By Nelson A. King
A Vincentian surgeon is
reportedly helping to revolutionize
Whipple procedure
robotically and laparoscopically
by being among the first
doctors in Missouri to perform
the complex surgery for cancer
patients.
According to Entornointeligente.
com, Dr. Lee Cummings,
41, currently works at
St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas
City, the primary hospital in a
10-hospital system.
A graduate of St. George’s
University School of Medicine
in Grenada, Dr. Cummings pursued
general surgical residency
at Maimonides Medical Center
in Brooklyn for five years,
then a fellowship in abdominal
transplant and hepatobiliary
and pancreatic (HPB) surgery
at Georgetown University Hospital
from 2009 to 2011, Entornointeligente.
com said.
In 2011, it said Dr. Cummings
began working at St
Luke’s Hospital, splitting his
time between kidney and liver
transplants, as the surgical
director of the Kidney Transplant
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6 ft
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Program.
He also conducts liver, pancreas
and bile duct/gall bladder
surgery for cancer and other
conditions, Entornointeligente.
com said.
It said Dr. Cummings assisted
in starting the liver transplant
program from scratch
and now completes 25 of these
transplants annually.
In addition, Entornointeligente.
com said Dr. Cummings
directs the kidney transplant
program and “shepherded its
growth” from 40, in 2015, to
150 kidney transplants annually
over a five-year period.
In the last few months, Entornointeligente.
com said Cummings
has been working with a
robot to perform certain Whipple
procedures, “which are done
for pancreatic, ampullary and
bile duct cancers, and involve
removing the head of the pancreas,
bottom of the bile duct,
duodenum and in some cases
part of the stomach.”
“In the Whipple, after
removing the cancer and surrounding
structures, you then
reconnect the small bowel
back to the pancreas, bile duct
and duodenum /stomach,” Dr.
Cummings told Entornointeligente.
com, which said the traditional
non-robotic Whipple
procedure usually requires
large incisions.
However, at St Luke’s Hospital,
Entornointeligente.com
said Cummings is now able to
conduct robotic Whipple surgery
laparoscopically, “meaning
with the assistance of a
fibre-optic instrument which
is inserted into the abdomen to
view the organs inside.
“This means that the surgery
is able to be minimally
invasive, with small incisions,”
it said.
Entornointeligente.com
said doing the surgery via the
robotic arms of “Da Vinci”, as
the robot is called, “also allows
for greater dexterity and a third
hand.”
Now, complicated procedures
such as the Whipple
hemihepatectomy can “be
done with some smaller incisions
but with better and faster
recovery for the patients,” Dr.
Cummings said.
“One of my goals has been
to move away from large incisions
because, although the
case takes longer, there is less
hospital stay and better patient
recovery,” he said. “It also
allows for older patients, most
are above 60 to 90, to get those
in a safer way.”
Dr. Cummings works alongside
a team of nurses, surgical
technicians and other physician
extenders, without whom,
he said, his job would not be
possible, according to Entornointeligente.
com.
“Transplant and cancer work
are team sports, with multiple
medical specialists and
surgeons working together
much like football at Grammar
School Park,” Cummings said.
“The dedicated surgeon
sees himself continuing along
the same path in the future
Vincentian surgeon Dr Lee
Cummings with wife Kelly.
but possibly turning his full
attention to cancer surgeries
at some point,” Entornointeligente.
com said.
Vincy surgeon helps revolutionize
surgery for cancer patients
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