Dr. Price chairs International Network of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists

After serving two years as vice-chair, Dr. Price assumed leadership of the International Network of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists. At the annual meeting of the SGO in February 2009, Dr. Price addressed the 245 members of the committee on providing the special services of a gynecologic oncologist to women in developing countries. The International Outreach Committee serves as a clearinghouse and network for SGO members making medical service trips.

Dr. Price has made volunteer medical service trips to Haiti, Guyana, and Honduras. He has a continuing commitment to international healthcare. As a volunteer to Pittsburgh-based Global Links, he has translated equipment lists into Spanish and helped organize surgical instruments and surplus sutures for donation to hospitals all over the world. He has received the West Penn Hospital OB/GYN alumni award for community service three times in recognition of his work in poor communities overseas.

Pittsburgh Gynecologic Oncology develops the premier robotic surgery practice in Pittsburgh

Since performing the first abdominal hysterectomy in Western Pennsylvania with the daVinci surgical robot, on November 8, 2007, Dr. Price has gone on to perform hundreds more. In February, 2009, he presented his first 95 cases to the Pittsburgh OB-GYN Society. No other gynecologist or gynecologic oncologist in the city has that much experience with this new technology. Dr. Price has robotic surgery appointments with blocked operating time at UPMC Shadyside and West Penn Hospital.

Robotic surgery involves exact control of laparoscopic instruments by the surgeon, who sits at a computer console several feet away from the patient. The greatest advantage of the system is better visualization of the surgical area using a robotically controlled camera arm. With excellent magnification and precise binocular optics, tissue planes and blood vessels are more easily seen. Tiny hand-like instruments controlled by the surgeon can perform intricate tasks faster than traditional surgical or laparoscopic techniques. Complex operations can be accomplished with less loss of blood, less tissue damage, and the rapid recovery associated with minimally invasive surgery. For more information about this exciting new technology, see www.davincihysterectomy.com.

This minimally invasive surgical approach has many benefits for the patient, and can be appropriate for challenging conditions such as severe endometriosis and malignant diseases of the ovary, cervix and uterus.

Dr. Price has made a commitment to minimally invasive surgery for complex gynecologic surgery, and serves as a preceptor for other surgeons interested in learning robotic techniques. In addition, he has attended more than 40 hours of master classes with internationally renowned specialists to bring these latest techniques to Pittsburgh Gynecologic Oncology.

Pittsburgh Gynecologic Oncology Abroad

Dr. Price is dedicated to providing health care to women from underserved areas in the world. He has made six overseas trips since 2004 to Haiti, Guyans and Honduras. As Chair of the International Network of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists, he has facilitated the development of overseas trips for members of the society. In addition, through Health Volunteers Overseas, he has helped in their mission to develop a cancer center in Honduras.

At Hospital San Felipe in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras in May 2010, Dr. Price participated as the first gynecologic oncologist providing lectures and clinical services. Hospital San Felipe is the primary referral hospital for cancer patients in Honduras. Approximately 40% of the cancer cases treated at the hospital have gynecologic malignancy, most of them suffering from cervical cancer.

When Dr. Price made similar volunteer medical service trips to Guyana, patients had been identified on previous screening trips by volunteers from Remote Access Medical. These women were from areas of southwestern Guyana where medical care is almost non-existent and the rates of cervical cancer are high.  They are transported by air and bus to the general hospitals of Georgetown, the national capital. Dr. Price led the surgical team consisting of an anesthesiologist, a Gynecologic Oncology Fellow-in-Training from Roswell Park Cancer Center in Buffalo, and an OB/GYN.

Dr. Price chosen by "Best Doctors" again

According to a poll of physicians conducted by the Best Doctors®, Dr. Fredric Price was chosen one of the "Best Doctors in America" for the fifth time. Only 4% of doctors nationwide are chosen for this honor. In order to be chosen, doctors from all specialties are asked questions about which physicians they would choose if they or a family member needed the services of a practitioner of a particular specialty.

Board Recertification

Dr. Price recently completed the 2010 Annual Board Certification requirements of the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for both the general specialty of OB/GYN and the subspecialty of Gynecologic Oncology. After first completing his 10-year board certification in 1996, Dr. Price has successfully taken the recertification examination ten times.

New study on stress caused by waiting for test results

Any time a patient is waiting for test results, she is likely to feel some stress. Dr. Price mentions his own experience with this particularly awful uncertainty in his blog, 25th Anniversary of a Life-changing Event. That’s why Dr. Price will inform you of your test results or biopsies as soon as he has them, either in the office or by telephone. If you do not want to be given test results over the phone, please be sure to let him know.

You can read a New York Times article about a Harvard study on the stress women feel waiting for breast biopsy results here.