NEWYORK PRESBYTERIAN BROOKLYN METHODIST HOSPITAL WELCOMES A SURGICAL ONCOLOGIST WHO WILL CONCENTRATE ON CANCERS THAT WERE AT ONE TIME DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE TO TREAT
BY JESSICA JONES GORMAN PHOTOS BY AMESSÉ PHOTOGRAPH
After completing fellowships in abdominal organ transplant and advanced laparo scopic technique, Dr. Michael Wayne chose hepatobiliary pancreatic surgery as his specialty because the field was somewhat unchartered and vastly complex.
“When you’re treating pancreatic and liver cancer, the outcomes are not always great, and at the time of my education there was not much on the horizon to immediately change the picture,” Dr. Wayne noted. “I was driven to change those statistics and find a way to make a difference in my patients’ lives.”
Dr. Wayne, who earned his degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine before completing his residency and fellowships at Cabrini Medical Center, started in private practice before taking a position at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center as a pancreatico biliary surgeon. He recently joined the Department of Surgery at New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital as a surgical oncologist, where he will concentrate on liver, pancreatic, and stomach cancer.
“After training as an adult and pediatric liver transplant surgeon, I developed a passion for liver and pancreatic surgery,” Dr. Wayne said. “I am excited to be part of the NYP Brooklyn Methodist team and expand the range of minimally invasive procedures offered here.” Board certified in surgery with over 20 years of experience performing pancreatic procedures, Dr. Wayne maintains a clinical focus on minimally invasive pancreatic surgery but his expertise also includes Whipple resections, a complex procedure used to treat tumor and other disorders of the pancreas, intestine, and bile duct.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Wayne to the NYP Brooklyn Methodist family,” said Michael Zenilman, MD, chair of the department of surgery at the Hospital. “He brings techniques that complement those of the hepato pancreato biliary surgeons already here, further reinforcing NYP Brooklyn Methodist’s prominence as a treatment destination for complex liver, pancreatic and upper intestinal surgical diseases.”
Dr. Wayne is currently training with a minimally invasive option for patients with inoperable or difficult to reach tumors, including those located near critical structures and major blood vessels. Instead of using extreme heat or cold, which could damage normal adjacent tissues, the system will use electrical currents to destroy cancerous tumors.
“It’s an exciting innovation for our field,” Dr. Wayne said, adding that it’s just one of the minimally invasive techniques the hospital is focusing on.
“We offer a full range of procedures, from traditional open surgery to minimally invasive techniques including laparoscopic and robotic,” he said.
“Minimally invasive procedures are usually the best option for properly selected patients, because they naturally decrease the amount of post op pain and leave behind no large open incisions. New innovations which we hope to bring to NYP Brooklyn Methodist in the very near future will allow us to extricate tumors from around critical blood vessels, which often inhibit surgery. It’s a technique that is converting formerly inoperable candidates into operable ones.” The technique will be used in conjunction with chemo therapy and radiation therapy and is part of his specialty’s most exciting advancements. But Dr. Wayne says there are still many strides to be made.
“We have many exciting innovations in surgery but unfortunately surgery is not going to be the cure,” Dr. Wayne said. “Research is definitely one of our most powerful tools clinical trials that break down the genetics of these tumors will undoubtedly steer the direction of our future. The medical community has made great advances in breast and colorectal cancers using targeted therapies to treat the disease. We’re not quite there yet with pancreatic and biliary cancers but I truly believe that the future of this field lies in that continued investigation.”
New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital
506 6th Street / 718.499.CARE (2273) www.nyp.org/brooklyn