Gladstone Gift Supports Prostate Care Center
Ultrasound probe will enhance BIDMC’s ability to care for prostate cancer patients
Date: 3/12/2009
BIDMC Contact: Jerry Berger
Phone: 617-667-7308
Email: jberger@bidmc.harvard.edu
BOSTON – A gift from Joyce and Karl Gladstone of North Andover to the Department of Radiation Oncology has enabled Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) to purchase a state-of-the-art transrectal ultrasound probe that will enhance BIDMC’s ability to care for prostate cancer patients.
This leading-edge imaging probe, among the most advanced technology available today, allows clinicians to produce real-time digital images to more precisely guide procedures such as brachytherapy, a minimally invasive procedure where oncologists use needles to insert tiny radioactive “seeds” directly into the prostate tumor.
The seeds then deliver a constant dose of precise radiation to the exact location where treatment is required rather than to a larger area of the body – customizing the treatment to each individual patient’s unique disease and treatment plan. The ultrasound probe, purchased through a gift of $75,000, is used to produce extremely high-quality images in real time, enabling the highest level of quality and safety, and comfort.
BIDMC’s successful brachytherapy program is led by oncologist Irving Kaplan, MD, who successfully treated Gladstone. The program has treated more than 2,000 patients in 11 years, and is responsible for pioneering groundbreaking innovations in brachytherapy, such as customized software used to guide radiation oncologists during the procedures.
“I am so grateful to Joyce and Karl Gladstone for their generous gift. This new state-of-the-art technology allows our clinicians to give prostate cancer patients better quality implants with the exact dose prescribed by their radiation oncologist, thereby administering only what is needed. Beth Israel Deaconess is so lucky to be the recipient of such outstanding philanthropy,” Kaplan said.
A member of the BIDMC Board of Overseers, Gladstone is the owner of KG Associates, Inc., a property management, residential construction, and real estate firm based in Andover. He was a board member at Saints Medical Center in Lowell, Caritas Holy Family Hospital and Northern Essex Community College.
He is a former member of the Board of Trustees at Merrimack College in North Andover, where he also served as the Director of the Office of Institutional Advancement, and from where he holds an honorary doctoral degree. He is also the President of the “Men of Merrimack” and the creator of the “Friends of Merrimack” scholarship program for disadvantaged students. Joyce and Karl Gladstone have made possible the academic careers of more than 2,000 Merrimack students through the establishment of scholarship funds and other fundraising.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and consistently ranks among the top four in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org .
