WVU Medicine Urology, WVU Cancer Institute First in State To Perform Single-Port Kidney Surgery
Ali Hajiran, M.D., WVU Cancer Institute Urologic Oncology chief, demonstrates the single-port procedure.
WVU Medicine Urologic Oncology surgeons at the WVU Cancer Institute recently became the first in the state to perform a single-port partial nephrectomy. The Institute is one of 130 facilities in the United States to implement the single-port robot platform, and only 140 urologists are certified to use this cutting-edge surgical system.
The new single-port robotic surgical system allows surgeons to insert robot-assisted instruments into the extraperitoneal space, a small, compartmentalized space within the pelvis and back, using only one or two incisions and avoid the abdominal cavity completely. This expands options for patients who are not candidates for open or multiple port procedures due to scarring from prior abdominal surgeries, obesity, or heart or lung conditions. WVU Medicine surgeons are also using the system to perform single port radical prostatectomy procedures for prostate cancer, performing as many as two-to-four surgeries per week.
Harnessing Research Insights, Close to Home: West Virginia University Cancer Institute Hosts the Fifth Annual Great Lakes Breast Cancer Research Symposium
Known for providing great care, close to home, the West Virginia University Cancer Institute (WVUCI) expanded its mission to harnessing research insights close to home when it hosted the fifth annual Great Lakes Breast Cancer Research Symposium (GLBCRS) in Morgantown from Sept.10-12, 2023.
One hundred and seventy-seven people attended the symposium, representing institutions including WVUCI, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case Western Reserve University), The James (The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center), Rogel Cancer Center (University of Michigan Health), and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center (University of Pittsburgh).
Talks revolved around five themes: risk factors, outcomes, and survivorship; tumor cell biology; immune evasion and immuno-oncology; cancer biomarkers, response prediction, and prognosis; and molecularly-targeted diagnostics and therapeutics.
WVU Pharmacy Professor To Lead Groundbreaking Research With New $11.2 Million Grant
The West Virginia University School of Pharmacy will soon join the elite institutions championing biomedical research excellence. With a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the School is committed to groundbreaking interdisciplinary research, targeting, diagnosing and treating health issues. Dr. Paul Lockman, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the School’s senior associate dean of research, will lead the efforts as the principal investigator. Additionally, Dr. Lockman is the assistant vice president of Neuro-experimental Therapeutics.
NIH awarded WVU an additional $11.2 million to make the total Federal award from 2018-2028 over $22 million. These monies for the Center of Excellence will help WVU School of Pharmacy, School of Medicine and Cancer Institute researchers work together to investigate how tumors interact with hosts and potential treatments that attack them. The team hopes to develop new probes for tumor diagnosis and identify better ways to prevent and treat melanoma, pancreatic and bladder cancers. Additionally, it will focus on improving treatments for leukemia, as well as other blood cancers. “We hope this work will significantly impact the treatment of cancer in West Virginia and beyond,” said Lockman.
WVU Cancer Institute Recognizes Gynecologic Awareness Month
September is Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month. Every five minutes, a woman is diagnosed with gynecological cancer – cervical, ovarian, uterine/endometrial, vaginal, or vulvar. We are out to change that! A group from the WVU Cancer Institute in Morgantown wore purple on September, 11, to increase awareness and encourage early diagnosis of gynecological cancers.
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