RUSH MD Anderson Cancer Center offers leading-edge treatments for GI cancers, including targeted therapies, immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and minimally invasive surgical options. Our multidisciplinary team of medical oncologists, gastroenterologists, surgical oncologists, colorectal surgeons and interventional radiologists work together to provide our patients with tailored treatment plans to each patient’s specific diagnosis and needs.

Audrey Kam, MD, is the director of GI medical oncology at RUSH MD Anderson, as well as the research director of GI medical oncology at RUSH MD Anderson. She specializes in treating gastrointestinal cancers including colorectal, esophageal, gastrointestinal, liver, pancreatic and stomach cancers.

Sam Pappas, MD, is the Division Chief of Surgical Oncology at Rush University Medical Center. He specializes in treating upper abdominal cancers, including ones in the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver and bile duct.

“We love collaborating in immediate proximity to each other within RUSH MD Anderson. This helps to ensure coordinated, multidisciplinary discussions that are patient-focused,” explains Dr. Pappas.

In this episode, Ihsan Kaadan, MD, MS, discusses how he and Rush clinicians provide tailored, wraparound care for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) and chronic venous insufficiency. We also profile Dr. Kaadan’s unique role in guiding Rush’s multidisciplinary approach to treat these conditions, where he works with cardiologists, vascular surgeons and interventional radiologists to deliver optimal patient care.

Dr Kaadan is a vascular medicine specialist in the Rush University System for Health; he evaluates and treats patients with complex arterial and vein disorders.

“It’s a one-stop shop at Rush, which sets us apart. A patient can come to the vascular medicine clinic, get evaluated for their disease, then start treatment either with me or one of my colleagues in cardiology or interventional radiology. Patients can also receive cardiac rehab and occupational and physician therapy, so they’re supported throughout their entire experience

At RUSH MD Anderson Cancer Center, oncologists provide patient-centered, cutting-edge care, such as immunotherapies, targeted therapies and minimally invasive surgeries for the treatment of lung cancer. In addition, RUSH MD Anderson clinicians offer patients access to some of the most innovative clinical trials available nationwide.

In this episode, Helen Ross, MD, discusses some of the exciting new clinical trials that Rush is participating in, as well as rising rates of lung cancer in young adults and how to best care for them.

Helen Ross, MD, is a thoracic medical oncologist and an expert in the care of patients with cancers of the chest, including lung cancers, mesothelioma and thymic cancers. Dr. Ross is director of research and clinical trials at RUSH MD Anderson. She is also a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and serves as interim chief of the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Cellular Therapy.

“We’re only opening clinical trials onsite that are the right fit for our patients. We have an expedited review at RUSH MD Anderson to cut activation time and are working to further reduce that time to bring those trials more quickly to our patients.”

The Rush Cell Therapy Lab provides stem cell transplants, bone marrow transplants and other advanced cell therapy treatments for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and other hematological malignancies. In addition, the lab will soon function as a contracted manufacturing facility partner for the production and quality control and release of cell and gene therapies, representing a significant leap in decentralized hospital based cellular therapeutic manufacturing.

Mahzad Akbarpour, PhD, is the Director of the Rush Cell Therapy Lab at RUSH MD Anderson Cancer Center and is also an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Cell Therapy.

“When CAR-T cells first came on the market a few years ago, Rush was one of the first centers in the nation to provide this therapy to its patients. We’ve also been involved in several clinical trials to advance care and we’ll soon be able to manufacture our own cells on-site.”

The older adult population is the largest-growing cohort of epilepsy patients in the United States. One in four newly diagnosed patients is 65 and older, and that number is set to double by 2055. With the signs of epilepsy presenting in more subtle ways than in younger patients, older adults tend to be late- and mis-diagnosed.

In addition, the geriatric population is often excluded from clinical trials because of age. Thus, this group is underrepresented and its clinical impressions from epilepsy are not well understood.

Rebecca O’Dwyer, MD, is a neurologist and epileptologist in the Rush Epilepsy Center and is the Director of the Epilepsy Clinic for Older Adults at Rush. Her clinical expertise is in epilepsy and cognition, as well as epilepsy and seizures in the older adult population.

“A lot of us in the epilepsy, neurology and lay community associate epilepsy with being a disease of the youth. But we see this bimodal distribution of cases in younger patients as well as older ones. For older adults, epilepsy can present as a symptom of an underlying disorder.”

Danny Luger, MD, is a cardiologist in the Rush University System for Health and the co-founder of the Rush Metabolic Health Consortium.

He runs the Rush Center for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at Rush Oak Park whose goal is to prevent patients from developing cardiac disease. When meeting with patients, Dr. Luger helps them identify their barrier to achieving a healthy lifestyle, whether it is sedentary behavior, multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes. After getting to know his patients, he creates individualized medical plans to help them overcome those factors.

“The model that we're trying to put forth is preventive, where we can engage people in health and wellness well before they develop manifestations of disease. Eighty percent of cardiovascular disease is preventable, so we know this is an effective strategy. It's a matter of changing the way that our system approaches chronic diseases and the way that patients conceptualize seeing a doctor.”

With expertise in neurosurgery, neuro-oncology, radiation oncology and palliative care, clinicians in the Rush Spine Tumor Clinic are able to provide patients with comprehensive, tailored treatment plans when they have benign or malignant spinal tumors. Depending on the location and size of the tumor, as well as the patient’s age and overall health, the treatments that Rush provides can help patients regain a better quality of life by lessening their symptoms, such as mobility and memory challenges, pain, speech difficulties and seizures.

John O’Toole, MD, MS, is a neurosurgeon and the co-director of neurosciences service line at Rush, as well as the co-director of the Coleman Foundation Comprehensive Spine Tumor Clinic.

Ken Tatebe, MD, is the clinical director of stereotactic radiosurgery, the neuro-oncology research director and is a radiation oncologist at Rush.

“It can be a struggle for patients to obtain the best care at multiple different institutions, especially when their care providers may not all be on the same page for treatment. We strongly feel that providing this kind of interdisciplinary care under one roof really results in the most optimal treatment plans for patients,” explains Dr. O’Toole.

Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) is a novel, outpatient endoscopic approach to treat obesity. Without using permanent anatomical alterations, clinicians who incorporate ESG into their care suture the inside of the stomach as a way of reducing the stomach’s volume down to the size of a banana, allowing patients to get full faster. In the continuum of weight loss therapies, including medication and surgery, ESG is a viable approach for patients looking for a minimally invasive approach to achieve their weight loss goals.

Christopher Chapman, MD, is a gastroenterologist at RUSH University Medical Center whose expertise is in interventional and bariatric endoscopy, with a focus on providing patients minimally invasive approaches in their care.

“Surgery is a very effective therapy, but is more invasive. Pharmacotherapy, at least before the introduction of GLP-1s, was minimally invasive, but also wasn't as effective [as surgery]. Endoscopy [such as ESG] is in the middle of being a little bit more invasive, but also more effective than medications.”