Clinician's Roundtable

Host: Gary Kohn, MD Guest: Jan Stepanek, MD Medical standards for pilots focus on eliminating the sudden incapacitation endangering passengers. Looking ahead, as more passengers seek orbit, and sub-orbit, what is the medical criteria used for clearance? Dr. Jan Stepanek, Medical Director of the Aerospace Medical Program, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ, discusses the self-regulated industry, detailed informed consent, preparation for, and the environment of flight with your host, Dr. Gary Kohn.

Host: Gary Kohn, MD Guest: Charles Enke, MD What's around the bend for radiation targeting systems? Dr. Charles Enke, professor and chair of radiation oncology at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, speaks with host Dr. Gary Kohn about the potential of electromagnetic targeting and tracking as used in the GPS-like Calypso-guided technology. Detecting prostate motion in real-time, eliminating inter-observer variation, and providing the benefit of more precise radiation targeting are, as Dr. Enke mentions, just a few of the benefits with this new technology.

Host: Gary Kohn, MD Guest: Charles Enke, MD Keeping closer tabs on the intrafractional movement of the prostate during radiation therapy will continue to play an increasingly significant role in improving our overall success when treating prostate cancer. So says Dr. Charles Enke, professor and chair of radiation oncology at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. He details the latest in prostate imaging with host Dr. Gary Kohn. How are we enhancing our command of real-time monitoring modalities?

Host: Bill Rutenberg, MD Guest: Mitchel Berger, MD Join Dr. Mitchel Berger, the Kathleen M. Plant Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California San Francisco and host Dr. Bill Rutenberg for a discussion of novel targeted therapies for the treatment of malignant brain tumors. Can immunoliposomes hone in like smart bombs attacking tumors not previously reachable?

Host: Bill Rutenberg, MD Guest: Mitchel Berger, MD Dr. Mitchel Berger, the Kathleen M. Plant Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California San Francisco joins host Dr. Bill Rutenberg for a discussion of new developments in language mapping leading to more successful resection of malignant gliomas. Surprising findings include locating language neurons outside of Broca's area.

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Guest: David Johnson Our guest, David Johnson, managing director of Citi’s industry leading health care group addresses the potential of outsourcing patients across borders at great savings. This may make us realize that when our president in 1993 stated that the "system was broken and it was time to fix it "may have been right. Will we respond to the fact that "our greatness has not been in being more enlightened then other nations but in our ability to repair our faults." Hosted by Maurice Pickard.

Host: Paul Doghramji, MD Guest: Russell Breish, MD Is family practice a dying profession? Host Dr. Paul Doghramji welcomes Dr. Russell S. Breish, director of family practice and director of the residency program at Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia to discuss factors affecting family physicians. They will cover the effect of the increase in nurse practitioners and physician assistants, the increase of women medical students, as well as what fields medical students are choosing after graduation.

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Guest: Robert Klitzman, MD HIV is a very preventable disease. If everyone who is HIV positive agreed not to spread the disease it could be stopped, says our guest, Dr. Robert Klitzman, associate professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Disclosure however is not easy and does not always happen. Dr. Klitzman explores with host, Dr. Maurice Pickard the size of this non-disclosure problem and why communications are so difficult. It could be that sexual partners are not asking the right questions.

Host: Matthew J. Sorrentino, MD, FACC, FASH Guest: Gust Bardy, MD Dr. Gust Bardy, president of the Seattle Institute for Cardiac Research and lead investigator of the Home Automated External Defibrillator Trial (HAT), published in the New England Journal of Medicine, will discuss the use of automated external defibrillators, both at home and in public locations, as a strategy to reduce mortality rates among patients who are at higher risk for sudden cardiac death.

Host: Matthew J. Sorrentino, MD, FACC, FASH Guest: Gust Bardy, MD In recent years, we've seen automated external defibrillators (AED) distributed in high-traffic areas throughout many of our communities. Though more cases of sudden cardiac events are occurring outside the home-owing to greater mobility for our older, at-risk patients-a great many cases do still occur in the home. With this in mind, researchers postulated that an AED placed in the home of an at-risk patient may limit their vulnerability to a sudden cardiac event. What did they find? Dr. Gust Bardy, president of the Seattle Institute for Cardiac Research and lead investigator of the Home Automated External Defibrillator Trial (HAT), published in the New England Journal of Medicine, discusses the findings of this trial with host Dr. Matthew Sorrentino.