Accessibility Tools
Hide
Skip Header
Skip Content
Home / Research

Research

Thoracic Surgery team at Memorial Healthcare is always striving to improve the quality of care we provide for our patients. We actively collaborate with experts in the research field from around the country to bring and incorporate the most advanced and evidence based care into our practice. Areas of active investigations include:

  • Multi-institutional collaboration and analysis of National Cancer Database and SEER Cancer Database
  • Society of Thoracic Surgeons Database
  • Prospective Randomized Double-Blind Trial of Intrapleural Fibrinolytic Therapy to Enhance Chemical Pleurodesis (IFTEP). Sponsor: Genentech (PI: Mark Block, MD)
  • Alliance A211401: Reducing Surgical Complications In Newly Diagnosed Lung Cancer Patients Who Smoke Cigarettes. Sponsor: Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. Community Oncology Co-Chair and Institutional Principal Investigator. [Mark Block, MD]
  • Alliance A151216: Adjuvant Lung Cancer Enrichment Marker Identification and Sequencing Trial (ALCHEMIST) Sponsor: Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. Institutional Principal Investigator. [Mark Block, MD]

We also work closely with Memorial’s Office of Human Research to insure that our patients are given access to the latest clinical trials. We are currently participating in the following cooperative group clinical trials through the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology:

  • Alchemist – This is a large nationwide trial to study how specific gene mutations in lung cancer affect the response to treatment after surgery.
  • Alliance – This study investigates how best to help lung cancer patients quit smoking before undergoing lung cancer surgery (see above).

Visit the following link for more information on clinical trials being performed at Memorial Healthcare System: https://www.mhs.net/clinical-trials

Outlined below are some of the most recent publications and research performed by Dr. Block, Dr. Tarrazzi and Dr. Razi. Of note, our division provides opportunities and mentorships in clinical research techniques for medical students from both Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University, and have helped several students submit research findings to national meetings and publications.

Selected Publications:

  1. Servais EL, Towe CW, Brown LM, Broderick SR, Block MI, Burfeind WR, Mitchell JD, Schipper PH, Raymond DP, David EA. The Society of Thoracic Surgery Database: 2020 Update on Outcomes and Research. Ann Thoracic Surg 2020;110(3):768-775.
  2. Farjah F, Garu-Sepulveda MV, Gaissert H, Block M, Grogan E, Brown LM, Kosinski AS, Kozower BD. The Volume Pledge is Not Associated with Better Short-Term Outcomes after Lung Cancer Resection. In press. J Clin Oncol. Published online August 7, 2020:JCO2000329. doi:10.1200/JCO.20.00329
  3. Benhayon D, Wu F, Tarrazzi F, Cogan J, Castillo D, Levine J, Cortelli M, Block MI, Gongora E. Atrioesophageal fistula post atrial fibrillation ablation managed with an esophageal stent followed by surgical repair. Heart Rhythm Case Reports. 2020;6(7):378-381. doi:10.1016/j.hrcr.2020.03.007
  4. Patino SH, Tarrazzi F, Tami C, Bellini A, Block M. Extended Dwell Time Improves Results of Fibrinolytic Therapy for Complex Pleural Effusions. Cureus Journal of Medical Science. Published online August 11, 2020. doi:10.7759/cureus.9664
  5. Bellini A, Tarrazzi F, Tami C, Patino SH, Block M. Intrapleural Fibrinolytic Therapy Improves Results With Talc Slurry Pleurodesis. Cureus Journal of Medical Science. 2020;12(8). doi:10.7759/cureus.10122
  6. Clark JM, Kozower BD, Kosinski AS, Chang A, Broderick SR, David EA, Block M, Schipper PH, Welsh RJ, Seder CW, Farjah F, Brown LM. Variability in Smoking Status for Lobectomy Among Society of Thoracic Surgeons Database Participants. Submitted to Ann Thoracic Surg
  7. Razi SS, Kodia K, Alnajar A, Block MI, Tarrazzi F, Nguyen D, Villamizar N. Lobectomy is superior to Stereotactic Body Radiation Treatment in elderly patients above 80 years with early stage non-small cell lung cancer. Presented at 56th Annual Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Jan 2020. Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2020 [In Press].
  8. Baig Z, Razi SS, Weber J, Connery CP, Bhora FY. Lobectomy is superior to segmentectomy for peripheral high grade non-small cell lung cancer ≤ 2 cm. Journal of Thoracic Disease 2020 [In Press].
  9. Razi SS, Stephens-McDonough J, Haq S, Fabbro M, Sanchez AN, Epstein RH, Villamizar N, Nguyen D. Significant reduction of in-hospital and post-discharge use of potent opioid analgesic by implementation of a multi-modal pain management strategy as part of an Enhanced Recovery After Thoracic Surgery (ERATS) protocol. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2020 [In Press]
  10. Kodia K, Razi SS, Alnajar A, Nguyen D, Villamizar N. Comparative Analysis of Robotic Segmentectomy For Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer – A National Cancer Database Study. Innovations 2020 [Under Revision]
  11. Baig Z, Razi SS, Weber J, Connery C, Bhora FY. Anatomic Resection is Superior to Wedge Resection for Second Primary Lung Cancer (SPLC) After Prior Lobectomy. European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery 2020 [Under Revision]
  12. Razi SS, Nguyen D, Villamizar N. Reply from authors: Positive nodes after segmentectomy: Take a deep breath and give adjuvant treatment. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2020 Aug;160(2):e85-e86.
  13. Razi SS, Nguyen D, Villamizar N. Lobectomy does not confer survival advantage over segmentectomy for non–small cell lung cancer with unsuspected nodal disease. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2019;159(6):P2469-2483.
  14. Razi SS, Nguyen D, Villamizar N. Minimally invasive segmentectomy for early stage lung cancer gains momentum. Ann Transl Med. 2019 Feb;7(3):62.
  15. Azab B, Macedo FI, Cass SH, Ripat C, Razi SS, Picado O, Franceschi D, Livingstone AS, Yakoub D. A large national comparative study of clinicopathological features and long-term survivals between esophageal gastrointestinal stromal tumor and leiomyosarcoma. Am J Surg,2018(2):323-328.
  16. Gaissert, HA, Fernandez FG, Crabtree T, Burfeind WR, Allen MS, Block MI, Schipper PH, Jacobs JP, Habib RH, Shahian DM. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons General Thoracic Surgery Database: 2017 Update on Research. Ann Thoracic Surg. 2017 Nov;104(5): 1450–55.
  17. Razi SS, Daskalaki D, Burack J. Current trends in lung resection for T1a non-small cell lung cancer: Is lobectomy still the answer? J Thorac Dis. 2017 Feb;9(2):E164-5.
  18. Razi SS, John MM, Sainathan S, Stavropoulos C. Sub-lobar resection is equivalent to lobectomy for T1a non-small cell lung cancer in the elderly: A surveillance, epidemiology and end results (SEER) database analysis. J Surg Res. 2016 Feb;200(2):683-9.
  19. Louie BE, Wilson JL, Kim S, Cerfolio RJ, Park BJ, Farivar AS, Vallieres E, Aye RW, Burfeind WR, Block MI. Comparison of VATS and Robotic Approaches for Clinical Stage I and II NSCLC Using the STS Database. Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 2016; 102(3):917-24.
  20. Gaissert HA, Fernandez FG, Allen MS, Burfeind WR, Block MI, Donahue JM, Mitchell JD, Schipper PH, Onaitis MW, Kosinski AS, Jacobs JP, Shahian DM, Kozower BD, Edwards FH, Conrad EA, Patterson GA. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons General Thoracic Surgery Database: 2016 Update on Research. Ann Thoracic Surg. 2016 Nov;102(5):1444-1451.
  21. Razi SS, Rehmani S, Li X, Park K, Schwartz GS, Latif MJ, Bhora FY. Anti-tumor activity of Paclitaxel is significantly enhanced by a novel pro-apoptotic agent in non-small cell lung cancer. J Surg Res. 2015 Apr;194(2):622-30.