With more than 70 stories sharing the work of the University of Colorado Department of Surgery, it’s been another newsworthy year highlighting our incredible faculty, researchers, staff, trainees, and students.
Take a look back at our top stories from 2024.
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Actor’s Death Sheds Light on Appendix Cancer
The news that actor Adan Canto — known for his roles in "Designated Survivor" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" — died at age 42, after a battle with appendix cancer, is raising awareness of the relatively rare disease. We spoke with Steven Ahrendt, MD, professor of surgical oncology, about how appendiceal cancer is diagnosed and treated.
→ Q&A with Steven Ahrendt, MD,
2.
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Setting Realistic Expectations for Recovery After Robotic Lung Surgery
Are surgeons giving patients unrealistic expectations about recovery after robotic lung surgery? That’s what CU Department of Surgery faculty member Robert Meguid, MD, MPH, and surgery resident Adam Dyas, MD, set out to discover after realizing the guidance they were offering patients might be based on outdated or anecdotal information.
→ Postoperative Recovery After Robotic Lung Dissection
3.
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University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus-Led Team Receives Up to $46 Million to Develop Innovative Treatment to Cure Blindness
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus will receive up to $46 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Transplantation of Human Eye Allografts (THEA) program to advance pioneering research aimed at curing total blindness through human eye transplantation. The project is led by principal investigator and surgeon-scientist Kia Washington, MD, and co-principal investigator Christene A. Huang, PhD, transplant immunologist.
→ Research Aimed at Curing Blindness
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Why Olivia Munn’s Breast Cancer Reveal Calls For Risk Assessment
Bringing new attention to breast cancer in younger women and the importance of risk assessment, actress Olivia Munn, 43, announced that she had been diagnosed with the disease last year. We spoke with Nicole Christian, MD, assistant professor of surgical oncology in the CU Department of Surgery, about the importance of a breast cancer risk assessment as well as the risk of breast cancer in younger women and those who have recently given birth.
→ Breast cancer risk assessment
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New Hire Brings Thrombotic Complications Research to CU Department of Surgery
The research portfolio at the CU Department of Surgery has expanded with the recent arrival of Jessica C. Cardenas, PhD, a researcher who is studying mechanisms of and therapeutics to prevent thrombotic and inflammatory complications — such as blood clots — in patients with traumatic injuries and acute critical illness.
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Appendicitis: How to Recognize and Treat the Common Condition
Approximately one in 13 people will experience appendicitis in their lifetime. Low-risk appendectomy surgeries are performed hundreds of thousands of times per year with excellent results. A case of appendicitis is basically just bad luck, explains David Bliss, MD, MBA, associate professor of pediatric surgery. Because it is essentially a random occurrence, there are few risk factors that can predict a rupturing appendix.
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HIPEC Procedure Pumps Chemotherapy Into the Abdomen to Kill Cancer Cells
Cancers located in the abdomen — including colorectal cancer, appendix cancer, gastric cancer, and gynecologic cancers such as certain types of ovarian cancer — can be difficult to treat with traditional chemotherapy when the tumors spread beyond the organ in which they originated. Steven Ahrendt, MD, professor of surgical oncology at the CU Department of Surgery, has greatly expanded the treatment at the CU Cancer Center following his arrival in 2017.
8.
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Positive Attitude Helped Jason Patton Through His Ampullary Cancer Surgery
If you’re going to get surgery for your cancer on a Friday the 13th, and your name is already Jason, you might as well lean into the coincidence. At least that’s what Jason Patton thought in 2019, when he went in for surgery with Marco Del Chiaro, MD, PhD, professor of surgery and division chief of surgical oncology in the University of Colorado Department of Surgery.
9.
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GITES Surgeon Performs Surgery Department’s First Robotic Emergency Surgery
Kristy Hawley, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the Division of GI, Trauma, and Endocrine Surgery in the CU Department of Surgery, made department history in September, performing the first robotic emergency surgery as a member of the trauma and acute care surgery service (TACS) at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.
→ Q&A with Kristy Hawley, MD, MPH
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Phuong Nguyen, MD, Named Associate Vice Chair of Global Surgery in the CU Department of Surgery
Phuong Nguyen, MD, professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery in the University of Colorado Department of Surgery, has been named the department’s first vice chair of global surgery. In his new role, Nguyen will create a global surgery program that formalizes and consolidates the department’s international efforts in which CU surgeons travel to other parts of the world to perform surgeries, often in medically underserved areas.
