(Bethesda, MD, March 14, 2005) – Recent innovations in orthopedic surgery, medical oncology, radiation therapy, and design of artificial joint implants have improved the quality of life for persons who suffer from musculoskeletal tumors, says Dr. Felasfa (“Phil”) Wodajo, a specialist in orthopedic oncology who recently joined the Suburban Hospital medical staff.

Orthopedic oncologists are orthopedic surgeons with advanced training in the treatment of bone and soft tissue tumors. As one of only a handful of physicians nationwide specializing in orthopedic oncology — and the only one currently practicing in suburban Maryland — Dr. Wodajo’s association with Suburban Hospital offers significant benefits to members of the community facing this condition.

While most tumors found in bone are metastatic, having spread from a primary cancer site to elsewhere in the body, another form of cancer can start in the bone or muscle of a child or young adult. That form is known as a sarcoma. According to Dr. Wodajo, just a few years ago, all patients with high-grade sarcomas were treated with amputation.

Advances in chemotherapy have now produced dramatic improvement in overall survival rates, especially for children and young adults. The improved survival rate stimulated the development of advanced limb-sparing surgical techniques. For those patients, who often require surgical removal of large segments of bone and/or muscle to completely eradicate the tumor, orthopedic oncologists rely on their specialized skills in limb-sparing surgery.

“With careful attention to detail, preservation of nerves and blood vessels, and meticulous reconstruction of soft tissues, segments of bone and joint can now be replaced with metallic implants to achieve very impressive and durable functional results in most instances,” says Dr. Wodajo. “This type of procedure is ground breaking for Suburban Hospital and Montgomery County.”

For patients whose tumors have spread from other sites, a combination of treatments is used to alleviate pain and restore the patient’s quality of life. The treatment options include chemotherapy or radiation alone, or in conjunction with surgery. Newer surgical techniques adapted from trauma surgery allow for improved skeletal stabilization with reduced morbidity. Cryosurgery (freezing the bone) at the time of surgery can be utilized for more rapidly growing tumors. For tumors in difficult locations such as the spine or pelvis, a small probe can used to heat-ablate the tumor and provide significant pain relief. “Having a large palette of options allows us to tailor the treatment for each patient”, says Dr. Wodajo.

Dr. Wodajo has teaching appointments at Georgetown University and at the Howard University School of Medicine, and also works as a consultant for the National Cancer Institute. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Princeton University and his MD degree from the University of California, San Francisco. He completed his residency in Orthopedics at Howard University and his Orthopedic Oncology fellowship at Washington Hospital Center.

Dr. Wodajo’s work has been published in medical journals and he has presented research papers at national and international meetings. He is a member of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society and the Connective Tissue Oncology Society.

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For more information, go to www.suburbanhospital.org/publications/nd_summer05/page_002.cfm#001 or visit http://www.tumors.md/.