seop a a d
By Kelly Davis
Independent-Mail
Using ultrasound to peer
into the womb has become
commonplace in most places
in the United States, but a
specialized type of ultra­
sound that aids the detection
and treatment of hard-to­
reach cancers is harder to
find but about to become
available in Anderson.
Dr. M.P. Veerabagu is in
training to be just the third
private physician in the state
to offer so-called fine-needle
aspiration endoscopic ultra­
sound. meaning he will soon
be qualified to use an ultra­
sound-fitted endoscope to
obtain tissue samples and
provide certain types of
treatment.
" You get more information
without doing a big opera­
tion," said Dr. Veerabagu, bet­
ter known as Dr. Veera. " It's
technically a very advanced
procedure not widely avail­
able even in big medical cen­
ters;"
Endoscopy uses camera-
''This procedure is SCIl
can get staging and iopsies without surgical
procedures� Sometimes there are
complications from the surgery itself in these
patients. "
and instrument-equ ipped
probes to examine or treat
internal body parts yia the
mouth or rectum_ This avoids
the need to make new open­
ings with surgery.
Ultrasound uses high-fre­
quency sound waves to create
images of body structures,
but has limitations, said Dr.
Mike Wallace, a national
leader in endoscopic ultra­
sound at the Iv�edical
University of South Carolina
and Dr. Veera's trainer.
Ultrasound produces clear­
er images at higher frequen-
a
encouraging because we
so many
Jessie Jvey
director ofoncology services at AnMed
cies, but as the frequency
goes up, penetration of the
sound waves decreases.
Therefore, ultrasound cannot
create good images of cen­
tralized or deep organs such
as the pancreas, lungs, stom­
ach and rectum, Dr. Wallace
said.
Pairing ultrasound with
endoscopy allows high-fre­
quency, high-resolution
images to be made of these
hard-to-reach places on an
outpatient basis.
"This procedure is so
encouraging because we can
get staging and biopsies with­
out surgical procedures,"
said Jessie Ivey, AnMed
Health's director of oncology
services. Staging refers to
classifying a cancer's level of
growth.
"Sometimes there are so
many complications from the
surgery itself in these
patients," she said.
Together with computer­
ized tomography (CT) and
positron emission tomogra­
phy (PET) scanning, endo­
scopic ultrasound provides a
near-complete diagnosis
without surgery, she said.
Dr. Wallace is nationally
renowned in the field and has
come to Anderson twice, once
in June and Tuesday, to watch
over Dr. Veera as he used the
equipment on patients.
Dr. Veera has completed
more than 100 d iagnostic
endoscopic ultrasounds. and
Dr. Wallace is training him to
use ultrasound-guided instru­
ments to retrieve tissue sam­
ples and inject pain medica­
tion. This is the "fine-needle
aspiration" that is now avail­
able only in Charleston and
Florence.
Dr. Shahzd Sheikh, another
Anderson gastroenterologist,
also is using AnMed Health's
ultrasound endoscopy equip­
ment for diagnostic proce­
dures, and said he probably
will pursue similar training
in the therapeutic uses of the
device.
New York-based Olympus
America Inc., the camera
manufacturer, supplies most
of the ultrasound endoscopy
equipment in U. S. medical
centers, South Carolina sales
representative John Wolfe
said.
The technology is about 15
years old and there are
approximately 500 systems
nationwide, he said. The
equipment at AnMed Health
cost about $200.000, including
the scopes and an ultrasound
signal processor, he said. It is
one of seven systems in use
in the state, four of which are
at the Medical University in
Charleston.