Rachel Matthews - Dr. Gauthier - Week 4

 This week, I was able to shadow a variety of procedures and made some progress on my research project. On Tuesday, I watched an oncoplastic surgery in which a tumor is removed before performing a second plastic surgery, not directly related to the original procedure. In this case, the patient has several tumors in the breast removed before having a breast reduction. In speaking with the surgical oncologist, this method can often be preferable because a larger piece of tissue is removed, which reduces the recurrence of cancer and the amount of secondary chemo or radiation treatment. Additionally, a breast reduction can improve the quality of life for the patient without undergoing another surgery. Removing the tumors was relatively fast since they had been labeled, and once the tumor was removed, the plastic surgeon team began on the breast reduction. Two plastic surgeons worked on each side, removing excess tissue and skin. They also used staples to hold the incisions closed temporarily to check the symmetry of their work and make any adjustments. Once satisfied with the outcome, they began closing the incisions using sutures to create a tighter seam. 

I was also able to shadow the Cath Lab this week and observe several valve replacements including, an aortic valve replacement and a tricuspid valve replacement. Both procedures heavily relied on imaging techniques to observe the instruments and the heart to ensure the proper deployment and placement of the devices. Unlike the other surgeries I have observed, these were far less invasive and the procedure was viewed via imaging techniques rather than with the naked eye. Two surgeons worked with a larger team to insert the catheter and watched the live imaging feed to carefully place the replacement valves. There was also a mitral valve replacement that was scheduled but was canceled because they couldn't pass one of the scopes down the patient's esophagus easily and the team wanted to get the opinion of a GI specialist to evaluate what was happening. Once the problem could be identified, the surgeons would work with the GI team to plan the best method to conduct the procedure. 

For my research project, I was able to run an outside pipeline that looks at and segments lesions in the brain using data from patient data collected at Weill Cornell. The output was then compared to the pipeline made at Weill Cornell and adjusted by experts. Now that I have created these segmented image sets I am looking to understand and see if we can improve that code and better understand how it identifies lesions in the brain.