Duly Surgeon First in Illinois to Use Tumor-Illuminating Technology for Ovarian Cancer Surgery

Duly Health and Care this month announced that Dr. Sameer Shar­ma, a gyne­co­log­ic oncol­o­gist at Duly Health and Care’s Chicagoland med­ical group, DuPage Med­ical Group, Ltd., is the first physi­cian in Illi­nois to per­form ovar­i­an can­cer surgery using Cytalux, a new­ly approved imag­ing agent that caus­es can­cer­ous tis­sue to ​“glow” — and can thus help sur­geons see and remove tumors with greater precision.

“Ovar­i­an can­cer surgery often comes down to what you can’t see,” Dr. Shar­ma said. ​“Cytalux gives us anoth­er set of eyes in the oper­at­ing room. When can­cer cells light up, it helps us be more pre­cise, more con­fi­dent, and ulti­mate­ly more effec­tive for our patients.”

Dr. Shar­ma brings more than 20 years of expe­ri­ence in gyne­co­log­ic oncol­o­gy and per­forms about 60 advanced ovar­i­an can­cer surg­eries each year, plac­ing him among the high­est-vol­ume ovar­i­an can­cer sur­geons in the coun­try. Research shows that patients treat­ed by expe­ri­enced, high-vol­ume sur­geons have bet­ter out­comes — par­tic­u­lar­ly for ovar­i­an can­cer, where com­plete tumor removal is critical.

Admin­is­tered pri­or to surgery, Cytalux caus­es ovar­i­an can­cer cells to ​“glow” under a spe­cial­ized cam­era. That enables sur­geons to detect dis­ease that may not be vis­i­ble to the naked eye.

“For patients, this tech­nol­o­gy can mean the dif­fer­ence between leav­ing micro­scop­ic dis­ease behind and remov­ing every­thing we pos­si­bly can,” Dr. Shar­ma said. ​“That mat­ters — not just for today’s surgery but for what comes next in their treat­ment and recovery.”

Only a small num­ber of spe­cial­ized health sys­tems nation­wide offer Cytalux for ovar­i­an can­cer surgery, plac­ing Duly among a select group deliv­er­ing cut­ting-edge can­cer care.

“Ovar­i­an can­cer remains one of the most dead­ly gyne­co­log­ic can­cers, claim­ing more than 12,000 lives each year in the Unit­ed States — includ­ing near­ly 500 in Illi­nois,” said Dr. Shar­ma. ​“Inno­va­tions like this, com­bined with expe­ri­enced onco­log­ic sur­gi­cal care, give us new ways to push out­comes in the right direc­tion — right here in the community.”

DuPage Med­ical Group, Ltd. dba Duly Health and Care of North­ern Illi­nois (“Duly”) is Duly’s Chicagoland med­ical group.

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About Duly Health and Care

The Duly Health and Care brand con­sists of some of the largest inde­pen­dent, mul­ti-spe­cial­ty, physi­cian-direct­ed med­ical groups in the nation, with more than 1,000 pri­ma­ry care and spe­cial­ty care providers and over 6,000 team mem­bers across more than 150 loca­tions. The Duly Health and Care brand includes three med­ical groups — DuPage Med­ical Group Ltd., Quin­cy Med­ical Group, and The South Bend Clin­ic LLC. Duly is deeply com­mit­ted to car­ing for patients in tra­di­tion­al and val­ue-based care arrange­ments, ensur­ing a focus on qual­i­ty, effi­cien­cy, and enhanced patient expe­ri­ences through­out the Midwest.

For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it duly​healthand​care​.com.