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Center highlights
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University was first established in 1974. In 1991, the center was dedicated through a gift of endowment from Ann and Robert H. Lurie Located at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the Lurie Cancer Center now encompasses the Lou and Jean Malnati Brain Tumor Institute, cancer rehabilitation services, Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Center, and the Maggie Daley Center for Women's Cancer Care. The Lurie Cancer Center first achieved the highly sought-after designation of Comprehensive Cancer Center from the National Cancer Institute in 1997. This designation is shared by only 49 other cancer centers across the United States and embodies the highest standards of cancer research, patient care, education, and community outreach.
Comprehensive status includes state of the art facilities including:
Annually, the Lurie Cancer Center has more than 5,000 admissions into Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s inpatient oncology beds and exceeded 14,000 new patient encounters in the clinics.
Comprehensive status includes state of the art facilities including:
- 90 inpatient beds for hematology/oncology patients with a dedicated unit for stem cell transplantation in Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Prentice Women’s Hospital
- 30 dedicated inpatient surgical oncology beds in the Feinberg Pavilion
- 18 dedicated inpatient surgical oncology beds in Prentice Women’s Hospital
- Extensive Outpatient infusion space where more than 32,000 infusions were delivered to greater than 2,400 patients
Annually, the Lurie Cancer Center has more than 5,000 admissions into Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s inpatient oncology beds and exceeded 14,000 new patient encounters in the clinics.
Lurie Cancer Center is a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of 27 of the world's leading cancer centers dedicated to quality, effectiveness and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Today, Lurie Cancer Center team of staff and physicians provide ongoing participation in the NCCN’s conference and professional education calendar including:
NCCN 21st Annual Conference:
Advancing the Standard of Cancer Care™
B-Cell Lymphomas: Optimizing Treatment with Small
Molecule Inhibitors
Cancer Pain Management: Strategies for Safe and Effective Opioid Prescribing
NCCN Guidelines® Updates: Breast Cancer
NCCN Oncology Fellows Program:
New Horizons in Quality Cancer Care™
Academia or the Community: Selecting the Right Practice Setting for You
NCCN 11th Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies™
AML: Are We Finally Making Real Progress?
Patient Case Studies and Panel Discussion: Elderly AML, Slow Responding or Emerging Mutation CML, “Incidental” Identification of a JAK2 Mutant Clone
NCCN Academy for Excellence & Leadership in Oncology™: School of Pharmaceutical & Biotech Business
Meet the NCCN Guidelines Panel Experts
NCCN Policy Summit:
Developments in Biosimilars and Molecular Testing
Panel Discussion: Molecular Testing in Oncology: Effective Approaches to Maximize Patient Outcomes
La Fundación para la Excelencia y la Calidad en la Oncología (ECO)/NCCN Breast Cancer Adaptation Meeting
La Fundación para la Excelencia y la Calidad en la Oncología (ECO)/NCCN Colon Cancer Adaptation Meeting
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)/NCCN Conference Call
MENA Adaptations of the NCCN Guidelines
Polish Society of Clinical Oncology (PTOK) Annual Meeting
Presentation of the NCCN Guidelines for Patients®
NCCN 2016 Congress Series™: Breast Cancer with Updates from 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
(Live Program and Live Webinars)
Live program hosted by Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University
• DCIS: Adjuvant Radiation Therapy & New Systemic Therapy Options - Jonathan B. Strauss, MD, MBA
• Late Stage Breast Cancer, Including SABCS Updates - William J. Gradishar, MD
• SABCS Updates: Adjuvant, Neoadjuvant, and Local Therapies - Sarika Jain, MD, MSCI, Seema Khan, MD, and Cesar Santa-Maria, MD, MSCI
NCCN 21st Annual Conference:
Advancing the Standard of Cancer Care™
B-Cell Lymphomas: Optimizing Treatment with Small
Molecule Inhibitors
- Barbara Pro, MD
Cancer Pain Management: Strategies for Safe and Effective Opioid Prescribing
- Judith A. Paice, PhD, RN, FAAN
NCCN Guidelines® Updates: Breast Cancer
- William J. Gradishar, MD
NCCN Oncology Fellows Program:
New Horizons in Quality Cancer Care™
Academia or the Community: Selecting the Right Practice Setting for You
- Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP, FASCO
NCCN 11th Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies™
AML: Are We Finally Making Real Progress?
- Jessica Altman, MD
Patient Case Studies and Panel Discussion: Elderly AML, Slow Responding or Emerging Mutation CML, “Incidental” Identification of a JAK2 Mutant Clone
- Jessica Altman, MD
NCCN Academy for Excellence & Leadership in Oncology™: School of Pharmaceutical & Biotech Business
Meet the NCCN Guidelines Panel Experts
- William J. Gradishar, MD
NCCN Policy Summit:
Developments in Biosimilars and Molecular Testing
Panel Discussion: Molecular Testing in Oncology: Effective Approaches to Maximize Patient Outcomes
- Al B. Benson III, MD
La Fundación para la Excelencia y la Calidad en la Oncología (ECO)/NCCN Breast Cancer Adaptation Meeting
- William J. Gradishar, MD
La Fundación para la Excelencia y la Calidad en la Oncología (ECO)/NCCN Colon Cancer Adaptation Meeting
- Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP, FASCO
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)/NCCN Conference Call
MENA Adaptations of the NCCN Guidelines
- Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP, FASCO
- Leo I. Gordon, MD
- William J. Gradishar, MD
Polish Society of Clinical Oncology (PTOK) Annual Meeting
Presentation of the NCCN Guidelines for Patients®
- William J. Gradishar, MD
NCCN 2016 Congress Series™: Breast Cancer with Updates from 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
(Live Program and Live Webinars)
Live program hosted by Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University
• DCIS: Adjuvant Radiation Therapy & New Systemic Therapy Options - Jonathan B. Strauss, MD, MBA
• Late Stage Breast Cancer, Including SABCS Updates - William J. Gradishar, MD
• SABCS Updates: Adjuvant, Neoadjuvant, and Local Therapies - Sarika Jain, MD, MSCI, Seema Khan, MD, and Cesar Santa-Maria, MD, MSCI
Regular multidisciplinary conferences provided prospective treatment planning for patients in the following areas:
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The Lurie Cancer Center offers a compliment of professional education including wellness activities, professional events and fundraisers. A wide-range of education, support and outreach programs include the following:
The Cancer Survivorship Institute at the Lurie Cancer Center offered a wide-range of programs to help survivors lead healthy, active and fulfilling lives after treatment. Survivorship programs include the STAR (Survivors Taking Action and Responsibility) Program providing long-term follow-up care for adult survivors of pediatric cancer; adult survivorship clinics, including the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Survivorship Program, creating individually tailored survivorship care plans and the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program to meet the unique needs of young people diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 15 – 39.
- 18th annual Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium
- 19th annual Oncology Nursing Conference
- 11th Annual Pain and Palliative Care Conference
- 2016 Oncofertility Consortium Conference
- 2016 TRIST Symposium
- Reviews providing comprehensive summaries of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meetings
The Cancer Survivorship Institute at the Lurie Cancer Center offered a wide-range of programs to help survivors lead healthy, active and fulfilling lives after treatment. Survivorship programs include the STAR (Survivors Taking Action and Responsibility) Program providing long-term follow-up care for adult survivors of pediatric cancer; adult survivorship clinics, including the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Survivorship Program, creating individually tailored survivorship care plans and the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program to meet the unique needs of young people diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 15 – 39.
Registry Data
Committee on Cancer, is an integral component of the Cancer Program. The tumor registry systematically collects, maintains and disseminates detailed cancer case information to help guide, evaluate and implement cancer control activities. It is the largest registry in the state of Illinois and sends data to the Illinois State Cancer Registry, the National Cancer Data Base and the American Cancer Society for reporting and survival statistics. The registry currently follows 57,300 patients yearly.
Committee on Cancer, is an integral component of the Cancer Program. The tumor registry systematically collects, maintains and disseminates detailed cancer case information to help guide, evaluate and implement cancer control activities. It is the largest registry in the state of Illinois and sends data to the Illinois State Cancer Registry, the National Cancer Data Base and the American Cancer Society for reporting and survival statistics. The registry currently follows 57,300 patients yearly.
Primary Site Tabulation for 2016
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PRIMARY SITES
ORAL CAVITY & PHARYNX Lip Tongue Salivary Glands Floor of Mouth Gum & Other Mouth Nasopharynx Tonsil Oropharynx Hypopharynx DIGESTIVE SYSTEM Esophagus Stomach Small Intestine Colon Excluding Rectum Rectum & Rectosigmoid Anus, Anal Canal & Anorectum Liver & Intrahepatic Bile Duct Gallbladder Other Biliary Pancreas Retroperitoneum Peritoneum, Omentum & Mesentery Other Digestive Organs RESPIRATORY SYSTEM Nose, Nasal Cavity & Middle Ear Larynx Lung & Bronchus Trachea, Mediastinum & Other Respiratory Organs BONES & JOINTS Bones & Joints SOFT TISSUE Soft Tissue (including Heart) SKIN EXCLUDING BASAL & SQUAMOUS Melanoma -- Skin Other Non-Epithelial Skin BREAST FEMALE GENITAL SYSTEM Cervix Uteri Corpus & Uterus, NOS Ovary Vagina Vulva Other Female Genital Organs MALE GENITAL SYSTEM Prostate Testis Penis Other Male Genital Organs URINARY SYSTEM Urinary Bladder Kidney & Renal Pelvis Ureter Other Urinary Organs EYE & ORBIT Eye & Orbit BRAIN & OTHER NERVOUS SYSTEM Brain Cranial Nerves Other Nervous System ENDOCRINE SYSTEM Thyroid Other Endocrine including Thymus LYMPHOMA Hodgkin Lymphoma Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma MYELOMA Myeloma LEUKEMIA Lymphocytic Leukemia Myeloid & Monocytic Leukemia Other Leukemia MESOTHELIOMA Mesothelioma KAPOSI SARCOMA Kaposi Sarcoma MISCELLANEOUS Total |
TOTAL
121 5 38 14 4 21 8 25 3 3 689 29 79 16 170 120 28 113 6 26 92 3 4 3 384 11 21 349 3 25 25 67 67 492 455 37 991 231 27 126 45 7 20 6 627 576 43 7 1 342 146 189 3 4 3 3 305 151 154 259 194 65 224 29 195 126 126 142 42 98 2 6 6 3 3 46 5,083 |
% OF CASES
2.4% 0.1% 0.7% 0.3% 0.1% 0.4% 0.2% 0.5% 0.1% 0.1% 13.6% 0.6% 1.6% 0.3% 3.3% 2.4% 0.6% 2.2% 0.1% 0.5% 1.8% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 7.6% 0.2% 0.4% 6.9% 0.1% 0.5% 0.5% 1.3% 1.3% 9.7% 9.0% 0.7% 19.5% 4.5% 0.5% 2.5% 0.9% 0.1% 0.4% 0.1% 12.3% 11.3% 0.8% 0.1% 0.0% 6.7% 2.9% 3.7% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 6.0% 3.0% 3.0% 5.1% 3.8% 1.3% 4.4% 0.6% 3.8% 2.5% 2.5% 2.8% 0.8% 1.9% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.9% |
The Lurie Cancer Center is supported by a multitude of grant funding. The new grants listed below represent an opportunity for the Lurie Cancer Center to overcome the burden of cancer through research, training, and new technology.
Epigenomic Biomarkers of HIV-Associated Cancers in Nigeria:
A new $4 million dollar grant will establish a consortium for research on hepatocellular carcinoma and cervical cancer in Nigeria, a country with the second highest burden of HIV infection in the world. By supporting the enhancement of research capacity in Nigeria, the project aims to conduct molecular epidemiologic research to understand the epigenetic determinants of these deadly cancers. The project is led by Lifang Hou, M.D., Ph.D., the Lurie Cancer Center’s Director of International Relations, and Robert Muphy, M.D., the Director of Northwestern University’s Center for Global Health.
Behavioral and Psychosocial Research Training in Cancer Prevention and Control:
The Lurie Cancer Center has been awarded a $2 million grant to create a new post-doctoral multidisciplinary research training program focused on behavioral and psychosocial aspects of prevention and control of cancer. Bonnie Spring, Ph.D., the Lurie Cancer Center’s Cancer Prevention Program Leader, and Frank Penedo, the Lurie Cancer Center’s Cancer Control and Survivorship Program Leader.
Cancer Nanotechnology Training Program:
A five-year, $1.21 million dollar grant has been awarded to the Lurie Cancer Center for the Cancer Nanotechnology Training Program. Under the guidance of Dr. Gayle Woloschak, Ph.D., the Lurie Cancer Center’s Program Leader in Cancer Center and Physical Sciences, the new training program will graduate trainees who can apply the principles and tools of nanotechnology they will pick up during their training to translational research that impacts cancer patients.
Epigenomic Biomarkers of HIV-Associated Cancers in Nigeria:
A new $4 million dollar grant will establish a consortium for research on hepatocellular carcinoma and cervical cancer in Nigeria, a country with the second highest burden of HIV infection in the world. By supporting the enhancement of research capacity in Nigeria, the project aims to conduct molecular epidemiologic research to understand the epigenetic determinants of these deadly cancers. The project is led by Lifang Hou, M.D., Ph.D., the Lurie Cancer Center’s Director of International Relations, and Robert Muphy, M.D., the Director of Northwestern University’s Center for Global Health.
Behavioral and Psychosocial Research Training in Cancer Prevention and Control:
The Lurie Cancer Center has been awarded a $2 million grant to create a new post-doctoral multidisciplinary research training program focused on behavioral and psychosocial aspects of prevention and control of cancer. Bonnie Spring, Ph.D., the Lurie Cancer Center’s Cancer Prevention Program Leader, and Frank Penedo, the Lurie Cancer Center’s Cancer Control and Survivorship Program Leader.
Cancer Nanotechnology Training Program:
A five-year, $1.21 million dollar grant has been awarded to the Lurie Cancer Center for the Cancer Nanotechnology Training Program. Under the guidance of Dr. Gayle Woloschak, Ph.D., the Lurie Cancer Center’s Program Leader in Cancer Center and Physical Sciences, the new training program will graduate trainees who can apply the principles and tools of nanotechnology they will pick up during their training to translational research that impacts cancer patients.
U.S. News & World Report nationally ranked Northwestern Memorial Hospital for cancer care in its 2018-19 rankings, placing the hospital at No. 12. More than 5,000 hospitals across the country were considered for the ranking. Of more than 200 in Illinois, only 33 met standards necessary for inclusion.
In Becker's Hospital Review 2016 edition Northwestern Memorial Hospital was listed as one of the 100 Hospitals and Health Systems with Great Oncology Programs. Those selected in Becker’s Review were identified as leading the way in clinical expertise, patient outcomes and influential cancer research
In Becker's Hospital Review 2016 edition Northwestern Memorial Hospital was listed as one of the 100 Hospitals and Health Systems with Great Oncology Programs. Those selected in Becker’s Review were identified as leading the way in clinical expertise, patient outcomes and influential cancer research
PACT Project
The PACT (Preference-Aligned Communication and Treatment) project completed training sessions and implemented standardized screening and conversation process in June, 2016. PACT’s goal is to foster a culture of care that ensures patients participate in timely, effective, and sensitive goals of care conversations that are documented and translated into meaningful, patient centered plans across sites of care. PACT is a three year commitment to equip caregivers with communication skills needed to facilitate goals of care conversations with patients. Additionally, the project provides a structure for ongoing data collection, analysis and feedback in a collaborative effort with multiple post-acute care sites in the area.
The PACT (Preference-Aligned Communication and Treatment) project completed training sessions and implemented standardized screening and conversation process in June, 2016. PACT’s goal is to foster a culture of care that ensures patients participate in timely, effective, and sensitive goals of care conversations that are documented and translated into meaningful, patient centered plans across sites of care. PACT is a three year commitment to equip caregivers with communication skills needed to facilitate goals of care conversations with patients. Additionally, the project provides a structure for ongoing data collection, analysis and feedback in a collaborative effort with multiple post-acute care sites in the area.
Lurie Cancer 23rd Annual Cancer Survivors’ Celebration walk and 5K, took place Sunday June 5th, 2016 at Grant Park in downtown Chicago. More than 4,000 survivors and their families walked or ran alongside caregivers in this unique event celebrating the community’s battle against cancer.
At the 10th Annual Be My Valentine Family Event, 490 attendees raised 89,000 dollars to benefit the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation. The event, Co-chaired by Sarna Lee Goldenberg, Libby Langsdorf and Jennifer Meyers was held at the Drake hotel. The funds raised go toward breast cancer research with the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation, which has raised over $30 million toward breast cancer research and fellowship funds for breast surgeries, pathology, imaging and hematology/oncology.
At the 10th Annual Be My Valentine Family Event, 490 attendees raised 89,000 dollars to benefit the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation. The event, Co-chaired by Sarna Lee Goldenberg, Libby Langsdorf and Jennifer Meyers was held at the Drake hotel. The funds raised go toward breast cancer research with the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation, which has raised over $30 million toward breast cancer research and fellowship funds for breast surgeries, pathology, imaging and hematology/oncology.
Steve’s Adaptive Hybrid Surgery for a Brain Tumor
When Steve went to his doctor for a toothache, he didn’t think much of it. For years, he had various aches – a toothache, puffiness in his face – that he would treat for the pain and they would go away. Eventually though, a combination of numbness on the side of his face, his gums and his tongue brought him to the dentist. But his teeth were fine and the dentist referred Steve to an ear, nose and throat specialist to do an MRI to double-check. The MRI revealed a tumor about the size of a golf ball.
By the time Steve met Orin Bloch, MD, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, he was in trouble. The tumor had grown and was compressing his brain, causing headaches, facial pain and difficulty chewing. If untreated, he could permanently lose his hearing and balance. Untreated, he could develop difficulty walking and with daily function. Steve received radiation therapy before coming to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, but symptoms began to worsen. The need to act to preserve Steve’s everyday life was urgent.
Steve loves spending time with his family, loves playing drums in his band, loves traveling for work and in every single case, his brain tumor changed the shape of his everyday. “My brain tumor took me out of my social stuff, my band stuff and work as well,” Steve remembered. “I tried to maintain as much as I could, but my symptoms weren’t allowing me to do that.”
“I got nauseous, I was vomiting all the time,” Steve remembered. “Plus, the headaches and the numbness of the side of my head. Dr. Bloch took one look at it and said, the tumor is not shrinking, it’s growing. That’s why your symptoms are getting worse. He said it can get worse and worse to the point that I could have real serious problems.”
In most cases, benign tumors like Steve’s can be left alone with periodic observation. The small ones you can radiate. But when the patient is symptomatic, like Steve was, they really need to be removed with surgery.
“The traditional approach would be to operate until the tumor is entirely removed or until no more can be safely removed,” Dr. Bloch explained. “It’s a matter of the surgeon’s expertise.”
Yet, even with the highest level of expertise, patients can still experience surgical complications ranging from hearing loss and numbness to, in extreme cases, brain stem injury. And so the approach to these types of tumors has evolved. Now, neurosurgeons are more comfortable using a combination of surgery to reduce the size of the tumor and radiation to control what’s left.
Striking this balance can be difficult. “If you try to operate until you’ve reduced the tumor to a good size to be controlled by radiation and then give the radiation, you’re not really sure in the operating room whether you’ve achieved your goal,” Dr. Bloch explained. “Because you don’t have information in the operating room about what’s actually being left as you’re operating or what the radiation dose plan would look like for that tumor.”
At the time of Steve’s surgery, Dr. Bloch and his team were the only ones in the country who had the technology.
Dr. Bloch proposed adaptive hybrid surgery. A technique developed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, at the time of Steve’s surgery, Dr. Bloch and his team were the only ones in the country who had the technology. Adaptive hybrid surgery uses new tools to combine surgical imaging in the operating room with the information a radiation oncologist uses after the operation.
“Now, as we’re actually doing the operation, we can estimate how much tumor is left, generate a radiation plan, look at how much radiation dose the tumor is receiving and the structures around it are receiving,” Dr. Bloch explained. “We can decide at any moment, in real time, whether it’s safe to stop and treat the patient with radiation, and what the outcome would be or whether we should continue operating.”
Other centers have adopted the technique, but no one has comparable experience with it. And Northwestern Medicine has expanded on it, too, incorporating intraoperative CT scanning that fuses the CT scan data with the adaptive hybrid surgery data for an even more accurate assessment in the operating room. With or without the new technology, operating on tumors requires someone with considerable surgical expertise, someone who does a lot of these. Northwestern Memorial Hospital is one of the highest volume brain tumor centers in the country.
Being a high-volume hospital does not, however, take away from the personal care. “The hospital was big and the nurse came down and walked us through the whole thing, she probably had many other things to do but she made you feel very relaxed in a big hospital. I can’t say enough about the staff there, they just made you feel so comfortable. They made you feel like you were the only patient there.”
Steve remembers how the surgeons and nurses came to visit after his surgery and checked in at his follow-ups. And he could be seeing them again soon – in a rather more festive environment. The next time his band plays downtown, his care team is planning an outing to see the show.
When Steve went to his doctor for a toothache, he didn’t think much of it. For years, he had various aches – a toothache, puffiness in his face – that he would treat for the pain and they would go away. Eventually though, a combination of numbness on the side of his face, his gums and his tongue brought him to the dentist. But his teeth were fine and the dentist referred Steve to an ear, nose and throat specialist to do an MRI to double-check. The MRI revealed a tumor about the size of a golf ball.
By the time Steve met Orin Bloch, MD, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, he was in trouble. The tumor had grown and was compressing his brain, causing headaches, facial pain and difficulty chewing. If untreated, he could permanently lose his hearing and balance. Untreated, he could develop difficulty walking and with daily function. Steve received radiation therapy before coming to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, but symptoms began to worsen. The need to act to preserve Steve’s everyday life was urgent.
Steve loves spending time with his family, loves playing drums in his band, loves traveling for work and in every single case, his brain tumor changed the shape of his everyday. “My brain tumor took me out of my social stuff, my band stuff and work as well,” Steve remembered. “I tried to maintain as much as I could, but my symptoms weren’t allowing me to do that.”
“I got nauseous, I was vomiting all the time,” Steve remembered. “Plus, the headaches and the numbness of the side of my head. Dr. Bloch took one look at it and said, the tumor is not shrinking, it’s growing. That’s why your symptoms are getting worse. He said it can get worse and worse to the point that I could have real serious problems.”
In most cases, benign tumors like Steve’s can be left alone with periodic observation. The small ones you can radiate. But when the patient is symptomatic, like Steve was, they really need to be removed with surgery.
“The traditional approach would be to operate until the tumor is entirely removed or until no more can be safely removed,” Dr. Bloch explained. “It’s a matter of the surgeon’s expertise.”
Yet, even with the highest level of expertise, patients can still experience surgical complications ranging from hearing loss and numbness to, in extreme cases, brain stem injury. And so the approach to these types of tumors has evolved. Now, neurosurgeons are more comfortable using a combination of surgery to reduce the size of the tumor and radiation to control what’s left.
Striking this balance can be difficult. “If you try to operate until you’ve reduced the tumor to a good size to be controlled by radiation and then give the radiation, you’re not really sure in the operating room whether you’ve achieved your goal,” Dr. Bloch explained. “Because you don’t have information in the operating room about what’s actually being left as you’re operating or what the radiation dose plan would look like for that tumor.”
At the time of Steve’s surgery, Dr. Bloch and his team were the only ones in the country who had the technology.
Dr. Bloch proposed adaptive hybrid surgery. A technique developed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, at the time of Steve’s surgery, Dr. Bloch and his team were the only ones in the country who had the technology. Adaptive hybrid surgery uses new tools to combine surgical imaging in the operating room with the information a radiation oncologist uses after the operation.
“Now, as we’re actually doing the operation, we can estimate how much tumor is left, generate a radiation plan, look at how much radiation dose the tumor is receiving and the structures around it are receiving,” Dr. Bloch explained. “We can decide at any moment, in real time, whether it’s safe to stop and treat the patient with radiation, and what the outcome would be or whether we should continue operating.”
Other centers have adopted the technique, but no one has comparable experience with it. And Northwestern Medicine has expanded on it, too, incorporating intraoperative CT scanning that fuses the CT scan data with the adaptive hybrid surgery data for an even more accurate assessment in the operating room. With or without the new technology, operating on tumors requires someone with considerable surgical expertise, someone who does a lot of these. Northwestern Memorial Hospital is one of the highest volume brain tumor centers in the country.
Being a high-volume hospital does not, however, take away from the personal care. “The hospital was big and the nurse came down and walked us through the whole thing, she probably had many other things to do but she made you feel very relaxed in a big hospital. I can’t say enough about the staff there, they just made you feel so comfortable. They made you feel like you were the only patient there.”
Steve remembers how the surgeons and nurses came to visit after his surgery and checked in at his follow-ups. And he could be seeing them again soon – in a rather more festive environment. The next time his band plays downtown, his care team is planning an outing to see the show.
