The Focused Ultrasound Foundation and the Society of Interventional Oncology co-sponsored a webinar focused on the role of minimally invasive and incisionless procedures in treating primary and metastatic liver tumors. According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 42,000 new cases of liver cancer are diagnosed annually, making it the sixth most common cancer worldwide. In addition, up to 30% of patients with colorectal cancer will develop liver metastases, and those with lung and breast cancers are also at high risk of their disease spreading to the liver.
This webinar featured an interactive panel discussion with four distinguished clinicians who are pioneering the use of advanced image-guided techniques – including focused ultrasound – to enhance treatment efficacy, reduce side effects, and accelerate recovery.
Moderator
Robert Lewandowski, MD, FSIR
Professor of Radiology, Medicine, and Surgery
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Robert J. Lewandowski, MD, FSIR, is a Professor of Radiology, Medicine, and Surgery in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. He serves as the Director of Interventional Oncology at the Northwestern University Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Lewandowski joined the staff at Northwestern in 2006 upon completion of his fellowship training in Vascular and Interventional Radiology. Dr. Lewandowski is a practicing interventional radiologist who specializes in liver-directed therapy. Based on his clinical oncology program, he has authored or co-authored > 200 articles for peer-reviewed journals on the application of liver-directed therapies for patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. Dr. Lewandowski also performs pre-clinical oncology research in the Northwestern University Interventional Oncology Laboratory and Center for Translational Imaging. In this capacity, he is developing and evaluating novel oncology therapeutics, delivery mechanisms, and imaging modalities. Dr. Lewandowski’s work has been supported by the National Institute of Health, American Cancer Society, the Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation, and through industry collaboration via the investigator-initiated trial mechanism.
Speakers
Suzanne LeBlang, MD
Director of Clinical Relationships
Focused Ultrasound Foundation
With her prior clinical experience as a neuroradiologist and having performed hundreds of focused ultrasound procedures since 2004, Suzanne LeBlang, MD, now represents the Focused Ultrasound Foundation by interacting with various researchers, clinicians, and manufacturers to foster collaborations. She interfaces with the medical community at various meetings in order to update the Foundation staff. In coordination with the communications team, she helps increase awareness through oral presentations and articles. She also assists the Chairman and the development team with building relationships with individuals, other foundations, and non-profits. She has published papers and delivered numerous scientific talks in the field of focused ultrasound. Suzanne received her BA in Biology and MD degree from the University of Miami six-year Honors Program in Medical Education and completed her radiology residency and neuroradiology fellowship at the University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Martijn Meijerink, MD, PhD, FCIRSE
Professor of Interventional Radiology
Amsterdam UMC
Prof. Martijn Meijerink, MD, PhD, FCIRSE is a full professor of interventional radiology with interventional oncology as special field of expertise. He is a senior investigator interventional radiology and oncology at the Amsterdam UMC and currently the CVIR Section Editor Oncology. He is the director and CEO of Interventional Oncology Solutions (IOS) and the educational platform MedPeers. He is the former research committee chair and a former board member of the Society of interventional Oncology (SIO) and he has served on several executive and advisory boards as scientific or clinical oncology representative for interventional oncology. He is a formal Amsterdam UMC primary investigator (PI) and he is the PI of prospective IO trials especially in the field of focal tumor ablation. Examples include the PANFIRE trials, the COLDFIRE trials, the ALPACA trial, the CAMINO trial and the randomized controlled CROSSFIRE trial and COLLISION trials.
Isabel G. Newton, MD, PhD
Professor
UC San Diego School of Medicine
Isabel G. Newton, MD, PhD, is an Interventional Radiology physician-scientist with a preclinical and clinical research focus on combining ablation and immunotherapy for liver cancer. She is Chief of Interventional Radiology at the VA San Diego Medical Center and Professor of Radiology at UCSD. She is Co-Founder and Chair of the Interventional Initiative (the II), a 501c3 organization dedicated to increasing public awareness and understanding of minimally invasive, image-guided procedures.
Brad Wood, MD FSIR
Chief Interventional Radiology
NIH Clinical Center
Dr. Bradford Wood is Chief of Interventional Radiology and directs a multi-disciplinary team at the NIH Center for Interventional Oncology that develops and translates devices, software and navigation approaches for cancer patients via novel local and regional minimally-invasive image-guided therapies. Dr. Wood also serves as Acting Medical Director Center for Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration, NIBIB, National Institutes of Health. He writes a bunch, has a fun team who laughs and innovates a lot, and he promotes team science and diversity in IR.
Timothy Ziemlewicz, MD
Professor of Radiology
University of Wisconsin
Dr. Ziemlewicz is a professor (CHS) of Radiology in the section of Abdominal Imaging and Intervention at the University of Wisconsin. He serves as an assistant residency program director, chairs the program’s clinical competency committee, and is section director for intervention. His clinical interests are in image-guided intervention, including thermal tumor ablation and histotripsy, as well as surgical planning via image post-processing. His NIH and industry funded research is focused on clinical translation and clinical trials of image-guided histotripsy, thermal tumor ablation, and image post-processing with over 100 peer-reviewed publications and 150 scientific and educational presentations at national meetings. He currently serves as co-PI of the #HOPE4Liver US histotripsy trial.