Patient Success Stories

Telemedicine Links Cancer Experts in Coordinating Patient's Care

When Leonard (Lenny) Fishbein received his diagnosis of advanced lung cancer three years ago, his odds of survival were not good. At age 72, he had been a smoker for over 50 years. Despite regular chest X-rays, his lung cancer had gone undetected, and was now stage IV, meaning that it had spread to another part of his body. In fact, neurological symptoms, specifically tremors on the right side of his body, were what originally sent him to the doctor.

"My wife noticed me shaking one day at the kitchen table, and she insisted I go to a doctor after I admitted I had two other episodes previously," says the Rockville, Maryland, resident. Tests revealed several lesions on his brain and a small tumor on his lung. Fishbein's son, Dr. David M. Fishbein, a gastroenterologist in Baltimore, Maryland, recommended a colleague, Dr. Mark Krasna. It was quickly determined that Fishbein's brain lesions were the result of metastasized lung cancer. His plan of care would be two-pronged: first, get rid of the lesions on his brain, and then address the lung cancer.

Fishbein's oncologist, Dr. J. Garrett Riley, referred him to Dr. Luther Ampey, medical director of the Helen P. Denit Center for Radiation Therapy at Montgomery General Hospital and assistant professor of radiation oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Montgomery General is one three affiliated community radiation oncology centers where University of Maryland physicians and staff provide patient care and are linked to the oncology specialists at the UMGCC's downtown Baltimore campus through a telemedicine link.

Using state-of-the-art telemedicine technology, Dr. Ampey was able to present Fishbein's case to his colleagues. "Videoconferencing allows you to collaborate on how to provide the best treatment possible. The more minds that you can put to a case, the more angles can be discussed and pursued," Dr. Ampey said. "It makes it a lot easier to coordinate a patient's care."

Treatment began with a course of whole brain radiation followed by lung radiation over several weeks at Montgomery General's radiation oncology center to shrink the lesions. This was followed by several months of aggressive chemotherapy.

Next was the Gamma Knife Center at UMGCC, where Fishbein met with Dr. Lawrence Chin, associate professor of neurosurgery and medical director of the Gamma Knife Center. He underwent gamma knife radiosurgery, a procedure that uses high-dose ionizing radiation to attack the tumor without traditional surgery. Fishbein was able to go home the next day.

With the brain lesions taken care of, he was ready for the treatment team to address his underlying problem, the primary cancer in his lung. Dr. Krasna performed minimally-invasive surgery to remove the lesion from Fishbein's lung. Says Fishbein, "It was a breeze. I didn't feel a thing."

Looking back, Fishbein credits his doctor-son for his good advice, his local oncologist for his coordination with all the UMGCC doctors, his daughter-in-law for swiftly setting his appointments and tests, and his wife for all of her support.

Three years later, he appears to have beaten the odds, thanks to cutting-edge technology for cancer treatment, care by a skilled team of specialists, and the technology that linked them all together. Checkups continue to show him to be disease-free and he's feeling great. An athletic lifestyle - he played and coached baseball all his life - and his comedian's sense of humor probably played a key role in his recovery. While he can no longer swing a bat or round third base like he used to, surviving cancer has been the biggest "win" of his life.


This page was last updated on: January 24, 2007.