Duke University
Medical Center
Intercom
VOL. 25, NO. 37
SEPT. 15, 1978
DURHAM, N.C.
Morris Building dedication set
Battle against cancer under way in new facility
By William Erwin
Tlie Comprehensive Cancer Center
reaches another milestone tomorrow
with the dedication of the Edwin A.
Morris Clinical Cancer Research
Building, known informally for years as
"CR III."
Dedication events begin today with a
scientific symposium in Room 143 of the
Edwin L. Jones Basic Cancer Research
Building. A banquet tonight in the Searle
Center for Continuing Education in the
Health Sciences will feature as keynote
speaker Dr. Wayne Rundles, professor of
medicine and national president of the
American Cancer Society.
Presentation to university
Then tomorrow
beginning at 11
a.m., Edwin A.
Morris of Greens
boro will present
the building
named in his
honor to Univers-
ity President
Terry Sanford.
Guest speaker
at that ceremony
will be Dr. Arthur Upton, director of the
National Cancer Institute which granted
$4.24 million for the facility. Dr. William
W. Shingleton, professor of surgery and
director of the Comprehensive Cancer
Center, will preside at the dedication.
The ceremony will be held in the Searle
Center nearby, because no area in the
Morris Building can hold the crowd
expected.
Convenience
Nearly 1,100 patients a week are
already using the Morris Building. The
$5.98 million facility was built to make
life easier for them, their families and the
health professionals caring for them.
It brings together, for the first time, all
but one of EXike's cancer clinics.
(Children with cancer will continue to be
seen in the Pediatric Clinic in the sub
basement of the orange zone.)
Now patients getting a combination of
treatments, such as chemotherapy and
radiation therapy, can step on an elevator
in one clinic and step off in another.
Previodsly, these patients have had long
walks between clinics.
The atmosphere here is much more
pleasant than it was for patients and their
families," said Dr. John Laszio, professor
of medicine and director of clinical
research for the Comprehensive Cancer
Center.
"There's a place where visitors and
family members can sit, which they didn't
have before. And before we had this
building, our cancer clinics were often
overcrowded."
For instance, patients coming to the
Hematology-Oncology Clinic in the
yellow zone used to wait in line to be seen
in four examining rooms. In the Morris
Building, these patients have 17
examining rooms.
Money-saving
TTie building also can save some
patients money as well as time.
"In the past," Laszio said, "we often had
to admit patients to the hospital to give
chemotherapy."
Now most chemotherapy patients can
get their treatments in special rooms
equipped with easy chairs and color TVs.
When their treatment is finished, they
can go home.
In addition, some patients needing
biopsies can have this procedure done in
the Morris Building's mini-operating
room on the first floor. This is less
expensive than using the OR suite, Laszio
pointed out.
'Hospital within a hospital'
The Morris Building has its own
pharmacy and medical records section.
And it has its own "hospital within a
hospital."
(Continued on page 4)
Toe-to-thumb transplant improves hand function
MORRIS
By David Williamson
Instructions to Trudy Howie of
Gastonia were quite clear after the 14-
hour operation that created a thumb on
her right hand from the second toe on her
left foot.
"Don't try to move it yet because it
needs time to heal," the plastic surgeons
at Duke had said, "Don't try to move it,"
her father echoed, a bit more sternly.
But telling the active eight-year-old not
to wiggle something for days at a time was
almost like asking her not to breathe. And
two weeks later, Trudy had a secret to
share with her mother.
"If you won't tell Daddy, I'll tell you
something," she whispered, pointing to
her cast. "I can move my thumb."
Congenital birth defect
The child was born with a congenital
birth defect known as annular bands.
Although scientists aren't sure yet, many
believe the condition results when the sac
surrounding an unborn baby shreds
SUCCESSFUL TRANSPLANT - Dr. Donald Serafin (left) and Dr.
Nicholas Georgiade examine Trudy Howie's new thumb. Surgeons at
Duke created the thumb on the child's right hand from the second toe on
her left foot. (Photo by Thad Sparks)
slightly in the mother's womb sometime
during pregnancy.
Bits of this amniotic membrane loop
around the infant's extremities,
preventing proper blood flow and
hindering the growth of arms, legs,
fingers or toes.
Trudy's chief handicap was that the
thumb on her right hand had failed to
develop normally, The third grader
couldn't hold a pencil correctly with her
right hand, nor manipulate objects with
the kind of grasp that almost everyone
else takes for granted.
Two previous successes
After being referred to Duke's Division
of Plastic Surgery, Trudy and her parents
(Continued on page 3)
Eighth annual
Thomas Symposium
begins this morning
Some 150 obstetricians and
gynecologists from the eastern United
States are meeting at Duke today and
Saturday as the Division of Oncology
hosts its eighth annual Walter L. Thomas
Symposium.
Ovarian cancer, gynecologic surgery
and urinary incontinence — the inability
to control urination — are the topics of
discussion this year, according to
symposium director Dr. William T.
Creasman.
"Ovarian cancer is still a major cause of
death among women, and urinary
incontinence is a problem often
associated with childbirth," Creasman
said earlier this week. "This meeting,
which will again be held in the Hospital
Amphitheater, will give physicians who
attend a chance to review the latest
information on their diagnosis and
treatment."
(Continued on page 2)