Surgeons at work in the operating room.

In 2014 EVMS, in collaboration with Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, began offering a procedure called HIPEC, which stands for hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. The great medical promise demonstrated by HIPEC has led EVMS and Sentara to present the Mid-Atlantic Peritoneal Malignancy Conference June 11 and 12 at the Virginia Beach Hilton.

This conference provides a unique opportunity for area clinicians to learn about this highly specialized procedure and meet the pioneer of the surgery technique in one of its featured speakers, Paul Sugarbaker, MD, Medical Director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Malignancies at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, D.C.

HIPEC is a specialized procedure for cancers that have spread throughout the abdomen. Once tumors are surgically removed, the abdominal cavity is washed in a heated chemotherapy solution. This is meant to treat any cells that have potentially been left behind after surgery. There are fewer than 60 HIPEC programs in the United States; two of them are located in Hampton Roads. 

Surgical oncologist Richard Hoefer, Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery at EVMS and Medical Director of the Sentara Cancer Network, is course director. Among the internationally renowned presenters is Eric Feliberti, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery at EVMS.