Surgical oncologists at the OSUCCC – James not only specialize in advanced surgical techniques but also extend the boundaries of cancer surgery through educational programs and clinical trials in such areas as bioengineering and combination therapies.
Our physicians are members of the Division of Surgical Oncology in the Department of Surgery at Ohio State’s College of Medicine. Their research is devoted to the evaluation and management of cancer with the goals of providing excellent science-based patient care and educating medical students, residents and fellows who will strengthen our pursuit of a cancer-free world.
Most of our surgical oncology is translational, in which ideas and hypotheses from the laboratory are incorporated into clinical evaluation through the clinical trial process.
Examples of innovative research by some of our surgical oncologists include grant-funded studies of the drug sorafenib versus placebo as follow-up treatment for liver cancer after surgery; molecular mechanisms of muscle wasting in cancer; and injection of a cancer-killing virus into a tumor for patients with inoperable primary liver cancer.
Research also helped a multidisciplinary team at the OSUCCC – James pioneer a surgical technique that uses false pedicles (a pedicle is a short extension of bone that helps form the arches on spinal vertebrae) to reconstruct a pelvic-spine structure that supports and protects the spine after complex cancer surgery. In the March 2014 issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, the team described creating false pedicles and a neo-pelvis for this reconstruction after intact tumor removal in treating a cancer called iliosacral chondrosarcoma with lumbar spine.
Surgery Clinical Trials
For cancer patients, research and clinical trials mean hope.
Clinical trials are research studies designed to test new, innovative ways to prevent, detect, diagnose or treat cancer patients.
The OSUCCC – James has hundreds of open clinical trials at any given time, with some of the world’s latest discoveries available to clinical trial patients right here in Columbus, Ohio. In fact, patients have access to more cancer clinical trials here than at nearly any other hospital in the region, as well as access to some of the most advanced, targeted treatments and drugs available.
Patients can enter clinical trials before, during or after starting their individual treatments. They are closely monitored by the OSUCCC – James specialists.
The OSUCCC – James is one of only four U.S. cancer centers funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to conduct phase I and phase II clinical trials on novel anticancer drugs. These trials go only to centers that demonstrate an exemplary capacity for research and clinical care, as well as the expertise to deliver the latest in treatments, and the infrastructure to interpret and track treatment results.
If you have been diagnosed with cancer and would like a second opinion, or if you would like to speak with a cancer specialist, please call The James Line at 800-293-5066 or 614-293-5066 to make an appointment.