Recap – Michigan Cancer Registrars Association Annual Meeting
Park Place Hotel – Traverse City, Michigan
September 27 & 28, 2018
The Michigan Cancer Registrars Association hosted a great meeting this year in the beautiful and scenic destination of Traverse City, Michigan.
This two-day event provided a nice variety of presentations and great networking opportunities.
To kick-off the first day of the conference, Dr. Lindsey Serkes, Pathologist for Munson Healthcare spoke about Breast Cancer & Staging. Dr. Serkes presentation was very informative. She reviewed what breast cancer looks like from a pathologist perspective noting that ductal carcinoma looks like small inner tubes under the microscope whereas lobular carcinoma looks like cells lined up in a single file line. She discussed breast cancer grading where they classify how ugly a tumor is: Grade 1 = Ugly, Grade 2 = Uglier and Grade 3 = Ugliest. She reviewed the different IHC and molecular testing for breast cancers and how important these are in making treatment decisions for a patient.
Louanne Currence followed Dr. Serkes with three back to back presentations to discuss Head and Neck Staging Rules, the New Radiation Treatment Fields, and the new Solid Tumor Rules. Louanne pointed out when coding Radiation Treatments, if the patient received multiple phases, phase 1 should always be the phase that aims at the primary site even if phase 1 starts later than another phase. She further clarified that a new phase begins when one of the following occurs:
- A change in the treatment target volume (body part)
- A change in the treatment fraction size
- A change in the treatment modality
- A change in the treatment technique
- A change in the dosage is NOT a new phase
To finish out day 1 of the conference, we heard from Dr. Farhaan Mir, Interventional Radiologist for Munson Healthcare. Dr. Mir spoke about Hepatic Malignancies. He pointed out that the liver has a dual blood supply through the hepatic artery which provides about 30% of the blood supply and the portal vein which provides about 70% of the blood supply. He reviewed three benign liver conditions: hemangioma, focal nodular hyperplasia and adenoma and stated all three are more common in women and adenomas are almost exclusive to woman due to the use of oral contraceptives.
He also reviewed two types of liver malignancies: hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma. He showed what each of these look like on imaging and explained that hepatocellular cancers do not require biopsy. Dr. Mir stated that they use LI-RADS (Liver Imaging Reporting & Data System) to help classify the lesions by size, arterial enhancement, washout, growth and capsule. He also mentioned use of the BCLC staging system (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Staging) which helps drive treatment choices. As far as cholangiocarcinomas, he explained that these tumors are classified into three groups: 1) intrahepatic – 10%, 2) Prehilar – 50% and 3) Distal – 40% and all three have very different treatment options.
The second day of the conference was full of presentations ranging from Oncology Financial Navigation to Lung Cancer and Esophageal Cancer, to Clinical Trials and CoC Survey Preparedness.
We heard from Clara Lambert, a Financial Navigator for Advocate Healthcare in Illinois. Clara talked about the financial toxicity patients experience when receiving cancer treatment. She referenced the ACCC financial advocacy services guidelines that were published in 2018 that can be found on the ACCC website. She said this information will help facilities boost their existing financial navigation program or start a new program if they do not presently have a financial navigator in house.
We also heard from Dr. Kyle Carr who is a Pathologist for Munson Healthcare. He spoke about Lung Markers, Staging and Lynch Syndrome as well as Dr. David Gordon who spoke about Lung Cancer and Staging.
Additionally, our very own Kim Wright, Project Manager, spoke about CoC Survey Preparedness. She did a great job summarizing best practices to ensure a successful CoC Survey.
We would like to take a moment to congratulate Joann Boylan who was the lucky winner of our $50 Visa Gift Card. Next year’s meeting will be at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, MI.
Photo from Pixabay
Joann Boylan – Raffle Winner
Kim Wright, Registry Partners – Project Manager presenting “CoC Survey Preparedness”