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surgeon, assisted. Given the location of the tumor, Dr. Graber was concerned that they might have to remove Alex’s bladder. Fortunately, surgeons were able to keep it intact, and help Alex officially become cancer-free. It was a huge sigh of relief. He had beat this thing. He had found a way. Alex stayed in the hospital 10 days following the surgery. While he was recovering, he grew close to his care team. “My faith, family and friends were what helped me get through,” he says. “Dr. Roland, her physician assistant and clinical nurse Erica Gardenhire, Dr. Graber, Dr. Ratan — they were all there for me when times were really tough. So, I look at MD Anderson as a part of my family.” After a few weeks, Alex was able to get moving again with the help of a walker. He returned to Dallas, where he spent hours walking around the mall with his father to regain his strength. Today, Alex’s only remaining signs of cancer are a scar and some nerve symptoms in his leg. “But I’m alive, so you’ll never hear me complain about that,” Alex says. Alex returned to school in the fall of 2016. The following year, he completed his degree in finance. And not only did he walk across the stage at graduation, but he was selected as a commencement speaker for the ceremony. Today, Alex looks back on his college years, including his cancer experience, and knows he learned more than any book or class could ever teach him. He’s learned that no matter what challenges arise, he’ll always find a way. A longer version of this story originally appeared on MD Anderson’s Cancerwise blog. I n Surgical Oncology at MD Anderson, we treat patients with a wide variety of malignant and benign tumors. The department is comprised of a number of specialty disciplines: • Acute Care Surgical Oncology & General Surgery • Colorectal Surgery • Endocrine Surgery • Gastric-HIPEC • Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) Surgery • Melanoma Surgery • Pediatric Surgery • Sarcoma Surgery Providers in these sections assess, plan treatment, and provide surgical services to cancer patients, with goals that include improving survival, shortening recovery, and minimizing treatment-related side effects. Providers in each specialty discipline continuously strive to better identify those patients most likely to benefit from surgery, and to advance and implement new cancer surgical techniques. In particular, Surgical Oncology faculty are broadening the use of minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic techniques to lessen the impact of necessary surgery on patients with cancer. “Our constant drive for improvement, innovation and excellence is one of the major reasons our surgeons are among the best in the country,” says Jeffrey E. Lee, M.D., chair of Surgical Oncology. “Plus, our surgeons care deeply about patient surgical safety and quality of life.” Lee and his team of 38 doctors attended 6,923 new patients and consults, and performed 5,169 operations in Fiscal Year 2018. They see patients in the Child and Adolescent, Melanoma, Sarcoma, Gastrointestinal, Colorectal, Endocrine, and the Infusion Therapy Centers at MD Anderson. They also see patients at MD Anderson in League City, Sugar Land, The Woodlands, and West 40 MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston. In addition, the Surgical Oncology team includes five full-time research faculty. MD Anderson surgical oncologists collaborate across disciplines and surgical specialties, partnering with colleagues in Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Pathology, and Diagnostic Imaging to integrate preoperative targeted therapies and immunotherapies. They collaborate with other surgery departments for multi-visceral resection, soft tissue resection, and implementation of novel surgical therapeutics, such as limb perfusion. Several recent initiatives from three of our specialty disciplines are highlighted: Colorectal Surgery Section: This section sees one of the highest volumes of surgical patients and are leaders in minimally invasive surgery. Our surgeons are known for sphincter preserving surgeries that can help patients avoid the need for a colostomy, which can have a life-changing impact. “We have unique expertise in sphincter preserving surgeries as well as complex surgery for primary and recurrent rectal cancer,” says George Chang, M.D., professor of Surgical Oncology. “Many patients seek our care after being told elsewhere that their treatment would require a permanent colostomy.” Importantly, a recent study showed that patients with stage 2 colorectal cancer who had their surgeries performed by MD Anderson Colorectal Surgery Section faculty experienced lower recurrence rates than those treated at other hospitals across the nation. For patients with identified or suspected inherited colorectal cancer syndromes, the High Risk Cancer Clinic provides comprehensive genetic evaluation and advanced individualized treatment planning. HPB Surgery Section: This section treats cancers of the liver and pancreas. Our HPB surgeons perform complex operations in patients for tumors that surgeons at other cancer centers have deemed to be “unresectable.” Despite this, the section has one of the lowest mortality rates following liver and pancreas operations. In pancreatic surgery, the team has reported the highest rate of cure and longest rate of survival following surgery in the international literature, says Matthew Katz, M.D., associate professor of
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