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the project allowed them to create valuable educational learning
resources. When asked if the project allowed them to explore
careers in surgery, 62.5% agreed and 37.5% strongly agreed. All
students agreed or strongly agreed that the project allowed them
to gain valuable skills in video filming.
Conclusions: A total of 21 surgical videos were developed.
The pilot project “Lights, Camera, Surgery” was a worthwhile
learning experience and provided students specialized skills in the
production of clinical education videos. This novel approach has
served as a unique way to expose students to careers in surgery
and to interact with surgical mentors.
The Live Renal Donor Experience
Tamryn Law, Anastasia Radetski, Christopher Nguan
Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Introduction and Objective: Last year 195 Canadians died
on the organ transplant waiting list before they could receive
a transplant. In Canada, there are currently 4,000 people on
the waiting list; 75% of which are awaiting kidneys. In British
Columbia, 106 living donor renal transplants occurred in 2007.
The objective of this study was to suggest improvements in the
transplant experience to facilitate the live donation process. This
was done by analyzing positive and negative aspects of the renal
donor transplantation experience from a donor’s point of view:
during and following the donation process.
Methods: Ten renal transplant donors in BC were interviewed
during a follow-up post-operative appointment. All surgeries
were done by a single surgeon, with BC Transplant. Interview
questions focused on donor experiences during laboratory workup,
on the surgery day, and up to several months post-surgery.
Further information was elucidated through prompting questions
pertaining to their health (physical health, mental/emotional
health [pre- and post- donation]), relationships (personal and
professional), and the overall donation process. Transcripts
were read three times, and common trends and categories were
identified via the grounded theory of inductive approach.
Result: Nine of the ten donors felt so strongly and positively about
the importance of the donation process that they would do it again
and/or recommend siblings or relatives to donate. Successful
areas of support and services noted by donors included: flow
and coordination of the donation process, Transplant Agency
support, caring staff, finances, and employer social support. Areas
of concern for the donors included: physical recipient-donor
recovery reunion, pain control, management of expectations of
post-surgical physical outcomes, and fatigue levels.
Conclusion: The results of this study can be applied as
recommendations to improve the donation process by continuing
the beneficial services, while addressing areas of concerns for
donors. By modifying the recruitment process to improve the
donor experience, this has the potential to alleviate the current
need for live renal donors. Furthermore, these results have
widespread application to all transplant societies, not necessarily
just renal transplants, nor those confined to BC.
Cancer as an epigenetic disease: CpG
island hypomethylation of Mdm4 in
squamous cell lung cancer
Andy Lo
UBC/BCIT Biotechnology
Aberrant DNA methylation patterns in an increasing number
of tumor suppressor genes have been shown to determine
carcinogenetic transformation. The methylation state of a
particular CpG island present near the transcription start site of
the gene Mdm4 is of particular importance. A technique for rapid
DNA methylation analysis, known as MSRE-PCR, was employed
and its effectiveness is evaluated. The CpG island located near
the transcription start site of Mdm4 was found to be unmethylated
in all six pairs of normal and squamous cell lung cancer samples.
This result corresponds to Mdm4 protein’s role as a p53 inhibitor
and cancer-inducing protein but does not indicate methylation to
be a contributor to cancer formation. MSRE-PCR was successful
at determining the methylation state of CpG dinucleotides
in a specific CpG island and it has proven to be an invaluable
tool in determining the role of methylation in various types of
carcinogenesis.
Prevalence of femoroacetabular
impingement in individuals undergoing
total hip replacement for osteoarthritis
– a retrospective radiographic review
Rita Lung 1 , Julia Grebenyuk 2 , Julie O’Brien 2 , Bruce
Forster 2 , Mary De Vera 1,4 , Jacek Kopec 1 , Charles
Ratzlaff 1,4 , Donald Garbuz 3 , John Esdaile 1
1
Arthritis Research Centre of Canada, Vancouver
2
Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia
3
Department of Orthopaedics, University of British Columbia
4
School of Population and Public Health, University of British
Columbia
Objective: Recently, femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) has
been suggested as the major cause of primary hip osteoarthritis.
We assessed the prevalence of FAI detected radiographically in a
comparatively young cohort that underwent total hip replacement
(THR) for primary hip osteoarthritis.
Methods: The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority Total Joint
Replacement Service database was used to identify subjects aged
< 55 years with pre-operative radiographs acquired prior to a
THR procedure for primary hip osteoarthritis during the period
2007-2008. Exclusion criteria included hip fracture, rheumatoid
arthritis, hip infection, osteonecrosis, congenital and other hip
dysplasia, and other secondary causes of osteoarthritis. Eightytwo
subjects were included in the study by random selection.
Two radiologists reviewed together the classic radiographic
FAI signs to form consensus for definitions, then independently
assessed the retrospective pre-operative radiographs (AP pelvis
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