New York, NY – (WiredPRNews.com) On August 1, the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York appointed Raja M. Flores, M.D., one of the world’s preeminent surgeons working to treat lung cancer, mesothelioma, and esophageal cancer, to the position of Director of the Thoracic Surgical Oncology Program and Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai’s Tisch Cancer Institute.
Formerly one of the best-known and most respected surgeons at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (also in New York), Dr. Flores, 43, a world-renowned surgeon, is famous for his technical and diagnostic expertise in treating patients suffering from mesothelioma, lung and esophageal cancers, and non-malignant thoracic diseases.
Dr. Flores, an expert in pleural mesothelioma, is also the author of several groundbreaking studies, including a landmark study he conducted that changed the surgical management of pleural mesothelioma. This study, called “Extrapleural Pneumonectomy versus Pleurectomy Decortication in the management of malignant pleural mesothelioma,” has been one of the most-often cited studies from the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery since its publication in 2008.
In it, Dr. Flores demonstrated conclusively that removing only part of the pleural membrane around the lungs was as successful as removing the entire lung in patients with pleural mesothelioma.
Dr. Flores is also known for his studies comparing the outcomes of traditional surgical approaches to pleural mesothelioma as opposed to newer and less invasive techniques, and himself pioneered a minimally invasive surgical procedure for treating lung cancers.
With lung cancer now the leading cause of death in America among both males and females, Dr. Flores’ experience in performing Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) lobectomies (removal of one lung) is of inestimable value.
Unlike traditional surgery, which requires opening the chest between the ribs, and often necessitates the removal of a rib, Dr. Flores’ pioneering work in VATS has reduced the procedure to three small incisions – just large enough to gain access to the lung and remove diseased portions.
This has resulted in more rapid recoveries, shorter hospital stays, and improved survival and recovery rates, and Dr. Flores – in addition to performing hundreds of VATS himself as a teaching and surgical tool – has helped gain widespread acceptance for the procedure by publishing two seminal papers showing that survival and recurrence rates (between VATS and traditional lung cancer surgery) are virtually identical.
Dr. Flores has also worked at the forefront of diagnosis and treatment in the field of mesothelioma, a rare cancer that results from asbestos exposure and occurs most commonly in the protective lining around the lungs (as pleural mesothelioma, in 75 percent of cases), but can also occur as peritoneal mesothelioma (in 10 to 20 percent of cases), and even as pericardial mesothelioma, around the heart, in one to two percent of cases.
Dr. Flores is also recognized for his surgical prowess in performing esophagectomies (removal of all or part of the esophagus), and his experience in mesothelioma, lung cancer and esophageal cancer clinical protocols and treatments will add another dimension of sophistication and skill to The World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program at Mount Sinai, which recognizes the prevalence of those three types of cancer among 9/11 first responders.
As the author of more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews, books, and book chapters, and a veteran of more than 100 speaking tours worldwide, Dr. Flores is an often-published and familiar figure in the annals of medicine, releasing his work in such prestigious journals as the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, The Annals of Surgery, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, and the Journal of Vascular Surgery.
A graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who interned and took his residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Dr. Flores completed a Thoracic Oncology Clinical Research Fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Dana Faber Cancer Institute/CALGB) in Boston, and took his Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Flores also holds a Master’s degree in Biostatistics from Columbia University.
Mount Sinai Medical Center is a 1,171-bed teaching facility offering tertiary and quaternary care. Founded in 1852, the Center is comprised of Mount Sinai Hospital, which ranks among the top 20 hospitals in the U.S. in 2009-2010 (U.S. News and World Report), and Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
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