SOURCE: www.va.gov
Houston . . . Navy Veterans Roy Whitehead was told he had six to 12 months to live when he saw doctors near his small hometown of Morgan City, LA. But his oncologist at the New Orleans VA Outpatient Clinic, Nancy Vander Velde, MD, told him because he was a veterans, he had access to a a new pilot program in Houston that might save his life.
“The South Central VA Health Care Network recently established a Virtual Tumor Board at the Michael E. DeBakey VA medical Center using state-of-the-art telemedicine technology to ensure Veterans have direct and immediate access to a multidisciplinary team of experienced and knowledgeable cancer care specialists,” said Daniel A. Anaya, MD, surgical oncologist, director of the DeBakey VA Liver Tumor Program, and an assistant professor of Surgery/Surgical Oncology at Baylor College of Medicine. “Mr. Whitehead’s medical case represents the typical patient, and one of the first of many who will benefit from such a collaborative effort of health care professionals.”
Each cancer case is different, and most cancers can be treated in a variety of ways. The goals of the VA Virtual Tumor Board Pilot Program, funded by the Rural Health and Telemedicine Office of the South Central VA Health Care Network, are to improve the quality of cancer care, increase patient and physician satisfaction, and extend expert medical care to rural areas.
Already deemed a success, the Virtual Tumor Board, using advanced videoconferencing equipment, allows VA physicians throughout the South Central United States top tap into the specific and unique expertise of a team of cancer experts at the DeBakey VA, explore many options for clinical therapies, expedite and improve the quality of care for patients, and continuously expand their knowledge base and refine their expertise to advance care.
Veterans, especially those with complex cases, benefit from the collective experience of a large group of specialists and the research prowess of a nationally renowned academic medical center. Along the way, they gain improved opportunities for remission or cure while their physicians agree on the best treatment plans.
“While he had had the chemo, we thought it would be months before my father received any other treatment,” said Amy Stratton, Whitehead’s daughter. “But, there was no waste of time. In just two weeks, the doctors told us their plan, we were in Houston, and my father had surgery. I was amazed how quick the entire process was.”
Whitehead underwent liver resection, the surgical removal of a portion of his liver, in July. This operation removes various types of liver tumors located in one part of the liver. The goal of the liver resection is to completely remove the tumor and the appropriate surrounding tissue without leaving any tumor behind. When a portion of a normal liver is removed, the remaining liver can grow back to the original size within one to two weeks.
“The Debakey VA is one of the few VA hospitals in the Nation to offer this complex surgery,” said Anaya, who is also the principal investigator for the VA Virtual Tumor Board Pilot Program and a research scientist at the Houston Health Services Research and Development Center for Excellence.
“The Vritual Tumor Board, Dr. Vander VElde, and Dr. Anaya have been a gift and I am so grateful,” said Whitehead who served aboard guided missile destroyers near Cuba in the 1960’s. “We stayed at the Fisher House in Houston and I was treated like a V.I.P. by all the doctors, nurses, and staff. Today, I have very positive prognosis and a new outlook on life.”
“We want to give Veterans access to the best hospitals and doctors anywhere in the world,” said David H. Berger, MD, M.H.C.M., Operative Care Line executive and professor of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. “The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center constantly strives to open new doors and make new medical alternatives available for our Veterans.”