Eye of the Storm continued
RELIEF FROM UNBEARABLE PAIN
Eighty-year-old Edwin McCrea was blindsided by pain in his face while on a trip to Wisconsin about eight years ago .
“ It knocked me on my knees ,” he says of the pain that ran from his nose to the top of his head . Mr . McCrea saw specialists , including a dentist , but no one could find anything wrong . It was when the pain returned unexpectedly last year during the cold and damp season in Temple , Texas , that he and his wife , Mary Ann , became determined to get to the bottom of it . They really were baffled because over-the-counter pain medications weren ' t providing any relief .
Magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI ) scans at Scott & White Healthcare revealed that Mr . McCrea had a damaged trigeminal nerve in his face , its cause unknown . The radiation oncology team , led by Nitika Thawani , MD , prescribed a single treatment of stereotactic radiosurgery , using the Novalis TX Radiosurgery Platform , which would eliminate the pain from the nerve .
“ Dr . Thawani is terrific , and so is her nurse Heather Clevenger ,” he says . “ I ’ ve had horses step on my feet , but I ’ ve never experienced the kind of pain like I did with the damaged nerve . After the treatment , I ’ ve had no pain .” program . Dr . Swanson returns to Scott & White from the University of Texas , San Antonio . He is one of the nation ’ s experts in prostate cancer . Two additional radiation oncologists will also join the team : Rufus Mark , MD , from Lubbock , and Niloy Deb , MD , from New York .
Dr . DeRobertis believes that Dr . Mutyala ’ s reputation will play a part in the department ’ s growth , particularly in recruiting new physicians . “ Anyone you meet across the country in our field speaks very highly of his skills , knowledge , and leadership abilities ,” she says .
She is excited about the promise of new technology , now and in the future . “ With greater precision , there is less damage to the tissue surrounding the tumor ,” she says . “ The side effects are fewer and [ the radiation ] is better tolerated .” Greater precision also means that the physicians can increase the dose of radiation aimed directly at the tumor . “ As our technology gets better , we can give more radiation to the tumor as needed while lowering the dose to the surrounding normal tissue ,” Dr . Mutyala says . “ This means we can kill more cancer cells , and can be safer .”
With stronger doses delivered to the tumor , the treatments can be shorter . This means that treatments , which previously would have been daily , over several weeks , sometimes requiring admission to the hospital , can be delivered over a few days and strictly on an outpatient basis . “ For our patients who are coming from far away ,” Dr . Mutyala says , “ the new technology at Scott & White allows them to get appropriate treatment for their
Dr . Nitika Thawani , Mr . Edwin McCrea , and Heather Clevenger , RN .
22 THE CATALYST Spring 11 | www . sw . org