Page 15 - PMCC on the Globe and Mail - 2016 Edition

Jennifer Picado was Houston Methodist Hospital in
just a few months
away from finishing
medical school when
she got devastating
news from her doctor.
The heart palpitations and
breathing difficulties that she
was struggling with for the past
three years were not, as had been
suspected initially, symptoms of
anxiety. They were caused by a
tumour that had grown right on
her heart.
“The first surgeon I saw told
me it was inoperable,” recalls Ms. transplants. “Even if your tumour
Picado, a 27-year-old resident of
Montreal. “So I spoke to other
surgeons who said the tumour
needed to be removed right
away, but the problem was that
none of them had any experience
removing cardiac tumours.”
A referral from a cardiologist
at McGill University Health
Centre changed everything for
Ms. Picado. She was directed
to Dr. Robert James Cusimano,
a cardiac surgeon at the Peter
Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC)
and one of only two doctors in
North America with the expertise
to treat such cardiac tumours.
The second is Dr. Michael J.
Reardon, a cardiac surgeon at
Dr. Robert James
Cusimano, left, and
University of Toronto
med student David
Scholl examine
patient images. Dr.
Cusimano is one of
only two doctors in
North America with
the expertise to treat
cardiac tumours like
Jennifer Picado’s.
Photograph by Christinne Mushi
in cardiovascular care, it gets
Houston.
Cardiac tumours, which are
relatively rare, can originate in the call for the removal of abnormal
heart or spread to the heart from
other parts of the body. Whether
they are malignant or benign,
these growths are considered a
serious health threat and can kill
if left untreated.
“Eventually, a cardiac tumour
could block blood flow through
the heart,” says Dr. Cusimano,
whose specialized training
and experience include heart
is not malignant, you can still die
from it.”
On May 12, 2016, Dr. Cusimano
performed surgery on Ms. Picado
to remove the cardiac tumour
– a procedure that Dr. Reardon
attended as an adviser and
observer. About two-and-a-half
weeks later, Ms. Picado walked
across an auditorium stage at
McGill University to accept her
medical school diploma.
“My goal was to get out of
hospital and graduate,” she
recalls. “Thanks to Dr. Cusimano,
I made it to the ceremony.”
Dr. Cusimano’s expertise in
cardiac tumours was developed
not in medical school, but over
24 years on the job at the PMCC.
Because of the centre’s reputation
for innovation and excellence
hundreds of referrals each year
from around the world for heart
surgeries, including those that
growths. Dr. Cusimano says this
has given him more opportunities
than usual to work on heart
tumours and to learn to respond
to each unique case.
“Where and how a tumour has
grown determines what we do
when a patient comes to us,” he
explains. “For example, if it’s
across a blood vessel, [then] we
do a bypass. If it has invaded a
valve, then we need to do a valve
replacement.”
Dr. Cusimano is now working
on spreading awareness about
heart tumours, educating other
physicians and health-care
professionals on treatment
options to develop more
widespread expertise.
In January 2016, he organized
the world’s first cardiac tumour
conference, which drew more
than 50 attendees from Canada,
the United States and Europe. A
second conference is scheduled
for January 2017.
“My goal is to create a cardiac
tumour centre of excellence in
Canada, which can help people
not only in this country, but
also around the world,” says Dr.
Cusimano.