The James Sarcoma Program continues to grow, with the recent opening of the multidisciplinary Sarcoma Clinic, new and cutting-edge clinical trials and a project in Ecuador to train doctors to treat sarcoma patients. “The entire continuum of cancer care is improving and that’s why it’s important to have a multi-disciplinary team and clinic, so patients have access to all these advances,” said Joel Mayerson, MD, director of the James Sarcoma Program.

Mayerson described the recent advances made by the Sarcoma Program. A renowned sarcoma surgeon, in recent years Mayerson has been utilizing 3D printing to create replacement “bones” for sarcoma patients. “We can take scans and create [with the 3D printer] ‘bones’ the exact size of what we remove.”

In a new clinical trial “we’ve found that if we give immunotherapy concurrently with radiation therapy it helps the radiation works better,” Mayerson said, adding “we have the first proton radiation center in Ohio and that allows us to hone the beam to a smaller area and damages less tissue.”

Mayerson and the sarcoma team have been collaborating with the world-class veterinarians at Ohio State Veterinary Medical Center to create a probe that allows surgeons to see, in real time during surgery, the difference between normal tissue and tumorous tissue. Seeing the difference enables surgeons to remove less normal tissue, which leads to better function and quality of life for patients. “We used pilot data funded by Steps for Sarcoma to apply for and receive an Ohio State President’s Accelerator grant,” Mayerson said. Steps for Sarcoma is the annual fundraising walk; the next Steps will be held September 21.

After operating on a patient from Ecuador, Mayerson and the sarcoma team “were asked to help build the program there,” he said. An Ecuadorian surgeon spent a year at the James working with Mayerson and his team, additional physicians will be trained and “our sarcoma tumor board helps guide them in treating their sarcoma patients … This has been one of the most satisfying things I’ve done in my career, to know that we’re impacting patients a couple thousand miles away.”