Podcasts about texas md anderson cancer center

Surgical resection of perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (pCCA) is one of the highest-risk elective operations performed. The obstructive jaundice suffered by patients preoperatively, central location of the tumors, and extensive nature of the resection make pCCA one of the most challenging HPB disease processes. In this episode from the HPB team at Behind the Knife, listen in on the discussion about perioperative strategies to improve outcomes for surgical resection of perihilar cholangiocarcinoma. Hosts Anish J. Jain MD (@anishjayjain) is a current PGY4 General Surgery Resident at Stanford University and a former T32 Research Fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Timothy E. Newhook MD, FACS (@timnewhook19) is an Assistant Professor within the Department of Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is also the associate program director of the HPB fellowship.  Jean-Nicolas Vauthey MD, FACS (@VautheyMD) is Professor of Surgery and Chief of the HPB Section, as well as the Dallas/Fort Worth Living Legend Chair of Cancer Research in the Department of Surgical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learning Objectives ·      Develop an understanding of the three treatment sequences for resection of disease in patients with synchronous liver metastasis from a primary rectal cancer (reverse, combined, and classic approach) ·      Develop an understanding of the benefits, risks, and nuances of each of the three treatment sequences ·      Develop an understanding of which patient cases each treatment sequence is ideal for as well as which cases they are not suitable for. Papers Referenced: 1)    Ribero D, Zimmitti G, Aloia TA, Shindoh J, Fabio F, Amisano M, Passot G, Ferrero A, Vauthey JN. Preoperative Cholangitis and Future Liver Remnant Volume Determine the Risk of Liver Failure in Patients Undergoing Resection for Hilar Cholangiocarcinoma. J Am Coll Surg. 2016 Jul;223(1):87-97. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27049784/ 2)    Jain AJ, Lendoire M, Haddad A, Tzeng CD, Boyev A, Maki H, Chun YS, Arvide EM, Lee S, Hu I, Pant S, Javle M, Tran Cao HS, Vauthey JN, Newhook TE. Improved Outcomes Following Resection of Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma: A 27-Year Experience. Ann Surg Oncol. 2025 Jun;32(6):4352-4362. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40000564/ Additional Suggested Reading Olthof PB, Erdmann JI, Alikhanov R, Charco R, Guglielmi A, Hagendoorn J, Hakeem A, Hoogwater FJH, Jarnagin WR, Kazemier G, Lang H, Maithel SK, Malago M, Malik HZ, Nadalin S, Neumann U, Olde Damink SWM, Pratschke J, Ratti F, Ravaioli M, Roberts KJ, Schadde E, Schnitzbauer AA, Sparrelid E, Topal B, Troisi RI, Groot Koerkamp B; Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma Collaboration Group. Higher Postoperative Mortality and Inferior Survival After Right-Sided Liver Resection for Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma: Left-Sided Resection is Preferred When Possible. Ann Surg Oncol. 2024 Jul;31(7):4405-4412. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38472674/ Mueller M, Breuer E, Mizuno T, Bartsch F, et al. Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma - Novel Benchmark Values for Surgical and Oncological Outcomes From 24 Expert Centers. Ann Surg. 2021 Nov 1;274(5):780-788. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34334638/ Ad Disclosures: Visit goremedical.com/btk to learn more about GORE® ENFORM Biomaterial. Refer to Instructions for Use at eifu.goremedical.com for a complete description of all applicable indications, warnings, precautions and contraindications for the markets where this product is available. Rx only Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.   If you liked this episode, check out our recent episodes here: https://behindtheknife.org/listen Behind the Knife Premium: General Surgery Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/general-surgery-oral-board-review Trauma Surgery Video Atlas: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/trauma-surgery-video-atlas Dominate Surgery: A High-Yield Guide to Your Surgery Clerkship: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/dominate-surgery-a-high-yield-guide-to-your-surgery-clerkship Dominate Surgery for APPs: A High-Yield Guide to Your Surgery Rotation: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/dominate-surgery-for-apps-a-high-yield-guide-to-your-surgery-rotation Vascular Surgery Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/vascular-surgery-oral-board-audio-review Colorectal Surgery Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/colorectal-surgery-oral-board-audio-review Surgical Oncology Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/surgical-oncology-oral-board-audio-review Cardiothoracic Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/cardiothoracic-surgery-oral-board-audio-review Download our App: Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/behind-the-knife/id1672420049 Android/Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.btk.app&hl=en_US

In this episode of the Award-winning PRS Journal Club Podcast, 2025 Resident Ambassadors to the PRS Editorial Board – Christopher Kalmar, Ilana Margulies, and Amanda Sergesketter- and special guest, Jesse Selber, MD, discuss the following articles from the September 2025 issue: “Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy with Immediate Breast Reconstruction: The Laterothoracic Approach without Robotic Assistance” by Pozzo, Lhuaire, Mernier, et al. Read the article for FREE: https://bit.ly/NSM_IBR Special guest, Jesse Selber, MD, was most recently the Acting Chair, the Director of Clinical Research and Professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Currently, he is a Physician Executive and the Surgery Service Line Chief of Beaumont, where he also serves as Professor of Plastic Surgery. In this role, Dr. Selber is responsible for all surgical activities within the Beaumont System, including 8 hospitals overseeing 2000 surgeons. Dr. Selber completed surgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania and fellowship in Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Selber's clinical practice is exclusively complex cancer reconstruction. He is a surgical innovator, developing numerous techniques, and author of the only robotic plastic surgery textbook.  READ the articles discussed in this podcast as well as free related content: https://bit.ly/JCSept25Collection The views expressed by hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of ASPS.

Prof Rebecca A Dent from National Cancer Centre Singapore, Dr Hans Lee from Sara Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, Dr Neel Pasricha from the University of California, San Francisco, and Dr Tiffany A Richards from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, discuss strategies to manage ocular toxicities associated with antibody-drug conjugates and other cancer therapies. CME information and select publications here.

Prof Rebecca A Dent from National Cancer Centre Singapore, Dr Hans Lee from Sara Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, Dr Neel Pasricha from the University of California, San Francisco, and Dr Tiffany A Richards from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, discuss strategies to manage ocular toxicities associated with antibody-drug conjugates and other cancer therapies. CME information and select publications here.

In this episode of the Award-winning PRS Journal Club Podcast, 2025 Resident Ambassadors to the PRS Editorial Board – Christopher Kalmar, Ilana Margulies, and Amanda Sergesketter- and special guest, Jesse Selber, MD, discuss the following articles from the September 2025 issue: “Robotic Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction with Profunda Artery Perforator Flaps” by Haddock, Teotia, and Farr. Read the article for FREE: https://bit.ly/SPrNSM_PAPflaps Special guest, Jesse Selber, MD, was most recently the Acting Chair, the Director of Clinical Research and Professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Currently, he is a Physician Executive and the Surgery Service Line Chief of Beaumont, where he also serves as Professor of Plastic Surgery. In this role, Dr. Selber is responsible for all surgical activities within the Beaumont System, including 8 hospitals overseeing 2000 surgeons. Dr. Selber completed surgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania and fellowship in Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Selber's clinical practice is exclusively complex cancer reconstruction. He is a surgical innovator, developing numerous techniques, and author of the only robotic plastic surgery textbook.  READ the articles discussed in this podcast as well as free related content: https://bit.ly/JCSept25Collection The views expressed by hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of ASPS.

Guest: Ann Klopp, M.D., Ph.D. The recent NRG0238 trial evaluated whether adding chemotherapy to radiation improves outcomes in patients with localized endometrial cancer recurrences. Hear from Dr. Ann Klopp as she explains the findings and how they could shift practice patterns for patient care. Dr. Klopp is a Professor of Radiation Oncology, the Director of Brachytherapy, and the leader of the gynecologic section in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Guest: Ann Klopp, M.D., Ph.D. Endometrial cancer treatment is continuing to evolve, with surgery guiding initial decisions and new evidence showing that adding immunotherapy significantly improves outcomes in advanced disease. But key questions remain around tailoring regimens to individual patients. Dr. Ann Klopp highlights the latest advances and challenges in management, particularly in patients with pelvic recurrences. Dr. Klopp is a Professor of Radiation Oncology, the Director of Brachytherapy, and the leader of the gynecologic section at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

In this episode of the Award-winning PRS Journal Club Podcast, 2025 Resident Ambassadors to the PRS Editorial Board – Christopher Kalmar, Ilana Margulies, and Amanda Sergesketter- and special guest, Jesse Selber, MD, discuss the following articles from the September 2025 issue: “Assessing the Shift: Increasing Rates of Immediate Breast Reconstruction by Nonplastic Surgeons: Insights from a Nationwide Analysis” by Kilmer, Pawly, Wehelie. Read the article for FREE: https://bit.ly/BreastReconShift Special guest, Jesse Selber, MD, was most recently the Acting Chair, the Director of Clinical Research and Professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Currently, he is a Physician Executive and the Surgery Service Line Chief of Beaumont, where he also serves as Professor of Plastic Surgery. In this role, Dr. Selber is responsible for all surgical activities within the Beaumont System, including 8 hospitals overseeing 2000 surgeons. Dr. Selber completed surgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania and fellowship in Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Selber's clinical practice is exclusively complex cancer reconstruction. He is a surgical innovator, developing numerous techniques, and author of the only robotic plastic surgery textbook.  READ the articles discussed in this podcast as well as free related content: https://bit.ly/JCSept25Collection The views expressed by hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of ASPS.

In today's episode, we spoke with Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, FACP, about the use of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Dr Kopetz is the deputy chair for Translational Research and a professor in the Department of Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology in the Division of Cancer Medicine, as well as the leader of the Department of Cancer Center Support Grant in the GI Program, the TRACTION medical director in the Division of Therapeutics Discovery, and the associate vice president for Translational Integration at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. In our conversation, Dr Kopetz discussed the high positive predictive value of ctDNA assays, which indicate disease presence when positive. He emphasized  clinical trials that have shown strong prognostic implications with this type of assay, as well as study findings that demonstrated that ctDNA results could reduce chemotherapy use without compromising efficacy. Additionally, he noted the potential significance of ongoing trials that are exploring the use of ctDNA to guide therapy. Overall, he explained that ctDNA testing is becoming a standard in clinical practice for colorectal cancer. 

In this episode, host Jonathan Sackier is joined by Andrew Dunbar, Assistant Professor in the Department of Hematopoietic Biology and Malignancy at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, USA. Dunbar discusses his research into myeloproliferative neoplasms, what drives disease progression and resistance, and promising targets for treatment, while reflecting on the mission of his lab and what lies ahead for the field.  Timestamps  00:00 – Introduction  02:29 – One thing people should know about myeloproliferative neoplasms  05:01 – Dunbar's background and research focus  08:00 – What would Dunbar do if not science and medicine?  10:24 – The basics of myeloproliferative neoplasms  14:30 – Myeloproliferative neoplasm diagnosis and treatment  16:49 – What drives disease progression and resistance?  18:30 – The mission of Dunbar's lab  21:23 – Development of AJ1-11095  22:54 – Balancing the complexity of disease modelling with urgent clinical needs  24:03 – Promising targets and pathways  26:35 – What's on the horizon?  28:40 – Three wishes 

Host Davide Soldato and guest Dr. John K. Lin discuss the JCO article "Racial and Ethnic Disparities Along the Treatment Cascade Among Medicare Fee-For-Service Beneficiaries with Metastatic Breast, Colorectal, Lung, and Prostate Cancer." TRANSCRIPT The guest on this podcast episode has no disclosures to declare. Dr. Davide Soldato: Hello, and welcome to JCO After Hours, the podcast where we sit down with authors of the latest articles published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. I'm your host, Dr. Davide Soldato, a medical oncologist at Ospedale San Martino in Genoa, Italy. Today, we are joined by Dr. Lin, assistant professor in the Department of Health Services Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Lin and I will be discussing the article titled, "Racial and Ethnic Disparities Along the Treatment Cascade Among  Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries With Metastatic Breast, Colorectal, Lung, and Prostate Cancer." Thank you for speaking with us, Dr. Lin. Dr. Lin: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Dr. Davide Soldato: So, just to start, to frame a little bit the study, I just wanted to ask you what prompted you and your team to look specifically at this question - so, racial and ethnic disparities within this specific population? And related to this question, I just wanted to ask how this work is different or builds on previous work that has been done on this research topic. Dr. Lin: Yeah, absolutely. Part of the impetus for this study was the observation that despite people who are black or Hispanic having equivalent health insurance status - they all have  Medicare Fee-for-Service - we've known that treatment and survival differences and disparities have persisted over time for patients with metastatic breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer. And so, the question that we had was, "Why is this happening, and what can we do about it?" One of the reasons why eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in survival among Medicare beneficiaries with metastatic cancer has been elusive is because these disparities are occurring along a lot of dimensions. Whether or not it's because the patient presented late and has very extensive metastatic cancer; whether or not the patient has had a difficult time even seeing an oncologist; whether or not the patient has had a difficult time starting on any systemic therapy; or maybe it's because the patient has had a difficult time getting guideline-concordant systemic therapy because, more recently, these treatments have become so expensive. Disparities, we know, are occurring along all of these different facets and areas of the treatment cascade. Understanding which one of these is the most important is the key to helping us alleviate these disparities. And so, one of our goals was to evaluate disparities along the entire treatment cascade to try to identify which disparities are most important. Dr. Davide Soldato: Thank you very much. That was very clear. So, basically, one of the most important parts of the research that you have performed is really focusing on the entire treatment cascade. So, basically, starting from the moment of diagnosis up to the moment where there was the first line of treatment, if this line of treatment was given to the patient. So, I was wondering a little bit, because for this type of analysis, you used the SEER-Medicare linked database. So, can you tell us a little bit which was the period of time that you selected for the analysis? Why do you think that that was the most appropriate time to look at this specific question? And whether you feel like there is any potential limitation in using this type of database and how you handled this type of limitations? Dr. Lin: Yeah, absolutely. It's a great question. And I want to back up a little bit because I want to talk about the entire treatment cascade because I think that this is really important for our research and for future research. We weren't the first people to look at along the treatment cascade for a disease. Actually, this idea of looking along the treatment cascade was pioneered by HIV researchers and has been used for over a decade by people who study HIV. And there are a lot of parallels between HIV and cancer. One of them is that with HIV, there are so many areas along that entire treatment cascade that have to go right for somebody's treatment to go well. Patients have to be diagnosed early, they have to be given the right type of antiretrovirals, they have to be adherent to those antiretrovirals. And if you have a breakdown in any one of those areas, you're going to have disparities in care for these HIV patients. And so, HIV researchers have known this for a long time, and this has been a big cornerstone in the success of getting people with HIV the treatment that they need. And I think that this has a lot of parallels with cancer as well. And so, I am hoping that this study can serve as a model for future research to look along the entire treatment cascade for cancer because cancer is, similarly, one of these areas that requires multidisciplinary, complex medical care. And understanding where it is breaking down, I think, is crucial to us figuring out how we can reduce disparities. But for your question about the SEER-Medicare linked database, so we looked between 2016 and 2019. That was the most recent data that was available to us. And one of the reasons why we were excited to look at this is because there were some new treatments that were just released and FDA-approved around 2018, which we were able to study. And this included immunotherapy for non–small cell lung cancer, and then it also included androgen receptor pathway inhibitors, the second-generation ones, for prostate cancer. And the reason why this is important is because for some time, as we have developed these new therapies, there's been a lot of concern that there have been disparities in access to these novel therapies because of how expensive they are, particularly for the Medicare population. And so one of the reasons why we looked specifically at this time period was to understand whether or not, in more recent years, these novel therapies, people are having increasing disparities in them and whether or not increasing disparities in these more expensive, newer therapies is contributing to disparities in mortality. That being said, obviously, we're in 2025 and these data are by now six years old, and so there are additional therapies that are now available that weren't available in the past. But I think that, that being said, at least it's sort of a starting point for some of the more important therapies that have been introduced, at least for non–small cell lung cancer and prostate cancer. And the database, SEER-Medicare, is helpful because it uses the population cancer registry, which is the SEER registry cancer registry, linked to Medicare claims. So, any type of medical care that's billed through Medicare, which is going to basically be all of the medical care that these patients receive, for the most part, we're going to be able to see it. And so, I think that this is a really powerful database which has been used in a lot of research to understand what kind of care is being received that has been billed through Medicare. So, one of the limitations with this database is if there is care that's received that was not billed through Medicare, we're not going to be able to see that. And this does not happen probably that frequently, particularly because most patients who have insurance are going to be receiving care through insurance. However, we may see it for some of the oral Part D drugs. Some of those drugs are so expensive that patients cannot pay for the coinsurance during that time. And it's possible that some of those drugs patients were getting for free through the manufacturer. We potentially missed some of that. Dr. Davide Soldato: So, going a little bit into the results, I think that these are very, very interesting. And probably the most striking one is that when we look at the receipt of any type of treatment for metastatic breast, colorectal, prostate, and lung cancer - and specifically when we look at guideline-directed first-line treatments - you observed striking differences. So, I just wanted you to guide us a little bit through the results and tell us a little bit which of the numbers surprised you the most. Dr. Lin: So, what we were expecting is to see large disparities in receiving what we called guideline-directed systemic therapy. And guideline-directed systemic therapy during this time kind of depended on the cancer. So, we thought that we were going to see large disparities in guideline-directed therapy because these were the more novel therapies that were approved, and thus they were going to be the more expensive therapies. And so, what this meant was for colorectal cancer, this was going to be any 5-FU–based therapy. For lung cancer, this was going to be any checkpoint inhibitor–based therapy. For prostate cancer, this was going to be any ARPI, so this was going to be things like abiraterone or enzalutamide. And for breast cancer, this was going to be CDK4 and 6 TKIs plus any aromatase inhibitor. And so, for instance, for breast, prostate, and lung cancer, these were going to be including more expensive therapies. And so, what we expected to see was large disparities in receiving some of these more expensive, novel therapies. And we thought we were going to see fewer disparities in receiving some of the cheaper therapies, such as aromatase inhibitors, 5-FU, older platinum chemotherapies for lung cancer, and ADT for prostate cancer. We were shocked to find that we saw large racial and ethnic disparities in seeing some of the older, cheaper chemotherapies and hormonal therapies. So for instance, for breast cancer, 59% of black patients received systemic therapy, whereas 68% of white patients received systemic therapy. For colorectal, only 23% of black patients received any systemic therapy versus 34% of white patients. For lung, only 26% of black patients received any therapy, whereas 39% of white patients did. And for prostate, only 56% of black patients received any systemic therapy versus 77% of white patients. And so, we were pretty shocked by how large the disparities were in receiving these cheap, easy-to-access systemic therapies. Dr. Davide Soldato: Thank you very much. So, I just wanted to go a little bit deeper in the results because, as you said, there were striking differences even when we looked at very old and also cheap treatments that, for the majority of the patients that were included inside of your study, were actually basically available for a very small price to these patients who had the eligibility for Medicare or Medicaid. And I think that one of the very interesting parts of the research was actually the attention that you had at looking how much of these disparities could be explained by several factors. And actually, one of the most interesting results is that you observed that low-income subsidy status was actually a big determinant of these disparities in terms of treatment. So, I just wanted to guide us a little bit through these results and then just your opinion about how these results should be interpreted by policymakers. Dr. Lin: Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to explain a little bit about what low-income subsidy status is and dual-eligibility status. Some of the listeners may not know what low-income subsidy status or dual-eligibility status is. Low-income subsidy status is part of Medicare Part D. Medicare Part D is an insurance benefit that allows patients to receive oral drugs. So these are drugs that are dispensed through the pharmacy, such as the CDK4/6 inhibitors, as well as second-generation ARPIs in our study. For patients who have Medicare Part D and whose income is low enough - falls below a certain federal poverty level threshold - those patients will receive their oral drugs for much cheaper. And this is really important for some of these more novel therapies because for some of these more novel therapies, if you don't have low-income subsidy status, you may be paying thousands of dollars for a single prescription of those drugs. Whereas if you have low-income subsidy status, you may be paying less than $10. And so that difference, greater than $1,000 or $2,000 versus less than $10, one would think that the patient who's paying less than $10 would be much more likely to receive those therapies. So that's low-income subsidy status. Low-income subsidy status, importantly, doesn't apply for infused medications like immunotherapy. But it's important to know that most people with low-income subsidy status - about 88% - are also dual-eligible. What dual-eligible means is that they have both Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare being the insurance that everybody has in our study who's greater than 65. And Medicaid is the state-run but federally subsidized insurance that patients with low incomes have. And so patients who are dual-eligible - and about 87% of those with low-income subsidy status are dual-eligible - those patients have both Medicaid and Medicare, and they basically pay next to nothing for any of their medical care. And that's because Medicare will reimburse most of the medical care and the copays or coinsurance are going to be covered by Medicaid. So Medicaid is going to pick up the rest of the bill. So, most of the patients who have low-income subsidy status who are dual-eligible, these patients pay almost nothing for their medical care - Part B or Part D, any of their drugs. And so, one would expect that if cost were the main determinant of disparities in cancer care, then one would expect that dual-eligibles, most of them would be receiving treatment because they're facing minimal to no costs. What we found is that when we broke down the racial and ethnic disparity by a number of factors - including LIS status/dual eligibility, age, the number of comorbidities, etcetera - what we found was that the LIS or dual-eligibility status explained about 20% to 45% of the disparities that we saw in receiving treatment. And what that means is despite these patients paying next to nothing for their drugs, these are the most likely patients to not be treated for their cancer at all. So they're most likely to basically be diagnosed, survive for two months, see an oncologist, and then never receive any systemic therapy for their cancer. And this is not just chemotherapies for colorectal or lung cancer. This includes cheaper, easier-to-tolerate hormonal therapies that you can just take at home for breast cancer, or you can get every six months for prostate cancer, that people who even have poorer functional status are able to take. However, for whatever reason, these dual-eligible or LIS patients are very unlikely to receive treatment compared to any other patient. The low likelihood of treating this group of patients, that explains a large portion of the racial and ethnic disparities that we see. Dr. Davide Soldato: And one thing that I think is very interesting and might be of potential interest to our listeners is, did you compare survival outcomes in these different settings? And did you observe any significant differences in terms of racial and ethnic disparities once you saw that there was a significant difference when looking at both receipt of any type of treatment and also guideline-directed treatments? Dr. Lin: We saw that there were large disparities in survival by race and ethnicity when you look overall. However, when you just account for the patients who received any systemic therapy at all - not just guideline-directed systemic therapy - those differences in survival essentially disappeared. And so, what that suggests is that if black patients were just as likely to receive any systemic therapy at all as white patients, we would expect that the survival differences that we were seeing would disappear. And this is not even just looking at guideline-directed systemic therapy. This was looking just at systemic therapy alone. And so, while guideline-directed systemic therapy should be a goal, our research suggests that if we are to close the gap in disparities in overall survival among black and white patients, we must first focus on patients just receiving any type of treatment at all. And that should be the very first focus that policymakers, that leaders in ASCO, that health system leaders, that physicians, that we should focus on: just trying to get any type of treatment to our patients who are poorer or black. Dr. Davide Soldato: Thank you very much. And this was not directly related to the research that you performed, but going back to this very point - so, increasing the number of patients that receive any kind of systemic treatment before looking at guideline-directed treatments - what would you feel would be the best way to approach this in order to decrease the disparities? Would you look at interventions such as financial navigation or maybe improving referral pathways or providing maybe more culturally adapted information to the patients? Because in the end, what we see is disparities based on racial and ethnicity. We see that we can reduce these disparities if we get these patients to the treatment. But in the end, what would you feel is the best way to bring patients to these types of treatments? Dr. Lin: I think the most important thing is to understand that these disparities are not primarily happening because of the high cost of cancer treatment. These disparities are happening because of other social vulnerabilities that these patients are facing. And so these vulnerabilities could be a lot of things. It could be mistrust of the medical system. It could be fear of chemotherapy or other treatments. It could be difficulty taking time off of work. It could be any number of things. What we do know is when we've looked at the types of interventions that can help patients receive treatment, navigation is probably the most effective one. And the reason why I think that is because when patients don't receive treatment because of social vulnerability, I sort of look at social vulnerability like links in a chain. Any weakest link is going to result in the patient not receiving treatment. This may be because they have a hard time taking time off of work. This may be because they had a hard time getting transportation to their physician. It may be because they had an interaction with a physician, but that interaction was challenging for the patient. Maybe they mistrusted the physician. Maybe they're worried about the medical system. If any of these things goes wrong, the patient is not going to be treated. The patient navigator is the only person who can spot any of those weak links within the chain and address them. And so, I think that the first thing to do is to get patient navigation systems in place for our vulnerable patients throughout the United States. And this is incredibly important because in Medicare, patient navigation is reimbursable. And so this is not something that's ‘pie in the sky'. This is something that's achievable today. The second thing is that it's really important that we see these vulnerabilities happening for patients who are dual-eligible, who have both Medicare and Medicaid. One of the reasons why this is important is because there has been a lot of research outside of what we've done that has shown vulnerabilities for dual-eligible patients who have Medicare for a number of different diseases. And the reason why is because, although patients are supposed to have the benefits of both Medicare and Medicaid, usually these two insurances do not play nicely together. It creates a huge, bureaucratic, complex mess and maze that most of these patients are unable to navigate. And so many of these patients are unable to actually receive the full reimbursement from both Medicare and Medicaid that they should be getting because those two insurers are not communicating well. And so the second thing is that national cancer organizations need to be supporting policies and legislation that is already being discussed in Congress to revamp the dual-eligible system so that it facilitates these patients getting properly reimbursed for their care from both Medicare and Medicaid and these systems working together well. The third thing is that Medicaid itself has many benefits that can allow patients to receive care, like they have transportation benefits so that patients can get to and from their doctor's appointments with ease. And so I think this will be additionally very, very helpful for patients. The last thing is, you know, it's possible that future innovations such as telemedicine and tele-oncology and cancer care at home can also make it easier for some of these patients who may be working a lot to receive care. But what I would say is that our study should be a call for healthcare delivery researchers to start piloting interventions to be able to help these patients receive systemic therapy. And so what this could look like is trying to get that care navigation and implement that in clinics so that patients can be receiving the care that they need. Dr. Davide Soldato: Thank you very much. That was a very clear perspective on how we can tackle this issue. So, I just wanted to close with a sort of personal question. I was wondering what led you to work specifically in this research field that is very challenging, but I think it's particularly critical in healthcare systems like in the United States. Dr. Lin: Yeah, absolutely. One of the most important things for me as an oncologist and a researcher is being able to know that all patients in the United States - and obviously abroad - who have cancer should be able to receive the kind of care that they deserve. I don't think that patients, because their incomes are lower or because their skin looks a certain color or because they live in rural areas, these shouldn't be determinants of whether or not cancer patients are receiving the care that they need. We can develop and pioneer the very best treatments and breakthroughs in oncology, but if our patients are not receiving them - if only 20% of our patients with colon cancer or lung cancer are receiving any type of systemic therapy, who are black - this is a big problem. But this is something that I think that our system can tackle. We need to get these breakthroughs that we have in oncology to every single cancer patient in America and every single cancer patient in the world. I think this is a goal that all oncologists should have, and I think that this is something that, honestly, is achievable. I think that research is a powerful tool to give us a lens into understanding exactly why it is that certain patients are not getting the care that they deserve. And my goal is to continue to use research to shed light on why our system is not performing the way that we all want it to be. Dr. Davide Soldato: Circling back to your research, actually the manuscript that was published was supported by a Young Investigator Award by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. So, was this the first step of a more broad research, or do you have any further plans to go deeper in this topic? Dr. Lin: Yeah, absolutely. First, I want to thank the ASCO Young Investigator Award for funding this research because I think it's fair to say that this research would not have happened at all without the support of the ASCO YIA. And the fact that ASCO is doing as much as it can to support the future generation of cancer researchers is incredible. And it's a huge resource, and having it come at the time that it did is critical for so many of us. So I think that this is an unbelievable thing that ASCO does and continues to do with all of its partners. For me, yeah, this is definitely a stepping stone to further research.  Medicare Fee-for-Service is only one part of the population. I want to spread this research and extend it to patients who have other types of insurances, look at other types of policies, and also try to conduct some of the cancer care delivery research that's needed to try to pilot some interventions that can resolve this problem. So hopefully this is the first step in a broader series of studies that we can all do collectively to try to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in cancer care and survival. Dr. Davide Soldato: So, I think that we've come at the end of this podcast. Thank you again, Dr. Lin, for joining us today. Dr. Lin: Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to be a part of this. Dr. Davide Soldato: So, we appreciate you sharing more on your JCO article, "Racial and Ethnic Disparities Along the Treatment Cascade Among Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries With Metastatic Breast, Colorectal, Lung, and Prostate Cancer." If you enjoy our show, please leave us a rating and review and be sure to come back for another episode. You can find all ASCO shows at asco.org/podcasts. The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.

//The Wire//2300Z August 26, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON CHINESE STUDENT EXPANSION AS RESEARCHER IN TEXAS IS CHARGED WITH STEALING SECRETS FOR CHINA. WAVE OF FAKE ACTIVE SHOOTER REPORTS SWEEPS THROUGH AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS. SYRIAN MIGRANT WHO ATTACKED AMERICAN IN DRESDEN RELEASED FROM CUSTODY, BUT RE-ARRESTED AFTER PUBLIC OUTRAGE.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Germany: Following Sunday's knife attack in Dresden, one of the individuals involved in the attack of an American tourist was released from jail. Sunday morning, two illegal immigrants from Syria were harassing two women on a tram in Dresden. John Rudat, an American tourist visiting the city intervened during the altercation, and was stabbed in the face by one of the assailants, resulting in extremely severe lacerations. The other assailant (not the man who stabbed Rudat, but a different attacker) was captured while trying to escape, but was released from custody yesterday, only to be re-arrested after public outrage pressured the prosecutor's office to act. The man who stabbed Rudat remains at large.-HomeFront-USA: Over the past few days, many different universities and institutions have been the victim of hoaxes which have taken the form of someone calling in a fake active shooter threat. What began as one or two reports has spread to about a dozen different institutions.Analyst Comment: Right now, it is not known who is calling in these fake reports, but extreme caution is warranted. The theories of why this is happening vary widely, but this could also be a desensitizing effort that precedes a legitimate attack at some other institution. As such, vigilance is recommended to avoid slipping into complacency, just in case this turns out to be a legitimate threat at some point.Washington D.C. - President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have doubled-down on statements supporting the import of 600,000 Chinese students, further reiterating the intent to stick to this policy at present, with President Trump stating multiple times that he is "honored" to have these students taking up seats at American universities.Texas: Yesterday afternoon Dr. Yunhai Li, a researcher at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was formally charged with stealing roughly 90gb of research material. Li was arrested on Friday before attempting to board a flight to China, after uploading the stolen research data to a Chinese government cloud storage platform. Li had personally been granted both NIH and Department of Defense grants to conduct undisclosed research.Maryland: The first human case of New World Screwworm was reported by the CDC yesterday afternoon, which was contracted by a person who traveled to El Salvador. The USDA has stated that this case doesn't pose any threat to livestock at present, however a 20-mile surveillance zone has been established around the individual's location as a precaution.California: More details have come to light regarding a car fire that was reported at the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka over the weekend. Local authorities have stated that a man drove his vehicle onto the lawn of the courthouse, before setting the car on fire.Analyst Comment: So far, this incident appears to be an elaborate form of protest, though at present no clear ideology could be discerned from the evidence at the scene. Some people report that they saw various messages written in chalk on the sidewalk, and that hand-written papers were found scattered about the scene. All of this points to this being more of a mental health incident than anything else at this time.North Carolina: The victim of a murder on the Blue Line rail system in Charlotte has been identified as Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee. Zarutska was stabbed to death on the train by Decarlos Brown Jr. on Friday night.Mi

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a relatively new type of medicine for breast cancer. Enhertu (chemical name: fam-trastuzumab-deruxtecan-nxki) and Dato-DXd (brand name: Datroway) are two ADCs used to treat breast cancer. Dr Benjamin Schrank and colleagues have developed a new type of ADC that combines an antibody with a toxin — called an antibody-toxin conjugate — that teaches the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Schrank explain: the antibody and the toxin component of the medicine how the new medicine works possible side effects next steps for the research Episode image photo credit: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr Shannon Westin from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston discusses recent updates on available and novel treatment strategies for ovarian and endometrial cancer. CME information and select publications here.

This week on The Beat, CTSNet Editor-in-Chief Joel Dunning speaks with Dr. Mara Antonoff, Associate Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and Program Director for Education at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and President of Women in Thoracic Surgery, about chest tubes. Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:21 JANS 1, Ross Long-Term Outcomes 04:12 JANS 2, Valve Replacement Pregnancy 07:09 JANS 3, Bronchopleural Fistula 09:36 JANS 4, AUTHEARTVISIT Study 11:51 Career Center 13:56 Video 1, Bicuspid AVR & AAR 16:15 Video 2, Cold Head-Warm Body Perfusion 19:00 Video 3, Dr. Kappetein Podcast 20:23 Dr. Antonoff Interview, Chest Tube Management 38:45 Closing They discuss single chest tube vs double chest tube, the benefits of single chest tubes, and various chest tube sizes. They also explore reducing chest drain pain, stitching the chest tube, and chest tube output thresholds for removal. Additionally, they cover drain removal, air leaks, and clamping.   Joel also highlights recent JANS articles on whether the Ross procedure in young adults delivers favorable long-term clinical and QOL outcomes, a literature review including new data from the registry of pregnancy and cardiac disease III regarding valve replacement during pregnancy, a multi-institutional analysis of the treatment outcomes and prognostic factors in the ESSG-01 study, and the choice of surgical aortic valve replacement type and midterm outcomes in 50 to 65-year-olds.   In addition, Joel explores bicuspid aortic valve repair and ascending aorta replacement, a guide to isolated cerebral perfusion using two bypass circuits, and an episode of The Atrium podcast featuring host Dr. Alice Copperwheat speaking with Professor Pieter Kappetein about the future of revascularization. Before closing, Joel highlights upcoming events in CT surgery.    JANS Items Mentioned  1.) Ross Procedure in Young Adults Delivers Favorable Long-Term Clinical and QOL Outcomes  2.) Valve Replacement During Pregnancy: Literature Review Including New Data From the Registry of Pregnancy and Cardiac Disease III  3.) Bronchopleural Fistula: A Multi-Institutional Analysis of the Treatment Outcomes and Prognostic Factors in the ESSG-01 Study   4.) The Choice of Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement Type and Mid-Term Outcomes in 50 to 65-Year-Olds: Results of the AUTHEARTVISIT Study   CTSNET Content Mentioned  1.) Bicuspid Aortic Valve Repair and Ascending Aorta Replacement   2.) Cold Head-Warm Body Perfusion: A Guide to Isolated Cerebral Perfusion Using Two Bypass Circuits  3.) The Atrium: The Future of Revascularization   Other Items Mentioned  1.) Guest Editor Series: Insights Into Pediatric Mechanical Circulatory Support  2.) Cardiac Surgical Arrest—An International Conversation Series    3.) Career Center   4.) CTSNet Events Calendar  Disclaimer The information and views presented on CTSNet.org represent the views of the authors and contributors of the material and not of CTSNet. Please review our full disclaimer page here.

At the 2025 Kidney Cancer Research Summit hosted by KidneyCAN, CancerNetwork® spoke with a variety of leading experts about key developments in the research and management of kidney cancer. Throughout the meeting, presenters shared their findings related to updated clinical trial results, personalized cancer vaccines, potential biomarkers of interest, and other advancements in the field. Thomas Powles, MBBS, MCRP, MD, discussed outcomes from a quality-adjusted survival time without symptoms or toxicity (Q-TWiST) analysis of the phase 3 LITESPARK-005 trial (NCT04195750), in which investigators evaluated treatment with belzutifan (Welireg) vs everolimus (Afinitor) among patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Powles, a professor of genitourinary oncology, lead for Solid Tumor Research, and director of Barts Cancer Institute at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Queen Mary University of London, stated that these data demonstrate how belzutifan is more active and better tolerated than everolimus in this patient population. David A. Braun, MD, PhD, assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine and member of the Center of Molecular and Cellular Oncology within the Yale Cancer Center, detailed his presentation on a personalized neoantigen cancer vaccine as a treatment for those with RCC. Based on his presentation, Braun highlighted how neoantigen vaccines may effectively yield T-cell responses in patients, illustrating a need for additional, larger studies to elucidate the clinical activity of this modality in an adjuvant setting. Additionally, Wenxin (Vincent) Xu, MD, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, spoke about his presentation on how kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) may serve as a prognostic biomarker of response to therapy in patients with RCC. His research posed questions on how KIM-1 can inform the use of adjuvant therapy or specific therapeutic combinations like nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) for this patient population. Eric Jonasch, MD, gave an overview of his presentation focused on the Kidney Cancer Research Consortium, a research partnership spanning 7 institutions dedicated to facilitating mechanistic, hypothesis-testing clinical trials in RCC. Jonasch, a professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology of the Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, described how this collaboration aims to link identifiable biological characteristics of RCC subtypes to specific treatment strategies while developing predictive biomarkers. KidneyCAN is a nonprofit organization with a mission to accelerate cures for kidney cancer through education, advocacy, and research funding. You can learn more about KidneyCAN's work here: https://kidneycan.org/ References 1. Powles T, de Velasco G, Choueiri TK, et al. Quality-adjusted time without symptoms or toxicity (Q-TWiST) analysis of belzutifan versus everolimus in previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC): LITESPARK-005 (LS-005). Presented at the 2025 Kidney Cancer Research Summit; July 17-18, 2025; Boston, MA. Abstract 13. 2. Braun DA. Personalized vaccines in kidney cancer: a journey from concept to clinic. Presented at the 2025 Kidney Cancer Research Summit; July 17-18, 2025; Boston, MA. 3. Xu W. From bench to bedside: advancing KIM-1 as a tool for clinical decision-making. Presented at the 2025 Kidney Cancer Research Summit; July 17-18, 2025; Boston, MA. 4. Jonasch E. Building the infrastructure for discovery: a clinical trial consortium to accelerate kidney cancer research. Presented at the 2025 Kidney Cancer Research Summit; July 17-18, 2025; Boston, MA.

Cancer, Character, and Calling: The Oncologist's Journey, hosted by Girindra Raval, MD, is a podcast highlighting how top oncologists have navigated the field over the course of their careers, the passion that drove them to enter the oncology space, and the ongoing work that will continue to transform cancer care. Each episode, Raval will welcome a top oncologist to dive into their background, highlight their career achievements, discuss key issues still being addressed in their fields, and explore their interests outside of the clinic and lab. In this episode, Raval welcomed Jorge Cortes, MD, who is director of the Georgia Cancer Center and a professor in the Department of Medicine at Augusta University. Raval is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine: Hematology and Oncology at the Medical College of Georgia of Augusta University. In their conversation, Raval and Cortes dived into Cortes' upbringing in Mexico, his family life, and his experience earning his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City. They also spoke about Cortes' work during his 27-year tenure at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he served as a professor of medicine, deputy department chair, chair of the acute myeloid leukemia and chronic myeloid leukemia sections, and deputy division chair, among other roles. Cortes detailed how that experience facilitated long-lasting collaborations and friendships. He then touched on his goals as director of the Georgia Cancer Center since taking over the role in 2019 and explained how it felt to leave MD Anderson after nearly 3 decades. Raval and Cortes also discussed how the hematologic oncology field has evolved during Cortes' career and how he expects the management of these malignancies as ongoing research continues. Cortes also highlighted his goals as director of the Georgia Cancer Center. 

In today's episode, we had the opportunity to speak with Henry M. Kuerer, MD, PhD, FACS, CMQ, about the potential to safely omit surgery in a subset of patients with early-stage HER2-positive or triple-negative breast cancer who achieve a pathologic complete response (pCR) following neoadjuvant systemic therapy. Dr Kuerer is a professor of breast surgical oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. In our conversation, Dr Kuerer reviewed the rationale behind a prospective phase 2 clinical trial (NCT02945579) testing image-guided vacuum-assisted core biopsy to identify patients with no residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy. He outlined the strict technical and eligibility criteria that enabled accurate detection of pCR—including tumors downsizing to less than 2 cm and biopsy of at least 12 cores from the tumor bed—and discussed why this biopsy-based approach may be more reliable than standard surgery in detecting residual disease. He also highlighted the broader clinical implications of the findings, noting that patients with biopsy-confirmed pCR may proceed directly to radiotherapy and avoid breast surgery altogether.

Dr Haley Ellis from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Dr Christopher Lieu from the University of Colorado Cancer Center in Aurora, Dr Sara Lonardi from the Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV-IRCCS in Padua, Italy, and Dr Kanwal Raghav from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston discuss patient cases and provide their perspectives on clinical datasets informing the care of patients with HER2-positive gastrointestinal cancer.  CME information and select publications here.

Dr Haley Ellis from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Dr Christopher Lieu from the University of Colorado Cancer Center in Aurora, Dr Sara Lonardi from the Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV-IRCCS in Padua, Italy, and Dr Kanwal Raghav from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston discuss patient cases and provide their perspectives on clinical datasets informing the care of patients with HER2-positive gastrointestinal cancer.  CME information and select publications here.

Dr Haley Ellis from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Dr Christopher Lieu from the University of Colorado Cancer Center in Aurora, Dr Sara Lonardi from the Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV-IRCCS in Padua, Italy, and Dr Kanwal Raghav from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston discuss patient cases and provide their perspectives on clinical datasets informing the care of patients with HER2-positive gastrointestinal cancer.  CME information and select publications here.

Dr Jeremy Abramson from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Dr Joshua Brody from the Tisch Cancer Institute in New York, New York, Dr Christopher Flowers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Dr Ann LaCasce from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and Dr Tycel Phillips from City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California, discuss patient cases and provide their perspectives on clinical datasets informing the care of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. CME information and select publications here.

In the corner of the ICU, on multiple pressors, distended, oliguric, and intubated you'll find the necrotizing pancreatitis patient. Sounds intimidating, but with the persistence, patience, and the proper care these patients can make it! In this episode from the HPB team at Behind the Knife listen in as we discuss the Step-Up approach, when to surgically intervene, various approaches to pancreatic Necrosectomy, and additional aspects of the multidisciplinary care required for the successful treatment of necrotizing pancreatitis.  Hosts Anish J. Jain MD (@anishjayjain) is a current PGY3 General Surgery Resident at Stanford University and a former T32 Research Fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Jon M. Harrison is a 2nd year HPB Surgery Fellow at Stanford University. He will be joining as faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA at the conclusion of his fellowship in July 2024.    Learning Objectives ·      Develop an understanding of the severity of necrotizing pancreatitis and the proper indications to surgical intervene on this often-tenuous patients.  ·      Develop an understanding of the Step-Up approach and key aspects (reimaging, clinical status, physiologic status, etc.) that determine when to “step-up” treatment for patients with necrotizing pancreatitis. ·      Develop an understanding of long term sequalae and complications associated with necrotizing pancreatitis and operative management ·      Develop an understanding of multidisciplinary care and long-term follow-up necessary for adequate treatment of patients suffering from necrotizing pancreatitis. Suggested Reading Maurer LR, Fagenholz PJ. Contemporary Surgical Management of Pancreatic Necrosis. JAMA Surg. 2023;158(1):81–88. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2022.5695 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36383374/ Harrison JM, Day H, Arnow K, Ngongoni RF, Joseph A, Aldridge T, Wheeler KJ, DeLong JC, Bergquist JR, Worth PJ, Dua MM, Friedland S, Park W, Eldika S, Hwang JH, Visser BC. What's Behind it all: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Retrogastric Pancreatic Necrosis Management. Ann Surg. 2024 Sep 3. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000006521. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39225420/ Harrison JM, Visser BC. Not Dead Yet: Managing the Abdominal Catastrophe in Necrotizing Pancreatitis. Pancreas. 2025 May 20. doi: 10.1097/MPA.0000000000002512. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40388698/ Harrison JM, Li AY, Sceats LA, Bergquist JR, Dua MM, Visser BC. Two-Port Minimally Invasive Nephrolaparoscopic Retroperitoneal Debridement for Pancreatic Necrosis. J Am Coll Surg. 2024 Dec 1;239(6):e7-e12. doi: 10.1097/XCS.0000000000001152. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39051721/ van Santvoort HC, Besselink MG, Bakker OJ, Hofker HS, Boermeester MA, Dejong CH, van Goor H, Schaapherder AF, van Eijck CH, Bollen TL, van Ramshorst B, Nieuwenhuijs VB, Timmer R, Laméris JS, Kruyt PM, Manusama ER, van der Harst E, van der Schelling GP, Karsten T, Hesselink EJ, van Laarhoven CJ, Rosman C, Bosscha K, de Wit RJ, Houdijk AP, van Leeuwen MS, Buskens E, Gooszen HG; Dutch Pancreatitis Study Group. A step-up approach or open necrosectomy for necrotizing pancreatitis. N Engl J Med. 2010 Apr 22;362(16):1491-502. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0908821. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20410514/ Bang JY, Arnoletti JP, Holt BA, Sutton B, Hasan MK, Navaneethan U, Feranec N, Wilcox CM, Tharian B, Hawes RH, Varadarajulu S. An Endoscopic Transluminal Approach, Compared With Minimally Invasive Surgery, Reduces Complications and Costs for Patients With Necrotizing Pancreatitis. Gastroenterology. 2019 Mar;156(4):1027-1040.e3. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2018.11.031. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30452918/ Zyromski NJ, Nakeeb A, House MG, Jester AL. Transgastric Pancreatic Necrosectomy: How I Do It. J Gastrointest Surg. 2016 Feb;20(2):445-9. doi: 10.1007/s11605-015-3058-y. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26691148/ Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.   If you liked this episode, check out our recent episodes here: https://app.behindtheknife.org/listen

The medical oncology board examinations are a pivotal time in a clinician's career. However, preparing for and taking this exam comes as a crucial moment when residents/fellows begin their transition to attending.  While in theory, the process of taking an exam and then beginning a new job sounds simple, it is quite complex. The hematology/oncology boards require rigorous preparation. The exam is followed by the new attending position, where clinicians, for the first time, are on their own, making treatment decisions and leading a team.  ONCOLOGY® spoke with leading clinicians as well as those who are just beginning their careers about this time, and how they handled studying while experiencing personal and professional changes. Eric K. Singhi, MD, assistant professor in the Department of General Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, and assistant professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, focused on: ·      His transition from fellow to attending (0:58) ·      Where students should focus their efforts on studying (2:11) ·      Advice he would give to those currently studying (2:47) Nicholas James Hornstein, MD, PhD, assistant professor at Northwell Health Cancer Institute, discussed:  ·      Studying for the boards while balancing a new career (3:18) ·      Specific study areas the exam focuses on (5:43) Marc J. Braunstein, MD, associate professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, fellowship program director in hematology/oncology at NYU Langone Health - Long Island, and codirector of the Hematology-Oncology System at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, highlighted: ·      How to prepare fellows for the career transition (7:11) ·      Advice he gives about this transition (8:17) Nerea M. Lopetegui-Lia, MD, assistant professor in the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-The James, spoke about: ·      Best review practices for the exam (9:01) ·      Advice she would give to those studying (10:15) MinhTri Nguyen, MD, a medical oncologist with Stanford Medicine, focused on:  ·      As a leadership coach, helping prepare residents/fellows for the career transition (11:36) ·      Advice he would give to those studying (14:34)

Dr Andrea Cercek from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York, Dr Arvind Dasari from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Dr Pashtoon Kasi from City of Hope Orange County in Irvine, California, Prof Eric Van Cutsem from University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium, and Dr J Randolph Hecht from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine in Santa Monica, California, discuss recent updates on available and novel treatment strategies for colorectal cancer. CME information and select publications here.

Dr Andrea Cercek from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York, Dr Arvind Dasari from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Dr Pashtoon Kasi from City of Hope Orange County in Irvine, California, Prof Eric Van Cutsem from University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium, and Dr J Randolph Hecht from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine in Santa Monica, California, discuss recent updates on available and novel treatment strategies for colorectal cancer. CME information and select publications here.

Dr Andrea Cercek from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York, Dr Arvind Dasari from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Dr Pashtoon Kasi from City of Hope Orange County in Irvine, California, Prof Eric Van Cutsem from University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium, and Dr J Randolph Hecht from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine in Santa Monica, California, discuss recent updates on available and novel treatment strategies for colorectal cancer. CME information and select publications here.

Prof Meletios-Athanasios (Thanos) C Dimopoulos from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Alexandra Hospital in Athens, Greece, and Dr Robert Z Orlowski from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, provide their perspectives on relevant new clinical data in multiple myeloma and their application to disease treatment. CME information and select publications here.

In today's episode, we spoke with Naval Daver, MD, about the evolving role of menin inhibition in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and emerging data with revumenib (Revuforj) presented across ongoing clinical trials. Dr Daver is a professor in the Department of Leukemia and director of the Leukemia Research Alliance Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Sandberg is Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Neurosurgery and is the Dr. Marnie Rose Professor of Pediatric Neurosurgery at McGovern Medical School/UT Health. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed neurosurgery residency training at Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He was awarded the Resident Traveling Fellowship in Pediatric Neurosurgery by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He completed this fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. After residency, he completed fellowship training in pediatric neurosurgery at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. After 8 years on the faculty of the Miller School of Medicine of the University of Miami and Miami Children's Hospital, he moved to Houston to become the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the McGovern School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He holds a joint faculty appointment at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he is co-director of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Program. His major research interest involves novel delivery methods to treat malignant brain tumors in children.

Ahead of the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, CancerNetwork® spoke with a variety of oncology experts about the late-breaking abstracts, plenary sessions, and other key presentations that may shift the paradigm across different cancer care fields. They highlighted anticipated clinical trial results that may transform the standard of care for gynecologic malignancies, lung cancer, and other disease types. Rachel N. Grisham, MD, section head of Ovarian Cancer and director of Gynecologic Medical Oncology at MSK Westchester of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, shared her anticipation of findings from the phase 3 ROSELLA trial (NCT05257408) assessing relacorilant plus nab-paclitaxel in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. She stated she was excited to see if the data may represent a new opportunity for this patient population. Next, MinhTri Nguyen, MD, a medical oncologist and hematologist at Stanford Health Care, highlighted a few breast cancer presentations to look out for. These topics included a plenary session on data from the phase 3 SERENA-6 study (NCT04964934) evaluating camizestrant in combination with CDK4/6 inhibitors for those with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer harboring emergent ESR1 mutations. Additionally, Eric K. Singhi, MD, assistant professor in the Department of General Oncology in the Division of Cancer Medicine, and assistant professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, spoke about a range of potentially practice-changing results in the lung cancer field. For example, he described a session focused on primary results of the phase 3 IMforte trial (NCT05091567) assessing lurbinectedin (Zepzelca) plus atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for those with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). According to Singhi, data from IMforte may shift the paradigm of maintenance therapy for this SCLC population. In the world of head and neck cancer, Douglas R. Adkins, MD, associate professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Oncology, Section of Medical Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, highlighted the session on the phase 3 NIVOPOSTOP GORTEC 2018-01 trial (NCT03576417). Investigators of this study evaluated nivolumab (Opdivo) in combination with chemoradiotherapy for those with resected head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Adkins noted his excitement to see how these data may impact the standard of care, particularly for patients in Europe, where investigators conducted the study. As part of an Oncology Decoded discussion, Benjamin Garmezy, MD, the associate director of genitourinary research and executive cochair of the Genitourinary Cancer Research Executive Committee at Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI) and medical oncologist at SCRI Oncology Partners specializing in genitourinary cancers, discussed key abstracts in bladder cancer. One specific presentation included additional findings from the phase 3 NIAGARA trial (NCT03732677), which may show how circulating tumor DNA can influence treatment decision-making regarding perioperative durvalumab (Imfinzi) for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Dr. Jennifer Wargo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and a Stand Up To Cancer researcher. Jennifer is a physician scientist, and this means she splits her time between providing care to patients and doing research to find better ways of treating disease. Specifically, Jennifer performs surgeries and treats patients one day each week. She spends the rest of her week studying how to better treat patients with cancer and how cancer may ultimately be prevented. When she's not doing research or treating patients, Jennifer enjoys spending quality time with her family. Some of their favorite activities include going for walks, biking, hiking, and visiting the beach. Jennifer also likes to explore her creative side through art and photography, as well as to be active through running, biking, yoga, and surfing. She received her A.S. degree in nursing and B.S. degree in biology from Gwynedd-Mercy College. Afterwards, Jennifer attended the Medical College of Pennsylvania where she earned her M.D. Jennifer completed her Clinical Internship and Residency in General Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. Next, Jennifer was a Research Fellow in Surgical Oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She then accepted a Clinical Residency in General Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. From 2006-2008, Jennifer was a Clinical Fellow in Surgical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. She then served on the faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University. In 2012, Jennifer received her MMSc. degree in Medical Science from Harvard University. Jennifer joined the faculty at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2013. She is Board Certified by the American Board of Surgery, and she has received numerous awards and honors throughout her career. These have included the R. Lee Clark Prize and Best Boss Award from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Rising STARS and The Regents' Health Research Scholars Awards from the University of Texas System, the Outstanding Young Investigator and Outstanding Investigator Awards from the Society for Melanoma Research, as well as a Stand Up To Cancer Innovative Research Grant for her microbiome work. She has also received other awards for excellence in teaching, research, and patient care. In our interview, Jennifer shares more about her life and science.

In today's episode, we spoke with Shubham Pant, MD, MBBS, and Professor Timothy Elliott, about ongoing research with cancer vaccines. Dr Pant is a professor in the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology in the Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr Elliott is the Kidani Professor of Immuno-oncology in the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. In our exclusive interview, Pant and Elliott discussed the current landscape of vaccines for cancer treatment, ongoing research seeking to extend the benefits of vaccines as cancer management and prevention strategies, and what the future may hold.

"Microbiome" is a buzzword these days--but many people don't know what it means. As we re-assess the lasting impact diet may have on our health, researchers are examining the role of gut health as possible causes for the dramatic uptick in colorectal cancer in young people. Katie Couric, founder of Katie Couric Media and Stand Up To Cancer, hosts an expert-led panel including Dr. Nancy You, a surgeon and director of the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Program at MD Anderson, Dr. Susan Bullman–an Associate Professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Julie Smolyansky, CEO of Lifeway Foods, to discuss the impact of diet on the gut microbiome.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Tiffany Richards from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston discusses the current and emerging role of bispecific antibodies in the treatment of multiple myeloma.NCPD information and select publications here.

Dr Tiffany Richards from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston discusses the current and emerging role of bispecific antibodies in the treatment of multiple myeloma.NCPD information and select publications here.

In today's episode, supported by Summit Therapeutics, we had the pleasure of speaking with Xiuning Le, MD, PhD, about the use of ivonescimab (SMT112) in patients with PD-L1–positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Dr Le is an associate professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology in the Division of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The phase 3 HARMONi-2 trial (NCT05499390) investigated ivonescimab vs pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with locally advanced or metastatic, PD-L1–positive NSCLC without sensitizing EGFR mutations or ALK translocations. At the preplanned interim analysis, at a median follow-up of 8.7 months (IQR, 7.1-10.3), the median progression-free survival was significantly longer in the ivonescimab arm (n = 198) vs the pembrolizumab arm (n = 200), at 11.1 months (95% CI, 7.3-not estimable) vs 5.8 months (95% CI, 5.0-8.2), respectively (stratified HR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.38-0.69; 1-sided P < .0001). The objective response rates were 50% (95% CI, 43%-57%) and 39% (95% CI, 32%-46%) in these respective arms. In our exclusive interview, Dr Le discussed the rationale for the HARMONi-2 trial, key findings from the study, and where these findings position the potential role of ivonescimab in the PD-L1–positive NSCLC treatment paradigm.

In today's episode, supported by Takeda, we had the pleasure of speaking with Ibrahim T. Aldoss, MD, and Elias Jabbour, MD, about the use of ponatinib (Iclusig) monotherapy after combination chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome–positive (Ph)–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Dr Aldoss is an associate professor in the Division of Leukemia in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope in Duarte, California. Jabbour is a professor in the Department of Leukemia in the Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In our exclusive interview, Drs Aldoss and Jabbour discussed findings from a post hoc subgroup analysis of the phase 3 PhALLCON trial (NCT03589326) that support the use of ponatinib monotherapy following combination treatment with a TKI plus chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed Ph-positive ALL, safety considerations when using ponatinib in this patient population, and how findings from this subgroup analysis may affect transplantation rates in this disease.

Chronic myeloid leukemia is a myeloproliferative neoplasm that affects approximately 5 million people worldwide. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors, such as imatinib, have substantially improved survival in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. In this podcast, author Elias J. Jabbour, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses diagnosis and treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia with JAMA Deputy Editor Mary McDermott, MD. Related Content: Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Dr Scott Kopetz from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Dr Jeffrey Meyerhardt from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston summarize the most clinically relevant research findings and data presented over the past year for patients with colorectal cancer. CME information and select publications here.

Dr Scott Kopetz from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Dr Jeffrey Meyerhardt from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston summarize the most clinically relevant research findings and data presented over the past year for patients with colorectal cancer. CME information and select publications here.

Send us a textWelcome to our Season 10 opening episode! Today we're discussing some of the big updates in metastatic breast cancer research from the 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). Joining us today is Dr. Debu Tripathy, breast oncologist at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center who will break down into understandable terms some of the most impactful findings shared at SABCS, from advances in endocrine therapy and HER2-targeted treatments to exciting developments in PI3K inhibition and nausea control. 

In the second episode of A Deep Dive into HRD Testing in Ovarian Cancer, a three-part podcast series sponsored by AstraZeneca, we're speaking with Dr. Erin Crane who will highlight how HRD testing provides helpful information to ovarian cancer patients.   Erin K. Crane, MD, MPH, is a gynecologic oncologist with Atrium Health Levine Cancer in Charlotte, North Carolina. A graduate of the SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY, Dr. Crane completed her residency at the University of Virginia and a fellowship at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Gynecologic Oncology. She is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Gynecologic Oncology and Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Crane is a Clinical Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.   For more information, visit https://www.azprecisionmed.com/tumor-type/ovarian-cancer/hrd-testing.html For patient resources, please visit TestForHRD.com.   This podcast does not necessarily reflect the opinions of AstraZeneca and are the spokesperson's opinions and experience.

In this episode of the Award-winning PRS Journal Club Podcast, 2025 Resident Ambassadors to the PRS Editorial Board – Christopher Kalmar, Ilana Margulies, and Amanda Sergesketter- and special guest, Edward I. Chang, MD, discuss the following articles from the February 2025 issue: “Avoiding Patient Abandonment: A Pathway to Ethical Resolution in Situations of Untenable Patient–Surgeon Relationships” Prescher, Gudex, Mauch, and Vercler. Read the article for FREE: https://bit.ly/EthicalMngmnt Special guest, Edward I. Chang, MD, who is a board-certified plastic surgeon and Professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Chang trained at the University of California San Francisco for plastic surgery residency, followed by a fellowship in microvascular reconstructive surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He was the 2024 ASRM Godina Fellow, currently serves on the editorial board of PRS Journal, and is widely published in reconstructive microsurgery. READ the articles discussed in this podcast as well as free related content: https://bit.ly/JCFeb25Collection

In this episode of the Award-winning PRS Journal Club Podcast, 2025 Resident Ambassadors to the PRS Editorial Board – Christopher Kalmar, Ilana Margulies, and Amanda Sergesketter- and special guest, Edward I. Chang, MD, discuss the following articles from the February 2025 issue: “Reliability and Safety of the Superthin Anterolateral Thigh Flap: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Perfusion-Related Complications and Donor-Site Morbidity” by Yoo, Kim, and Lee. Read the article for FREE: https://bit.ly/SuperthinALT Special guest, Edward I. Chang, MD, who is a board-certified plastic surgeon and Professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Chang trained at the University of California San Francisco for plastic surgery residency, followed by a fellowship in microvascular reconstructive surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He was the 2024 ASRM Godina Fellow, currently serves on the editorial board of PRS Journal, and is widely published in reconstructive microsurgery. READ the articles discussed in this podcast as well as free related content: https://bit.ly/JCFeb25Collection

In today's episode, supported by Takeda, we had the pleasure of speaking with Mark B. Geyer, MD, and Elias Jabbour, MD, about updates in the management of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Dr Geyer is the Adolescent and Young Adult Program leader and the Adult Lymphoblastic Leukemia Program leader in the Leukemia Service, as well as the chair of Quality Assessment in the Cellular Therapy Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York. Dr Jabbour is a professor in the Department of Leukemia in the Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In our exclusive interview, Drs Geyer and Jabbour discussed the use of ponatinib (Iclusig) in patients with Ph-positive ALL as evidenced by key findings from research such as the pivotal phase 3 PhALLCON trial (NCT03589326). They also highlighted the potential efficacy of this agent in combination with blinatumomab (Blincyto) and shared insights on how the safety profile of this agent affects its clinical use.

In this episode of the Award-winning PRS Journal Club Podcast, 2025 Resident Ambassadors to the PRS Editorial Board – Christopher Kalmar, Ilana Margulies, and Amanda Sergesketter- and special guest, Edward I. Chang, MD, discuss the following articles from the February 2025 issue: “Contralateral Autologous Augmentation in DIEP Flap Reconstruction: Employing Computed Tomography Angiography and Volumetric Analysis for Preoperative Planning” by Hespe, Sugg, Stein, et al. Read the article for FREE: https://bit.ly/CTAugPlanning Special guest, Edward I. Chang, MD, who is a board-certified plastic surgeon and Professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Chang trained at the University of California San Francisco for plastic surgery residency, followed by a fellowship in microvascular reconstructive surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He was the 2024 ASRM Godina Fellow, currently serves on the editorial board of PRS Journal, and is widely published in reconstructive microsurgery. READ the articles discussed in this podcast as well as free related content: https://bit.ly/JCFeb25Collection  

Earlier this month, then U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for alcoholic beverages to feature cancer-warning labels similar to the ones on packs of cigarettes. Dr. Ernest Hawk is vice president and head of the division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and holds the T. Boone Pickens Distinguished Chair for Early Prevention of Cancer. He talks with host Krys Boyd about the ways alcohol causes cancer and what your risk might be. And later in the hour, Isabella Cueto, who covers chronic disease for Stat, talks about the fight the alcohol lobby is waging to stop this idea. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Among patients with colorectal cancer and synchronous liver metastases, the subgroup with a primary cancer in the rectum is especially challenging. Compared with colon cancer, most patients with stage IV rectal cancer will have locally advanced primary tumors at increased risk for obstructive and/or post-operative complications resulting in delays in systemic therapy. In this episode from the HPB team at Behind the Knife, listen in on the discussion about treatment sequencing for synchronous liver metastasis from rectal cancer Hosts Anish J. Jain MD (@anishjayjain) is a current PGY3 General Surgery Resident at Stanford University and a former T32 Research Fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Timothy E. Newhook MD, FACS (@timnewhook19) is an Assistant Professor within the Department of Surgical Oncology. He is also the associate program director of the HPB fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.  Jean-Nicolas Vauthey MD, FACS (@VautheyMD) is Professor of Surgery and Chief of the HPB Section, as well as the Dallas/Fort Worth Living Legend Chair of Cancer Research in the Department of Surgical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learning Objectives ·      Develop an understanding of the three treatment sequences for resection of disease in patients with synchronous liver metastasis from a primary rectal cancer (reverse, combined, and classic approach) ·      Develop an understanding of the benefits, risks, and nuances of each of the three treatment sequences ·      Develop an understanding of which patient cases each treatment sequence is ideal for as well as which cases they are not suitable for. Papers Referenced (in the order they were mentioned in the episode): 1)    Conrad C, Vauthey JN, Masayuki O, et al. Individualized Treatment Sequencing Selection Contributes to Optimized Survival in Patients with Rectal Cancer and Synchronous Liver Metastases. Ann Surg Oncol. 2017 Dec;24(13):3857-3864.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28929463/ 2)    Maki H, Ayabe RI, Nishioka Y, et al. Hepatectomy Before Primary Tumor Resection as Preferred Approach for Synchronous Liver Metastases from Rectal Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2023 Sep;30(9):5390-5400. doi: 10.1245/s10434-023-13656-4. Epub 2023 Jun 7. Erratum in: Ann Surg Oncol. 2023 Sep;30(9):5405. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37285096/ Additional Suggested Reading Mentha G, Majno PE, Andres A, Rubbia-Brandt L, Morel P, Roth AD. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and resection of advanced synchronous liver metastases before treatment of the colorectal primary. Br J Surg. 2006 Jul;93(7):872-8.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16671066/ Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.   If you liked this episode, check out our recent episodes here: https://app.behindtheknife.org/listen

The pancreatic anastomosis is often regarded as the “Achilles Heel” of the Whipple operation, as technical failure and leakage is a significant source of perioperative morbidity and mortality. In this episode from the HPB team at Behind the Knife listen in as we discuss the standard techniques for the anastomosis, alternative techniques for the pancreatic anastomosis in patients with aberrant anatomy and/or physiology, key factors to consider when selecting the ideal approach/technique for the anastomosis, and mitigation strategies for leaks.  Hosts Anish J. Jain MD (@anishjayjain) is a current PGY3 General Surgery Resident at Stanford University and a former T32 Research Fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Jon M. Harrison is a 2nd year HPB Surgery Fellow at Stanford University. He previously completed his general surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, and will be returning to MGH as faculty at the conclusion of his fellowship.    Monica M. Dua (@MonicaDuaMD) is a Clinical Professor of Surgery and the Associate Program Director of the HPB Surgery Fellowship at Stanford University. She also serves as also serves as the regional HPB Surgeon at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Learning Objectives · Develop an understanding of the standard technical approaches to the pancreatic anastomosis during a Whipple (pancreatoduodenectomy) operation · Develop an understanding of the alternative technical approaches to the pancreatic anastomosis during the Whipple when the standard approaches may not be feasible · Develop an understanding of the key anatomic and physiologic factors in the decision making when selecting the optimal approach for the pancreatic anastomosis · Develop an understanding of possible mitigation strategies in the event of a pancreatic anastomotic leak. Suggested Reading Jon Harrison, Monica M. Dua, William V. Kastrinakis, Peter J. Fagenholz, Carlos Fernandez-del Castillo, Keith D. Lillemoe, George A. Poultsides, Brendan C. Visser, Motaz Qadan. “Duct tape:” Management strategies for the pancreatic anastomosis during pancreatoduodenectomy. Surgery. Volume 176, Issue 4, 2024, Pages 1308-1311, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38796390/ Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.   If you liked this episode, check out our recent episodes here: https://app.behindtheknife.org/listen