Cancer News, Treatment and Research

When Wilmington resident Joan O’Beirne, 68, started experiencing shortness of breath during her daily activities, she had no idea what could be causing it or that she was about to become part of a pioneering research study. A widow with three grown children, O’Beirne has always been active and healthy, never smoking, playing tennis, and more recently watching her grandchildren every afternoon. When she noticed her shortness of breath, she consulted her primary care doctor who sent her to a lung specialist. Her early tests were inconclusive; she showed no sign of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Seeking an answer, O’Beirne’s doctors ordered additional testing for cardiac disease and blood clots as well as a CT scan of her lungs. Finally, the CT showed scar tissue in the upper left lobe of her lung that a radiologist suspected might be a sign of cancer. A PET scan confirmed active cancer cells and she was sent to a lung surgeon for a biopsy to determine the extent of her cancer. After a surgeon advised that her tumor would require a surgical biopsy—a procedure that increased the possibility of spreading the cancer—O’Beirne sought a second opinion. She met with Massachusetts General Hospital and North Shore Medical Center thoracic surgeon and lung specialist, Dean Donahue, MD With O’Beirne as an active member of her own care team, she decided to first have Dr. Donahue and the interventional radiologist perform a needle biopsy and send the sample to pathology for …