Thursday 18th March 2021, 16:30-17:30
Thymoma and Thymic carcninoma are a type of cancer which affects the thymus gland. Thymic carcinoma and Thymoma are both so rare that there are no documented statistics for the incidence of this disease in Cancer Research UK. Due to this diagnosis can often be incidental when the patient attends for investigations for another purpose, or if a patient presents with a related condition such as myasthenia gravis.
In the past, thymoma was considered by the medical community to have the ability to be either benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). However, thymoma is now considered to be always possibility malignant and the best way to determine if the condition will recur after treatment is to examine if the tumours have spread to other areas. In contrast Thymic cancer is even rarer, it can affect people of any age, it tends to be aggressive in nature and metastasize to other areas of the body.
In this webinar we will hear from Mr Andrea Bille (Consultant Thoracic Surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital) who has built up extensive experience in the treatment of Thymoma and Thymic cancer.
Marrika Colvin who is the Thymoma/Thymic CNS at Guys and St Thomas’ hospital will then take us through the patient journey and the nursing care of both Thymoma and Thymic cancer patients.
It is hoped that at the end of this webinar you will have gained a good basic knowledge around the treatment and care of patients with either Thymoma or Thymic cancer.
Our webinars are for healthcare professionals only.
Watch On Demand
Speakers
Andrea Billie
Andrea Billie is a Consultant Thoracic Surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Kings College University, London who specialises in the treatment of Lung cancer, Thymoma, Mesothelioma. Qualifying in 2005 from the University of Turin and trained in Cardiothoracic Surgery in Italy and at Guy’s Hospital, London, Andrea undertook a clinical fellowship at Guy’s Hospital focusing on mesothelioma surgery and minimally invasive thoracic surgery for the treatment of lung cancer and benign conditions. In 2013 Mr Billie was appointed as a consultant at the National Institute of Cancer in Milan, focusing on surgical treatment of lung cancer, thoracic sarcoma and mediastinal tumour which require extensive resection and complex reconstruction. In 2014/15 Andrea undertook a clinical fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in the US and trained in thoracoscopic and robotic surgery for the treatment of thoracic malignancies. Mr Billie completed his PhD in 2015 which focussed surgical treatment of mesothelioma. He has been published extensively and presented at conferences worldwide. Mr Billie is a member of the thymoma and mesothelioma international staging committee and also a member of the International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group.
Marrika Colvin
Marrika is a Lung Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation. She has worked in cancer care since she qualified in 1998, working at St Georges and The Royal Marsden hospitals before taking up her current position as Lung Cancer CNS at Guys and St Thomas’ in 2009. She has completed a BSC (Hons) Nursing and Diploma in Clinical Cancer Nursing and more recently a Next Generation Nightingale Award completed with Kings College London and Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust . Whilst in her current position Marrika has developed a keen interest in Thymic malignancies and supporting this rare cancer patient group within her caseload. In recent years this has led her to be involved with a small group of patients in setting up ThymicUK, which is the only UK wide support and advocacy group for patients and their families with thymic cancers. This is now a registered charity and Marrika is a trustee.
Rachel Thomas
LCNUK Committee member, Rachel qualified as a nurse in September 2000 and initially specialised in HIV nursing, undertaking an MSc in Health Care Research. Rachel has worked at Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Trust for 7 yrs and became a Mesothelioma/Lung Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist 6yrs ago. Rachel really enjoys working in the field of lung cancer as it has many similarities to HIV in the early days. Since working in this role Rachel has become part of the Asbestos Sub-committee at Parliament and helped set up a nurse led clinic for patients on TKI’s. Rachel also runs a successful Mesothelioma support group and publishes a newsletter for all the Mesothelioma patients who attend Guy’s and St Thomas’ for treatment. As part of Rachel’s role she has also project managed education programmes for lung cancer health professionals across London on setting up a nurse led clinic and evidenced based prescribing of TKI’s. Rachel has been a committee member for LCNUK since 2013 and truly enjoys being part of an expert and dynamic team. Rachel also very recently has become a member of The British Thoracic Society..