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Duke University Medical Center
VOLUME 24, NUMBER 37
SEPTEMBER 16,1977
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Doctors Attend Ob-Gyn, Surgery Meetings
7th Thomas Symposium
Approximately 100 obstetricians
and gynecologists from throughout
the eastern United States are meeting
here today and Saturday to discuss
cancer of the uterus and pelvic
infections.
The physicians are attending the
seventh Walter L. Thomas
Symposium, an annual scientific
meeting sponsored by the Division
of Oncology in the Department of
Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The event will be held in the
Amphitheater.
Estrogen Controversy
According to symposium director
Dr. William T. Creasman, the
program will feature a full day of
talks today on the diagnosis and
treatment of cancer of the uterus,
including current research and the
controversy over whether estrogen
treatment may cause cancer.
The development and
management of pelvic infections will
be discussed tomorrow, he said.
Creasman is head of gynecologic
oncology and associate professor of
obistetrics and gynecology.
Guest Faculty
Guest faculty will be Dr. Leo J
Dunn, professor and chairman of the
Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology at the Medical College of
Virginia; Dr. Byron Jack Masterson,
chief of gynecologic • oncology at
Kansas University Medical Center;
and Dr. Paul B. Underwood Jr.,
director of gynecologic oncology at
the Medical University of South.
Carolina.
This morning, Dunn is presenting
the annual Walter L. Thomas
Lecture, "Current Concepts of
Endometrial Cancer."
Moderators will be Drs. Samuel
Atkinson of Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.; Jack
Gordon of Johnson City, Tenn.; Kenneth
Podger of Durham; and William Nebel of
Chapel Hill, all of whom are in private
practice.
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Unusual Sewing Class
"A very practical postgraduate
sewing class" might be one way to
describe instruction a select group of
students are receiving at the medical
center this week.
The students — more than 150 of
them from across the United States
— are licensed orthopaedic surgeons
who will leam the latest techniques
for repairing blood vessels and
nerves as small in diameter as the
lead in a mechanical pencil.
The most dramatic application of
the microscope-assisted surgery is
on accident victims whose fingers,
hands, arms or legs have been
partially or completely severed.
Surgery with a Microscope
Course chairman Dr. James R.
Urbaniak said the surgeons will use
laboratory hamsters to practice
reattaching vessels, so that blood will
flow through them once again, and
nerves, so that individual fascicles or
nerve fiber bundles will be properly
aligned.
Urbaniak, professor of
orthopaedics, said participants in the
course will work under the
supervision of the Duke Orthopaedic
Replantation Team which has gained
an international reputation by
treating more than 140 amputation
victims since 1973 with better than
an 80 per cent success rate.
The team, headed by Urbaniak
and Dr. Donald Bright, an assistant
professor, is primarily composed of
surgeons in the orthopaedic
residency program.
Scientific Presentations
A symposium today in Page
Auditorium will supplement the
day-long Thursday and Saturday
workshops in the School of
Medicine. It will consist of opening
remarks by Dr. J. Leonard Goldner,
chief of orthopaedics at Duke, a
panel discussion on microsurgical
instruments and 16 scientific
presentations.
The transfer of toes to the hand,
tendon and nerve repair, spinal
surgery and the post-operative care
of patients with replanted limbs are
among the topics to be discussed by
faculty from Duke, Johns Hopkins,
Indiana University and the
universities of California, Kentucky,
Montreal and Pennsylvania.
The continuing education coiifse
is being sponsored by the American
Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Two Join DHN
Information Team
Two veteran Duke publications
sj)ecialists have transferred to the
medical center as part of the
publications and public information
program for Duke Hospital North.
John A. Furlow, who had been
director of the university's Office of
Publications since it was established
in 1973, has been appointed to a new
position called Director of Graphic
Communications for the Duke North
project.
Edith Roberts, a staff writer at the
Office of Publications since 1973, has
transferred to the medical center's
Office of Public Relations as staff
writer for Duke North publications
and programs.
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LOOKING NORTH—Workmen lay the loundaiion lor a lobby which will be the south
terminal of the PRT (Personal Rapid Transit), linking Duke Hospital South and Duke
Hospital North. The photo, taken at)ove the presen! t'' 'ergency entrance, shows the
tunnels through which the two PRT cars will pass unde, •lie Edwin A. Morris Clinical
Cancer Research Building (top of photo) and a tunnel for a supply convever between
the two hospitals (left). Meanwhile, plans tor the new hospital's public information
program are being made by (left to right) |oe Sigler, Edith Roberts, |ohn Furlow and
Wallace Jarboe. (Photos by/ohn Becton)