Gastrointestinal Cancer Center of Excellence at Saint Barnabas
The Cancer Surgery Service of Saint Barnabas offers expert, state-of-the-art surgery for the simplest to the most complex oncology problems. Designed specifically to meld into a multidisciplinary care plan combining surgery with radiation therapy and chemotherapy as necessary, our expert surgical oncologists emphasize patient-centered, compassionate, and holistic care. Uniquely, the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center of Excellence possesses surgical expertise in the management of upper gastrointestinal tract tumors (esophagus, stomach, duodenum, pancreas, bile duct and liver), soft tissue sarcomas, melanoma, and endocrine tumors. Our surgeons are among the most accomplished and highly trained in the region and make every effort to apply minimally invasive/laparoscopic techniques whenever feasible. Specific therapies offered include
Dr. Chamberlain specializes in surgical oncology (cancer surgery) with a particular emphasis in upper gastrointestinal surgery (stomach, bile duct, gall bladder, duodenum, and liver and pancreas), sarcoma surgery, and advanced laparoscopic surgery. In addition to performing surgery, Dr. Chamberlain serves as Surgical Director of Cancer Surgery Services at SBMC, surgical leader of the Cancer Committee, and chair of the Operating Room Committee. He has developed a multidisciplinary Gastrointestinal Cancer Center of Excellence at Saint Barnabas to meet the complex needs of these patients. Prior to joining the Saint Barnabas staff in 2004, Dr. Chamberlain served as Chief of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Program Director of the General Surgery Residency and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He has completed a Surgical Oncology Fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, a Hepatobiliary Surgery Fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a Minimally Invasive Surgery Mini-Fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Chamberlain was named to the New Jersey, New York Metro Area, and New York Magazine Best Doctor’s list. In addition, he has published more than 75 peer reviewed publications, and has written or edited more than nine text books, including Hepatobiliary Surgery (with Dr. Leslie Blumgart) and The Surgical Intern Survival Guide that is used by interns and residents nationwide and is in its eleventh printing.
As a surgical oncologist Dr. Maheshswari specializes in gastrointestinal cancers and offers unique expertise and research interest in heated peritoneal perfusion through his experiences at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center. He is board certified in General Surgery and will provide state-of-the-art surgical services to patients with GI cancers, endocrine tumors and melanomas. Prior to joining Saint Barnabas in 2006, Dr. Maheshwari was a full-time surgical oncology faculty member at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York and Assistant Professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons as well as a member of the Society of Surgical Oncology, American Society of Clinical Oncology and Society of Surgery for the Alimentary Tract where he is involved with a variety of local and national cooperative trials. Dr. Maheshwari received his medical and Master of Surgery degrees from the University of Delhi in India and completed his general surgery residency at Beth Israel Medical Center. He went on to complete his Society of Surgical Oncology Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. He is actively involved in a variety of clinical research projects and has special interests in cutaneous oncology, endocrine tumors, tumor debulking and intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemotherapy.
Heated Chemotherapy Offers Advance Abdominal Cancer Patients Longer Life Until recently, treatment options for patients with advanced abdominal cancers could only provide relief from symptoms, with no hope of stopping the disease from recurring or prolonging life. Now, with the use of heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy using the FDA-approved ThermoChem(TM) HT-1000 System, surgeons at Saint Barnabas have the potential to dramatically improve the outlook for late-stage patients with colon/rectal cancer, ovarian/uterine cancer, cancer of the small bowel, and pseudomyxoma peritonei syndrome, a rare malignant disorder. The potent combination of heat, chemotherapy and specialized surgery offers an extended outlook for patients with otherwise untreatable abdominal cancers, most of whom have been given three to six months to live. The specialized system reports response rates of up to 25 percent of patients achieving a greater than two year survival rate. This new technology allows surgeons to direct a heated sterile solution throughout the entire abdomen, a treatment commonly referred to as Intraperitoneal Hyperthermia (IPH) or Heated Chemotherapy. What is Heated Chemotherapy? ThermoChem(TM) is the first and only FDA approved device for IPH. Surgeons use IPH in conjunction with a lengthy 8-10 hour surgery, removing as many tumors as possible from the abdominal cavity. Then, two small incisions are made and tubes are inserted, one to pump the heated chemotherapy into the patient and the other to circulate it back into the machine. The chemotherapy circulates for approximately two hours. How Does Heated Chemotherapy Work? Heat kills cancer cells at temperatures where normal cells remain unharmed. Heating the chemotherapeutic agents makes them more effective at killing cancer cells than they would be at normal temperatures. Circulating the heated chemotherapy throughout the peritoneal and abdominal cavity allows the drugs to be distributed thoroughly and penetrate directly, without subjecting you to the side effects of these drugs if given intravenously. Is Heated Chemo Right for You? Because such surgery is a major procedure that is not without risk and because the recovery can be substantial, Heated Chemotherapy is not for everyone. To find out if you are a candidate, please contact 973-322-5195 to make an appointment with a surgeon at Saint Barnabas. For more information about the Cancer Surgery Services or the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center of Excellence at Saint Barnabas, please call (973) 332-5195. |
Ronald
Chamberlain, MD, MPA, FACS
Vivek
Maheshswari, MD
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