News

Beebe Surgical Oncologist Publishes Article in an International Medical Journal

02/22/10

Ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other type of female reproductive cancer, though it is not common. Only about half of women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer survive five years or longer.

Surgical Oncologist James E. Spellman Jr., MD, who is a member of the Beebe Medical Staff and of the Tunnell Cancer Center team, is among those working to help women survive this cancer. He and Lewes gynecologist/obstetrician Steven D. Berlin, MD, Chief of Obstetrics/Gynecology at Beebe Medical Center, are among a small group of oncologists and gynecologists across the nation who perform a surgical procedure that, when used as an additional treatment to conventional treatments, already is showing some positive results.

The procedure is called Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy and entails rinsing the inside of the abdomen with a warm, chemotherapy liquid that attacks cancer cells left behind after the tumor has been removed. It can take up to 20 hours and is performed by two surgeons working together. Dr. Spellman and Dr. Berlin perform the operation together at Beebe Medical Center. In 2006, the National Cancer Institute encouraged all cancer centers to offer this treatment, though this operation still remains mostly in the hands of university and research medical centers.

Dr. Spellman is one of 16 authors of an article that appeared in the January 2010 issue of the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer that reported on the effectiveness of the therapy. The article is entitled Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy in Ovarian Cancer. The journal is the official journal of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society and the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology and allows physicians and researchers around the world to share information.

In the article, Dr. Spellman and the other authors reported case statistics from his or her medical institution that occurred between August 2005 and July 2008. There were 141 patients whose case information was included in a databank housed at the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at James Graham Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville. Cyril William Helm, MB, BChir, an associate professor based at the university, was lead author of the article.

We believe that hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy delays the time that it takes for cancer to reoccur, and we continue to promote it as a viable treatment, explains Dr. Spellman.

The article concludes that the treatment is showing promising results and warrants further study in clinical trials. Dr. Spellman and Dr. Berlin have performed the treatment on 30 Tunnell Cancer Center patients over the past seven years. Dr. Spellman said that the patients are living longer and going longer without a reoccurrence than if they would not have had the treatment. He attributed the treatment's success at Beebe Medical Center to the multidisciplinary team that has been instrumental in making sure that the operations have run smoothly and that all aspects of the patients' care have been considered. Dr. Spellman highlighted the important role that medical oncologist/hematologist Srihari Peri, MD, played. Dr. Peri is Medical Director of the Tunnell Cancer Center. Dr. Spellman also cited staff members of Tunnell Cancer Center, Beebe's ICU and its Pharmacy and Anesthesiology departments. Tunnell Cancer Center's two research coordinators, Donna Miskin, RN, and Kari Souder, RN, OCN, were instrumental in extracting the patient information from Tunnell Cancer Center's databank and getting it into the University of Louisville one.

Dr. Spellman performs the hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy on both men and women who have been diagnosed with other cancers that have spread into the abdomen, such as advanced colon and appendiceal cancer. He performs these surgeries with other surgeons, often those who have diagnosed the cancer.

Dr. Spellman is Board certified and an accomplished surgeon, researcher and author of professional articles in medical journals and books. He is one of only two fellowship-trained surgical oncologists in Delaware. Last year he received a three-year appointment as the Delaware State Chair of the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC) Cancer Liaison Program. State Chairs are volunteer physicians who serve as representatives of the Commission on Cancer and provide leadership and support to the state's CoC-accredited cancer programs and the program's Cancer Liaison Physicians.

Dr. Berlin oversees Beebe Medical Center's Women's Health Pavilion and Integrative Health. He is the Chair of Beebe Physician Network Board of Directors, the Chair of the Investigational Review Board, and serves on the Medical Executive Committee. Dr. Berlin also is a member of the Beebe Medical Center Board of Directors. He is a partner in Bayside Health Association Chtd. in Lewes.

Dr. Berlin, together with obstetrician/gynecologists Vincent B. Killeen, MD, and Leo H. Eschbach, DO, has brought laparoscopic hysterectomy to Beebe Medical Center. This procedure and others are offering women an alternative to the tradition approaches and are expanding the minimally invasive surgery program at Beebe Medical Center.

Caption: From left to Right, Gynecologist/Obstetrician Steven D. Berlin, MD, and surgical oncologist James E. Spellman Jr., MD, appear in the Beebe Medical Center operating room after performing a hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy treatment.

Beebe Medical Center is a not-for-profit community medical center with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health with the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities we serve. For more information, please visit us online at www.beebemed.org