Week 3 - Andrew

Great week. First, I made a major step forward with my research project in identifying not one, but three potential polymers to construct the brachytherapy device out of: L-lactide/caprolactone copolymer, DL-lactide/glycolide copolymer, and polycaprolactone. I believe that the first polymer, PLC, is the most promising. I found a company that has each polymer available for sale, and they are sending me free samples. Hopefully the literature research phase of this project is all but over, and I can move ahead to actual hands-on work. It will be interesting moving forward to see where I will actually be able to do any hands-on work; the MD that I am doing this project for doesn't have a lab. This week also contained clinic work with Dr. Pannullo, my mentor. The clinic time was very interesting: we saw about five patients per day, each of which was at a different stage in the treatment of their brain cancer. I was uplifting to see a younger female patient who appeared to be doing quite well following treatment. As for experience in the operating room, I observed two cases. The first was the placement of a ventricular shunt. I missed the very beginning of the procedure, so when I got there everyone was pretty busy and I didn't get an opportunity to ask for details on the patient. The second case I observed was awesome: a radical nephrectomy with additional resection of the outgrowth of the adenocarcinoma. Due to the extent of the migration of the primary tumor from the kidney into the venae cava, almost the entirety of the patient's abdomen was opened so that the tumor could be followed through the vein. Not only was this procedure an eye-opener, it was also an excellent anatomy lesson.