FDA Trial Underway at CWC&RS

Dr. Tom Lyons to Address Academy for Minimally-Invasive Surgery in Strasborg, France; FDA Endometriosis Trial Underway at Center for Women’s Care & Reproductive Surgery

Thomas L. Lyons, MD, Medical Director of the Center for Women’s Care & Reproductive Surgery in Atlanta, will address IRCAD, the Academy for Minimally Invasive Surgery in Strasborg, France, an international symposium November 11-14, 2011. Dr. Lyons’ topic is Variations for Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy (LSH), a procedure he developed in 1989, which leaves the cervix in place as keystone support for the female anatomy.

Although hysterectomy is often performed to eliminate endometriosis (the painful growth of the uterine lining outside the uterus in the abdominal cavity), Dr. Lyons is currently conducting a study using Olympus technology with the objective of visualizing endo better to remove it more effectively.

 “About four-fifths of endometriosis patients do not display symptoms,” said Dr. Lyons, a pioneer in gynecologic laparoscopy and co-author of WHAT TO DO WHEN THE DOCTOR SAYS IT’S ENDOMETRIOSIS (Fair Winds Press).

“This study will help us determine whether different colors of light can help us detect endometriosis more easily—and thus remove it more efficiently and effectively,” he said.

Three sites in the U.S. including the Center for Women’s Care & Reproductive Surgery in Atlanta will participate in a clinical trial of Olympus Narrow Band Imaging to determine whether light of different colors helps detect the disease better than white light only.

The study, also being conducted by Chuck Miller, MD, in Chicago, and Herman Barreuto, MD, in Baltimore, will involve 60 patients at the Atlanta site and similar numbers at the other two. The data is being centrally collected and analyzed.

Customarily, when viewing the interior of the abdomen using a laparoscope, the light is white. In the FDA-approved Olympus study, the objective is to shine light of different colors and determine whether they highlight overactive tissues or areas of inflammation more readily.

The Narrow Band Imaging (NBI) from Olympus is strictly diagnostic, not therapeutic.

“We will first look at the disease area with white light, marking areas that we see is diseased with laser dots, then with NBI to see if that expands our visualization of diseased areas,” said Dr. Lyons. “With inflammation from endo, an area will be more vascularized (more blood vessels) and possibly we can more easily detect disease. We will then biopsy the area.”

Patients must be between 18-50 years of age and have problems with abdominal pain. Participants will be asked to fill out a brief questionnaire about reduction in pain levels at three months and six months post-operatively.

Known for developing the Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy and the Laparoscopic Burch procedure for stress urinary incontinence, Dr. Lyons attracts patients from around the world for his advanced surgical techniques.

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This page last updated 01/05/2012