ANNUAL REVIEW master Final3a - St Vincent's University Hospital

St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group Limited - Annual Review 2007
Department - Medical and Surgical Gastroenterology
Research and Education
The Centre for Colorectal Disease (CCD) is an umbrella for clinicians and scientists with an interest in
Colorectal Cancer, Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Functional Bowel Disorders. The aims of the centre are
the delivery of state of the art services for our patients, research into causes and treatment and the education
of the public. However, the multidisciplinary team would be unable to function successfully without the aid of
nursing co-ordinators and nurse specialists such as Anne White, Denise Keegan and Grace McEvoy who
lead patients through the varied and complex pathways of diagnosis, treatment and postoperative stoma care
in a way that appears seamless. Joanne McCarthy has joined the team as a nurse specialist. The Excelicare
database system is now the backbone of the weekly Colorectal Cancer audit organised by Anne White,
Marian Ward, Stewart Thompson and Ken Curran.
The research arm of the Centre for Colorectal Disease continues to flourish under the guidance of Dr
Jacintha O’Sullivan, Senior Research Scientist. The main research goals of the Centre for Colorectal Disease
are to achieve a more complete understanding of which biological factors that drive colorectal cancer and to
determine if different biological markers can distinguish people at high risk and elucidate which subset of
patients will response to particular treatment regimes. The goal of these translational research projects based
on unique and exciting explant work is to determine which cancers require additional treatment and what
therapies might be most effective. Such work has the potential for huge financial savings in the management
of Colorectal Cancer. The large and detailed databases for patients with Bowel Cancer and Inflammatory
Bowel Disease enable many of the projects to be achieved. The unit has very productive collaborations with
both national and international institutions.
Along with our colleagues in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and University College Dublinunder
the umbrella of Dublin Academic Health Care- the Centre has received recommendation for a 5
million euro grant that, at the time of writing, awaits funding confirmation from the HRB. This grant is centred
on the management of bowel cancer in the elderly.
Professors O’Donoghue and O’Connell represent the Hospital on the National Colorectal Cancer Screening
Committee.
Our Annual International Colorectal Meeting in the Education and Research Centre each September
continues to draw large numbers of attendees and is an ideal platform to display the various strengths and
activities of the unit.
We wish to record our thanks to the many individuals and groups who raise funds for our research. In
particular we would like to acknowledge foundations to the memory of Ellie Brady, Susie Byrne and
Darragh Gibbons.
Papers
Selected papers : (21 in total 2007)
O’Sullivan J, Sheridan J, Mulcahy H, Tenniswood M and Morrissey C. The effect of green tea on oxidative
damage and tumour formation in Lobound-Wistar rats.
(accepted Dec 2007, currently in press).
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