Sept. 23 Annual Gala *VENUE CHANGE* due to weather — See details
On their seventh trip to Guatemala City, Team ENT handled some of the largest cancers they have ever encountered. a massive dermatofibroma sarcoma of the scalp, and a malignant Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland.
The team was also able to reevaluate patients from previous years, including reviewing cancer surveillance for a 2016 patient named Edna who is now cancer free for seven years. at the time of her surgery, Edna required a total thyroidectomy, neck dissections, and a tracheostomy.
"Having returned to Guatemala in 2022 during the height of the COVID Omicron variant, and seeing the back up of patients needing care, we knew we would have our work cut out for us in 2023," team co-founder Shawn Ciecko, MD, F.A.C.S. said of the 2023 mission.
Team ENT partnered with Dr. Marc Cohen, a world renowned head and neck cancer surgeon, specializing in skull base surgery, to tackle the cases on their 2023 trip. Dr. Ciecko says the mission, which included both new patients and checking up on previous patients, "continued to strengthen our bonds with a country that we now call a second home."
"This continuity of care, and the ability to connect patients to continue treatment years later is what makes our missions to Guatemala so successful!"
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