New ECF Graduates Bring Their Skills to Egypt and India

Saving the Underserved in Egypt and India…

We at The Eye Cancer Foundation are pleased to celebrate the graduation of our two most recent recent fellows: Dr. Puneet Jain from India and Dr. Moanes Morkos from Egypt. In traditional ECF manner, both fellows return to their country with goals to care for eye cancer patients, advocate for patients, improve treatment and training. They will present their ECF sponsored research work at eye meetings in their countries and around the world.

Having successfully completed their training, Dr. Jain and Dr. Morkos now join the ranks of over forty fellows trained and sponsored by the ECF. Not only have we reached the goal of our 2020 Campaign––to train 20 eye cancer specialists in 20 unserved and underserved countries by the year 2020––we have doubled it.

With the support of our donors, we have taken on and answered many previously unsolved questions about eye tumor diagnosis and treatment  this year. We hope that this momentum does not decline, but rather accelerate, and bring us to a future where ocular melanoma, retinoblastoma and eye cancer deaths do not exist.

To become a patron, simply give a gift to The Eye Cancer Foundation. You can sponsor fellows like Dr. Jain and Dr. Morkos, buy prosthetic eyes for retinoblastoma children, or aid in any of our numerous goals for a clearer, brighter future.

Next stop: the rest of the world!

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New Radiation Instructions for Eye Plaque Patients 2018

Based on published guidelines from United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), The New York Eye Cancer Center and its affiliate New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mt. Sinai have agreed that patients undergoing low energy (iodine-125 or palladium-103) eye plaque radiation therapy for intraocular melanoma are allowed to proceed with their lives as usual.

Before this change, eye plaque patients were required to almost quarantine themselves. They had to remain at home, maintain a distance of 6-feet from others, and no pregnant women or children were allowed to visit.

With the new changes, patients can use public transportation. We ended most of the radiation exposure precautions and restrictions (i.e. you may go to the park, restaurants, grocery stores…etc.). However, it is recommended that patients stay at home as much as possible and that they do not engage in activities that could dislodge the implant and/or seeds. As before, the patient’s body fluids, clothing, and utensils ARE NOT radioactive and can be handled by others safely. We ask that the patient sleep alone and in a separate room away from anyone under the age of eighteen.

Dr. Finger says it’s about time: “With the radiation implants I use, eye cancer patients typically receive only a small fraction of the radiation given to patients undergoing implant radiation for other cancers, where patients are sent home on the day of implant.”

Though a few rules remain, they new radiation instructions are not nearly as strict. Free at last, patients can feel the sunlight, do their own shopping, and enjoy the company of their loved ones.

 

See Dr. Finger’s success rates in treating eye cancer!

Donate to The Eye Cancer Foundation and fund research, training, and treatment of eye cancer here in the U.S. and all over the world!

ECF Fellow Presents: How to Save Eyes in Cairo, Egypt

Dr. Abhilasha Maheshwari (above) presents ECF research at Ophthalmic Oncology Meet

November 22nd Cairo, Egypt:

November 22nd Cairo, Egypt: Physician scholars came together for The 2nd Middle East Ophthalmic Oncology & Pediatric Retina Meeting. Organized by Dr. Ihab Othman, the meeting fostered discussion of various topics in ocular oncology.

The Eye Cancer Foundation (ECF) fellow, Dr. Abhilasha Maheshwari, shared recent findings of ECF supported research. She first presented her research with her mentor and ECF-chair Dr. Paul T. Finger. The article, titled Regression Patterns of Choroidal Melanoma After Palladium-103 (103Pd) Plaque Brachytherapy, shows how choroidal melanomas regress after 103Pd plaque radiation therapy.  Initially discovered as effective ocular cancer treatment by Dr. Finger in 1990, 103-Pd ophthalmic plaques have since been scientifically proven to be more gentle and effective than its precursor, 125-I. [See our results after 103Pd plaque therapy for choroidal melanomas on our website!] Results showed the tumors became darker, decreased in thickness, and there was a reduction or complete elimination of the tumor vascularity.

Dr. Maheshwari continued her presentation on choroidal melanoma by discussing patients whose tumors were located very close to the optic nerve. This talk, “A 12-Year Study of Slotted Palladium-103 (103Pd) Radiation Therapy for Choroidal Melanoma: Near, Touching, or Surrounding the Optic Nerve, discusses how using specially designed plaques created by Dr. Finger, even melanomas that surround the optic nerve can be treated with eye and vision sparing radiation therapy (instead of removing the eye). Dr. Maheshwari’s results showed > 98% tumor control, while most had relative preservation their sight and eye.

The Eye Cancer Foundation takes great pride supporting research that improves patient care. Our fellows are given travel grants to spread the word around the world. As we spread knowledge of these unique findings and improved treatments, we also spread hope for those who would alternatively lose both sight and life.

 

 

To donate to the ECF and help sponsor fellowships, research, and cancer treatments, click here!

Read Dr. Finger and Dr. Chagule’s paper here.

Read Dr. Finger and Dr. Maheshwari’s paper here.

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