Site Work Group, and Dr. Patricio Polanco, Vice-Chair of the HPB Disease Site Work Group, are joined by Drs. Sajid Khan from Yale School of Medicine and Dr. Cecilia Ethun from UT Southwestern. They will wrap the 2024 HPB year by reviewing the top HPB surgical oncology published this year.  References/Resources: #10: AMPLIFY https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02760-3   #9: Adjuvant therapy for IPMN-derived PDAC - https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.23.02313   #8: HELIX https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2822555  #7: CAMINO  https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(23)00572-7/fulltext  #5 : PANDAS/PRODIGE https://www.annalsofoncology.org/article/S0923-7534(24)03884-5/fulltext

Speaking of SurgOnc has a new home! New episodes can now be found under the Society of Surgical Oncology's podcast, SurgOnc Today, available on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe today to receive updates on new episode releases.  In this new episode of Speaking of SurgOnc, Dr. Rick Greene discusses with Dr. Michael Bouvet and Dr. Kristin Cox the applicability of M5A-IR800 to target human gastric cancer, as reported in their article, "Targeting Patient-Derived Orthotopic Gastric Cancers with a Fluorescent Humanized Anti-CEA Antibody."

In this SSO Education Series episode of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Seth Concors, an Assistant Professor of Surgical Oncology at Emory University interviews Dr. Aatur Singhi, an Associate Professor in the Divisions of Anatomic Pathology and Molecular Genomic Pathology, Director and Coordinator of Anatomic Pathology Research and Director of the UPMC Developmental Laboratory, who reviews the fundamentals of appendiceal pathology – reviewing recent changes relevant for clinical management.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®'s Surgical Oncology Insight series, Dr. Shishir Maithel, Editor of Surgical Oncology Insight, discusses with Dr. Rita Mukhtar contemporary neoadjuvant therapy approaches to the treatment of breast cancer, with a focus on the interplay between imaging, systemic therapy, radiotherapy, and surgical management, as reported in her article, "The Neoadjuvant Approach to Treatment of Breast Cancer: Multidisciplinary Management to Improve Outcomes."

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Cord Sturgeon and Dr. Mahsa Javid are joined by Dr. Eduardo Guzmán Huerta, Dr. Juan Pablo Pantoja, and Professor Brian Lang to discuss factors affecting management of thyroid cancer with this group of experts who have a wealth of experience in different parts of the globe. Considerations affecting decision making and treatment options, adjuvant testing, adjuncts to surgery, overall costs and the system factors that need to be taken into account in the treatment and follow up of patients with thyroid cancer are explored. The discussed contributes towards advancing our understanding of worldwide processes and challenges in the management of thyroid cancer.

Dr. Rick Greene discusses with Dr. Heather Neuman and Dr. Alyssa Wiener the results of a randomized trial of topical pain approaches for radiotracer injections for breast cancer sentinel lymph node mapping, as reported in her article, "A Four-Arm Randomized Clinical Trial of Topical Pain Control for Sentinel Node Radiotracer Injections in Patients with Breast Cancer.”

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Prakash Pandalai, MD, Georgios Karagkounis, MD, and Fadwa Ali, MD, review the evolution of the Watch and Wait strategies in the management of rectal cancer patients with an emphasis on challenges, current clinical trials, and future directions.

This podcast was recorded on September 30, which is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada and features an interview with Dr. Nadine Caron, who was the first Indigenous female surgeon in Canada. Dr. Caron shares her experience and perspectives from her leadership roles in health equity for First Nations peoples in Northern British Columbia with Dr. Cord Sturgeon and Dr. Masha Javid. The conversation explores the inequities in cancer care and cancer outcomes among Indigenous Peoples. Cancer incidence and survival among Indigenous People, gaps in knowledge, drivers of inequity, and a path forward for developing trust are discussed.

In this inaugural episode of the Surgical Oncology Insight series of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Shishir Maithel, Editor of Surgical Oncology Insight, SSO's open-access journal, discusses with Dr. Brett Ecker the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis characterizing the incidence of cfDNA-positivity after resection of colorectal cancer liver metastases  with quantification of its sensitivity and specificity for postoperative recurrence, as reported in his article, "The Prognostic Role of Post-operative cfDNA after Resection of Colorectal Liver Metastases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis."

The surgical management of superficial soft tissue sarcoma require a multidisciplinary surgical team given the defect and reconstruction required from an extended resection to achieve negative margins. This team most often includes the primary surgeon (surgical oncology or orthopedic oncology) and a plastic surgeon.  A critical decision in the treatment plan is whether or not to reconstruct immediately at the index operation or delay final reconstruction pending pathologic assessment of margins.  In this podcast, we will focus on the multidisciplinary surgical approach for superficial sarcoma. We will highlight the role of delayed reconstruction and key clinical considerations in this approach. 

Please listen in as Drs. Piltin, van Akkooi, and Hyngstrom discuss relevant clinical trial presentations from ASCO 2024 annual meeting and their impressions on the implications for surgical oncologists. Abstracts results discussed include the neoadjuvant NADINA and PIVOTAL trials as well as an initial report on upfront TIL therapy for stage IV patients.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Patrick Sullivan is joined by Dr. Nicole Lopez and Dr. César Reátegui to discuss diverting ostomy. Current practice guidelines suggest that diverting ostomy is the standard of care in surgical management of rectal cancer after neoadjuvant therapy to minimize the risk of clinically significant leak which can then result in permanent colostomy. However, the risk of anastomotic leak after neoadjuvant chemoradiation ranges from 4-12% suggesting that most patients have unnecessary ostomy and additional surgery. With improvement of surgical techniques, utilization of robotic surgery and recent adoption of more TNT approaches, selective use of diverting ostomy will lead to improvement in QOL and decrease in health care costs with minimal impact on incidence of permanent colostomy.

In this podcast, the relatively new ASCO guidelines for breast cancer genetic testing will be discussed. The differences between these and other guidelines, such as ASBrS and NCCN, will be discussed. In addition, the different testing options and implications of positive results will be reviewed. 

The podcast will explore different barriers to implement international cancer quality standards in developing countries, approach to overcome these barriers and how the SSO can help and support access to world class cancer care in developing countries. This episode is led by Dr. Cherif Boutros, who is joined by Dr. Nader Hanna and Dr. Joseph Espat. 

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Dr. Julie Hallet, Chair of the SSO HPB Disease Site Working Group, reviews key updates and takeaways from the recent AHPBA Annual Meeting held in April 2024 in Miami. They are joined by Dr. Miral Grandhi, Dr. Amer Zureikat, Dr. Rebecca Snyder, and Dr. Katrina Duncan to review clinical trials on blood management for liver resection, biliary decompression for Klatskin tumors, and total venous deprivation to generate liver hypertrophy, as well as new data on genomics of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and bile liquid biopsy, and why evidence from clinical trials may not be adopted in HPB surgery.

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®, Akhil Chawla, MD, from Northwestern University, and a member of the SSO HPB disease site working group, is joined by Bas Groot Koerkamp, MD, PhD, from Erasmus Medical Centre and Knut Jørgen Labori, MD, PhD, from Oslo University Hospital. They discuss the details, similarities, and differences of their respective clinical trials for neoadjuvant therapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, NORPACT-1 and PREOPANC2. References/Resources: NORPACT-1 results: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2468125323004053?via%3Dihub NORPACT-1 editorial: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38604195/ PREOPANC-2 protocol: https://bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12885-021-08031-z PREOPANC-2 results : https://www.annalsofoncology.org/article/S0923-7534(23)04228-X/fulltext