Status: Filled – Intern: Jonathan Dismukes
Intern: Jonathan Dismukes
Faculty Name: herbert-chen
UAB Department: surgery
UAB School: medicine
Campus Address: 1808 7th ave south (boshell bld)
Telephone Number: (205) 934-3333
Email: herbchen@uab.edu or Click to Send E-Mail
For how many summers have you served as a preceptor: 3 or more
CCC Research Area: Cancer Biology
Number of hours per week that the preceptor will personally supervise or work with the intern: 40
Other faculty, staff, or graduate students who may help to supervise the intern:
1. 5
2. Jessica Fazendin
Title of Project: 33HC – Role of Prophylactic Neck Dissection in Papillary thyroid cancer
Project Description:
The incidence of thyroid cancer, the most common endocrine malignancy [1], has steadily increased over the past few decades [2] — mostly attributed to the advancements in imaging techniques and histological analysis [3]. Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), is almost solely responsible for the large increase in thyroid cancer incidence [4] and currently accounts for between 80-90% of thyroid cancer diagnoses [5]. PTC affects women at much higher rate than men (3:1), which has stayed true even with the increased incidence rates [2]. PTC carries a great long-term prognosis, with complete clinical remission achieved in 80% of patients following total thyroidectomy and radioiodine therapy [6]. That said, morbidity rates increase with patients of older age and in male populations [7]. Additionally, reoccurrence can be seen decades following remission status, prompting long-term follow-up protocols [6]. Crucial to this study, there is a significant population of patients with PTC that present with lymph node metastasis (23%) at time of initial diagnosis [8] and there is positive correlation between nodal metastasis and reoccurrence, but no recognized impact on survival outcomes [9]. For these patients, the standard protocol is a complete thyroidectomy with central neck dissection (CND). However, there stands a large debate on whether prophylactic central neck dissection (pCND) is a reasonable intervention protocol for those patients presenting with node-negative (N0) PTC. To this point, there are limited studies discussing the efficacy of this intervention, with crucial studies by Ducoudray R, et al. (2013) [8] and Chen L, et al. (2018) [10]. This study will seek to guide surgical oncologists in the efficacious treatment of PTC, both at UAB and elsewhere. Our hypothesis is that pCND is beneficial in lowering risks of reoccurring malignancy; however, surgical risks and long-term complications will outweigh the benefits of pCND and therefore promote non-surgical (i.e. radioiodine) treatment for prophylactic management. Using the REDCap “Thyroid Surgery Database (Thyroid Cancer)”, we will compile a subset of patients with a PTC diagnosis and sort for those who underwent a pCND and those who did not. Standard statistical analyses will be performed, including but not limited to Excel PivotTable, to determine if there is a significant different in patient outcomes based on their treatment protocol.
Project Objectives
• To determine whether prophylactic central neck dissection in patients with papillary thyroid cancer leads to statistically-significant different outcomes.
• To determine if prophylactic central neck dissection and its benefits/risks outweigh non-surgical therapies (i.e. radioiodine).
• To present a poster of this project and its findings at a UAB poster session as well as submit a first-authored abstract and/or manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal.
Hypothesis
• Our hypothesis is that pCND is beneficial in lowering risks of reoccurring malignancy; however, surgical risks and long-term complications will outweigh the benefits of pCND and therefore promote non-surgical (i.e. radioiodine) treatment for prophylactic management.
Project Status: Already up and running
Location of Project: Birmingham, AL (UAB)
Proposed Start Date: May 4, 2020
Proposed End Date: August 28, 2020
Expected work schedule for intern: Flexible, intern can largely set his or her own schedule (as for students who are instructed how to proceed and are permitted to work independently with weekly guidance) and should contribute full-time effort.
Category of Project: Clinical (Patient Care) Research
Cancer topic: Thyroid
Does this project involve human subjects: Yes
Does this project involve animal subjects: No
Duty:
1.
abstract charts
2.
analyze data
3.
write paper
Preceptor will provide intern with access to the following:
Office or desk space, Computer and printer
Likelihood that intern will be included as an author on one or more publications
related to this summer research project: Very likely
Areas in which the ideal candidates will have experience:
Manuscript Preparation for Submission to a Journal, Statistics and Data Management, basic knowledge
