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Interview Podcast: Dr. Eric Vallières on Pre-Operative Work-Up and Surgery for Lung Cancer
I’m very happy to present an audio interview with Dr. Eric Vallières, an excellent thoracic surgeon and Surgical Director of the Lung Cancer Program at Swedish Cancer Institute. Within the lung cancer community, he actually happens to be among the most well known thoracic surgeons in the country and even world, and he has a major expertise in the integration of chemotherapy and other systemic therapies for early stage lung cancer. He was also one of the first people to welcome me enthusiastically into the lung cancer world when I was still completing my oncology training, and we’ve worked closely together for the last decade.
Dr. Vallières will be providing a lot of very helpful discussion on the surgical perspective, but this initial podcast focuses on the basics of surgery for lung cancer. It cover the initial pre-operative work-up, general aspects of the different types of surgery for lung cancer, and some on potential complications of surgery for lung cancer.
This interview is being presented in two formats. It’s an audio interview, but there are figures that appear, synchronized with the discussion. The link with the audio is just below, and the podcast link to the vidio version is at the bottom.
Intro to Surgery for LC Audio Podcast mp3 link
The links to the pdfs for the figures and transcript are below:
Intro to Surgery for LC Images
Intro to Surgery for LC Transcript
Dr. Vallières is a remarkably thorough and patient teacher. I hope you find it a helpful program.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) | Embed
6 Responses to Interview Podcast: Dr. Eric Vallières on Pre-Operative Work-Up and Surgery for Lung Cancer
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The video won’t run on my computer. I have no problem with youtube videos, so if it’s on that site somewhere, what’s the link?
Any suggestions? I’m running Linux and Firefox browser.
I’ll ask the video guy and my web helpers. In the meantime, you may want to download it by clicking on the “download” button under the video or right click to “save download as”.
I’ll see what we can do, and another option is the audio version, which you can listen to with the pdf of the slides.
-Dr. West
I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Vallieres discuss the surgical aspect of lung cancer. One question I have – as I was diagnosed with pure BAC (non-mucinous 1.8 cm, well diff, SUV 1.4, lobectomy via VATS June 2006) would that be comparable to the Japanese patients with BAC, or is it still a different process? I know my wonderful thoracic surgeon (who does specialize in lung cancer) struggled with whether to just do a wedge or lobectomy – he said he decided that because I was relatively young (46) that he wanted to be as aggressive as possible in the hopes that I would not have to deal with this again.
I found the entire podcast informative (wasn’t aware % of lung function lost, etc) and would like to say a great big “thanks” again for passing this information on.
Sincerely,
Linda
Linda,
The interpretation of different pathologists in defining pure BAC is notoriously variable, and they see far more in Asia, so frankly I think it’s hard to have complete confidence in the diagnosis of BAC in the US. As Dr. Vallieres indicated, much of what is called BAC here is actually not Noguchi A or B disease, which is not what would receive a wedge or segmentectomy in Japan. Importantly as well, that approach is a stronger consideration for tumors that are under 1 cm, or perhaps 1.5 cm. There’s a surgical trial being done in the US that is randomizing patients with tumors up to 2 cm to receive a lobecomy or sub-lobectomy, but many surgeons are less willing or even unwilling to enroll patients with tumors above about 1.5 cm because they think that the concept of a sub-lobectomy applies more convincingly to the smallest of lung tumors.
I’m glad the podcast was helpful.
-Dr. West
Dr. West – I finally understand (it only took me almost 3 years-sorry I am a slow learner!!!) What I gather you are saying is that perhaps it isn’t a different process in Japan, it is just because there is a non-confidence in the pathology reports when it comes to BAC in the Western world, that it is treated no differently than a Stage 1 NSCLC. I think some inner part of me really wanted to believe I was going to have a good outcome just like the Japanese with pure BAC (and who knows, maybe I will), but I realize now it really just doesn’t matter because as they say, “time will tell”. As you know, it’s not easy being a control freak when things are beyond your control!!!
I completely agree that I would not have enjoyed being used as a guinea pig with the wedge resection to see if the outcomes differ. I believe with this disease you sometimes have to use the biggest hammer and then hope for the best.
Best regards,
Linda
PS – I found out when I played boxing on WII last night with some friends that sometimes that loss of lung function is very noticeable … I still managed to KO my opponent but it took about 20 minutes for my breathing to return to normal. Is it possible to improve that with more intense aerobic exercise than I do presently, or is that just part of my life now?
Probably some of both. It could improve with more conditioning, but it’s normal to feel some loss when you lose 1/5 of your lung capacity. And Wii boxing can be a pretty physical activity. I’d be more concerned if you’re panting during Guitar Hero.