Providence Gala Strives for New Cancer-Detecting Tool

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To an outsider, a cystoscope looks like such a small, potentially unimportant medical tool.

But to Dr. Robert Hehn, who has time and again seen the tool save lives, it is an essential tool.

And to bladder cancer patients and survivors, it's a lifeline.

This lifeline is the focus of the fund-raising efforts at the Providence Centralia Hospital Foundation's Winter Gala, which takes place Nov. 21 at the Great Wolf Lodge. Jocelyn Wood, director of development for the Providence St. Peter Foundation, said the gala, which was formerly a festival of trees, really exists to fund critical needs in the local health care community.

“It's not just a Christmas event to celebrate the season but there's a reason we do this,” Wood said.

This year's Winter Gala fund-a-need will be to purchase a more state-of-the art cystoscope for urology patients at Providence Centralia Hospital. Used to perform a cystoscopy (a scan of the bladder) the flexible or non-flexible scopes use white light to illuminate bladder tissues while an eyepiece allows the doctor to look for potentially cancerous growths. Hehn said bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer and the second most common treated by urologists. This year Hehn, the only urologist in Lewis County, has treated 81 patients for bladder cancer and performed 561 cystoscopies.

Hehn explained that bladder cancer is said to be the most expensive cancer in terms of the cost of treatment over the lifetime of the patient. Because the cancer is 50-60 percent likely to return at some point, after treatment patients must receive cystoscopies for the rest of their life. These screenings take place every three to four months the first two years, then every six months for the following two years and then annually.

“And if the cancer returns we start all over again,” Hehn said.

For Michael Rogers, his bladder cancer journey began on New Year’s Day 2015 when he noticed blood in his urine, the most common symptom of a bladder disorder. He had surgery to remove tumors, which seems to have been successful. But for Rogers, his periodic cystoscopy is the only way to know for sure. If bladder cancer is caught early enough, the tumors can be removed. But if the cancer goes untreated and spreads into the muscle walls, the treatment can end up being bladder removal.



“Some people just ignore it but that takes them to their graves,” Rogers said.

The new cystoscopy equipment that is the focus of the upcoming fund-raiser will provide the same life-saving screenings but with several added benefits. First the new system uses refractive light rather than white light, which can highlight a deeper level of detail in the bladder tissue. The system, called narrow-band imaging (or NBI), can detect about 20 percent more cancerous tissue than a white light system. Hehn said the newer scopes, which are in use in the operating rooms at the hospital, also allow them to see cancerous tissue that is flatter than what can be detected with white light as well as to better see the edges of a cancerous cells. Newer models also allow more biopsies to be performed in the office under local anesthesia, which saves the patient a trip to the hospital

“We know it's going to be very useful,” Hehn said. “It's a needed advancement.”

Another benefit of the new spectrum scopes is current models only allow the doctor to see through the scope. State of the art models include a monitor so patients can see what the doctor is seeing. It also allows medical staff to take photos for documentation.

“For survivors to be able to actually visualize and see that their tumor is gone will be very powerful” said Shannon Brown, who works with Dr. Hehn.

Rogers added that Hehn actually came out of retirement and travels to Lewis County from Vancouver a few days each week to ensure urology care to Lewis County patients within Lewis County. He said without him, all bladder cancer patients and survivors would have to travel to other counties for their treatments and screenings. 

He hopes that the new spectrum scope will not only be a good thing for the current doctor and patients but might mean great things for the future of urology care in Lewis County.

“This might entice them to come here,” Rogers said. “If we got a spectrum scope, the latest thing, more doctors might want to come here.”