The thin metal probe with the glowing red tip looked a little like a magic wand. To the patient on the operating table in the Barnes-Jewish Hospital neurosurgery ORs, it might well have been one.
The patient had a recurrent cancerous tumor deep within his brain. Previous surgeries and the hard-to-reach location made a standard operation to remove the tumor impossible. But rather than sending the patient home to get his affairs in order, as might have happened in the past, his Washington University surgeons offered surgery with the Monteris AutoLITT (Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy) system.
The system’s probe is inserted into the brain through a small burr hole the diameter of a pencil. Surgeons use an MRI to guide the probe through the brain into the tumor. Then, the probe discharges highly focused thermal energy into the tumor, “cooking” or coagulating the cancer cells and avoiding healthy brain tissue.
Patients are usually able to leave the hospital after a short stay.
“This tool gives us a treatment for patients with tumors that were previously deemed inoperable,” said Dr. Eric C. Leuthardt. “It offers hope to certain patients who had few or no options before.”
Dr. Leuthardt and Dr. Ralph G. Dacey, Jr., chief of neurosurgery at Washington University, performed the first operation
Neurosurgeon Eric Leuthardt, MD, readies the Monteris probe in the Barnes-Jewish neurosurgery ORs
with the Monteris system at Barnes-Jewish on Sept. 1.
I met with Kristin Schweain today as part of a series we’re putting together on Women and Infants.
She ”moved into” the hospital in early June due to having a high-risk pregnancy. She’s since made her room an extension of her home back in Jackson, MO – photos of loved ones, lots of pictures colored by her young daughter, books and other comfort items that can transform a hospital room into a safe and familiar haven.
She was one of those wonderful subjects that didn’t need prompting to tell her amazing story, and she did so in her own style. Throughout the interview there was laughter and a few near-tears as she related her journey to Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
She’s gotten to know lots of people at the hospital, such as nurses, housekeeping, food service and docs and says their thoughtful care and positive attitudes have made her stay at Barnes more than tolerable.
During the interview, she was outed as an award-winning musician by her doctor. Little did we know we were in the presence of such talent! Kristin used to be in a group called ZOEgirl, a Christian pop music group whose fan base were teenage girls. In 2002 they won a GMA Dove award for “New Artist Of The Year”. She’s now a solo artist who’s music is more piano focused – I’ve been playing it all afternoon and it’s phemomenal!
If you’d like to learn more about Kristin, she has a website where she shares information about herself, her music, and her life, and a MySpace page, on which you can listen to her new solo album, Days of Eden. She also has a personal blog where you can read about her stay with us at the hospital, and a CaringBridge site where she’s logging her days until her baby boy arrives.
We’re not ready to post the interview just yet, but wanted to let you know that this amazing story, among others, will be featured throughout the month of October. Kristin’s was just too positive of a story to keep under wraps that long!
Our Dr. Mark Halstead was a busy guy yesterday. Before he headed out to Rams Park in his role as one of the St. Louis Rams team docs, he did several interviews about a new study he participated in about concussions in young athletes. Something he says a lot of times would not get taken seriously.
“Up until about five years ago, athletes, coaches and parents just blew off these injuries as part of the game, but now people are paying more attention to them,” he told KMOX’s Fred Bodimer.
Dr. Halstead participated in a study in the journal Pediatrics that said childhood concussions have doubled, even as sports participation has gone down.
Concussions can have serious, long-lasting effects if they go unchecked. In an interview I did with Dr. Halstead a couple of years ago he told me the problem is, not everyone knows how to recognize the signs.
He says too often in football, young athletes think getting hit in the head is part of the game.
“That is not the case,” he says. ”A lot of times concussions may get overlooked, because even though the athlete thinks it might not affect their ability to perform in the field, in reality it probably does.”
Dr. Halstead is among a growing number of physicians using a computerized test to help diagnose the severity of concussions. Using a series of questions testing memory and recall of words and shapes, Dr. Halstead can more accurately diagnose the level of a concussion.
Still, doctors encourage parents and coaches to know concussion symptoms:
Loss of Consciousness (although most concussions don”t involve being “knocked out”)headache
When you see or hear the word “bill”, negative thoughts may come to mind – paying out, lower fundage in your checking account, hand over the cash. However, it can also have positive meaning, as in “a clean bill of health”. Here at Barnes-Jewish, these are the types of bills we love to give.
Last Friday, August 27th, Erica received some of the best news of her life. She had her 6 month checkup at the Siteman Cancer Center, and her mammogram results came back clean.
Clean, as in no sign of cancer.
Erica shares her journey through her blog, Faith, Family & Fitness, which is very worth reading. Here is a lovely snippet of that wonderful day:
“Sorry for the no-show yesterday guys! But I have a very good excuse…I was in STL getting some of best news a girl can get…
THAT MY 6 MONTH MAMMOGRAM CAME BACK CLEAN!!!! And I also had a chest x-ray to rule out anything weird due to my shortness of breath that I’ve been having…and the x-ray also showed nothing!“
Often an abdominal aortic aneurysm can go undetected for such a long period of time that it ruptures. When this happens, it can cause sudden onset of back and abdominal pain, or even shock due to the massive blood loss experienced by some patients.
Now, our vascular docs are well versed in treating “abdominal aortic aneurysms” or AAA. Our chief, Dr. Greg Sicard really built up the surgical treatment of AAA and now Barnes-Jewish and Washington University do around 200 aneurysm procedures annually. But they have a new way of treating it they are investigating called “fenestrated stenting.”
When Barbara Monsees, MD, chief of breast imaging at Siteman (and a breast cancer survivor), was being photographed for the piece with former Washington University surgeon Gordon Philpott, MD, she was presented with a gift as a surprise.
Drs. Monsees and Philpott designed the current Breast Health Center in the Center for Advanced Medicine in the late 1990’s, a period during which Monsees was diagnosed with breast cancer. Knowing how much creating the new center meant to Dr. Monsees, Susan Kraenzle, RN, the breast center manager presented a framed floor plan of the center to them at the photo shoot.
“Prior to the opening of the current center, patients had to go to separate areas for mammography or to visit with their surgeon,” says Dr. Monsees. “Gordon and I worked together to streamline the process by developing this center.”
Dr. Monsees will be one of eleven breast cancer survivors who will be featured in “Hopes and Dreams.” The gallery will be unveiled September 23 before finding a home in the Siteman Cancer Center.
Posted by Kristin 
