Tag Archive for: Janampa

little girl being examined by doctor

First Washington-based Turner syndrome clinic opens Jan. 28

little girl being examined by doctor

Endocrinologists at Children’s National work with a team of cardiologists, gynecologists, geneticists, psychologists and other clinicians to provide comprehensive and personalized care for girls with Turner syndrome.

Starting Monday, Jan. 28, 2018 girls with Turner syndrome will be able to receive comprehensive and personalized treatment at Children’s National Health System for the rare chromosomal condition that affects about one in 2,500 female births.

Many girls with Turner syndrome often work with a pediatric endocrinologist to address poor growth and delayed puberty, which may be treated with human growth hormone and estrogen replacement therapy. They may also need specialty care to screen for and treat heart defects, frequent ear infections, hearing loss, vision problems and challenges with non-verbal learning.

Roopa Kanakatti Shankar, M.D., M.S., a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s National, aims to consolidate this treatment with a comprehensive Turner syndrome clinic.

“We’re creating a place that girls with Turner syndrome can come to receive specialized and personalized treatment, while feeling supported,” says Dr. Shankar.

Patients can now schedule visits and meet with multiple specialists in one clinic location:

The multispecialty referral team includes neuropsychologists, otolaryngologists (ear, nose and throat doctors), orthopedics, urology and dentistry to address unique medical needs. Families can also schedule appointments with audiology and get labs and other studies on the same day.

As girls with Turner syndrome age, they are at increased risk for diabetes, an underactive thyroid and osteoporosis, which is one reason Dr. Shankar wants to educate and increase awareness early on.

“There is something special about girls with Turner syndrome,” says Dr. Shankar. “They are very inspiring and endearing to work with,” she adds, reflecting on her past research and future goals with the clinic. “Their perseverance in the face of challenges is one of the things that inspires me to work in this field.”

The Turner syndrome clinic at Children’s National meets the criteria for a level 2 clinic designation by the Turner Syndrome Global Alliance by providing coordinated medical care, same-day visits with multiple specialists and connecting patients with advocacy groups.

Within the next two years, Dr. Shankar looks forward to meeting level 4 criteria, the designation for a regional resource center, by adding multi-institutional research partners, mentoring programs and organizing a patient-family advisory council.

“As we start out, we aim to provide excellent clinical care and create a database while forming these partnerships, and over time, we hope this information will influence future research studies and foster a greater depth of tailored care,” says Dr. Shankar. “Our ultimate goal is to treat, support and empower girls with Turner syndrome to achieve their full potential.”

To learn more about the Turner syndrome clinic, available on the fourth Monday of every month, visit ChildrensNational.org/endocrinology.

Veronica-Gomez-Lobo

Multidisciplinary care for children with urogenital differences

Veronica-Gomez-Lobo

Veronica Gomez-Lobo, M.D., brought together a multidisciplinary team to form the Positive Reevaluation of Urogenital Differences (PROUD) Clinic.

When a child is born with urogenital differences, the chromosomes, internal organs or external genitalia are considered to be atypical. While these differences were once thought to be rare, they are more common than people realize, with about 1 in 100 newborns affected.

The complexities of caring for children with urogenital differences, also known as differences of sex development (DSD), were not fully understood for many years. In the past, if a child was born with DSD, the family would see an endocrinologist for hormone therapy and a urologist for surgical options. Counseling was not part of the standard of care, so there was little support available to help families understand the tremendous psychosocial impacts of DSD.

In the last decade, fundamental changes have occurred in the way physicians care for children affected by DSD, with psychosocial health becoming a prominent focus. Veronica Gomez-Lobo, M.D., a Children’s National pediatric and adolescent gynecologist, was one of the physicians who embraced this focus and sought out a new care paradigm for her patients.

Creating the PROUD Clinic

Dr. Gomez-Lobo brought together a multidisciplinary team – including medical geneticist Eyby Leon Janampa, M.D., geneticist Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D., urologist Daniel Casella, M.D., endocrinologist Kim Shimy, M.D., psychiatrist David Call, M.D., and psychologist Elaine Goldberg, Ph.D. – to form the Positive Reevaluation of Urogenital Differences (PROUD) Clinic. It can be very challenging to bring together diverse specialists in a complex area like DSD, but her team possesses a similar philosophy – to care for the whole family by managing both the psychosocial and medical aspects of care in one location.

The team meets before each clinic to discuss the patients they will see that day. Patients vary significantly by the type of DSD and also by age – some patients are still in utero, while others may be newborns, children, adolescents or even occasionally adults.

Families see the entire team during their appointment, which can often last two to three hours to ensure that families receive the full support resources offered by the team.

“Even in difficult cases without a clear answer, we present the facts we know to the families, discussing all possibilities about psychosocial issues, gender identity, sexuality, function and fertility,” says Dr. Gomez-Lobo.

Long after the initial appointment, the PROUD Clinic continues to work closely with families and individual providers, following up as needed for medical diagnosis and care and providing continued psychosocial support with the entire team. Due to the efforts of the PROUD Clinic, patients and their families are now receiving compassionate care that looks at all facets of DSD, from childhood through adulthood.

Increasing DSD knowledge in the medical community

In order to give her patients the most thorough understanding of DSD and to expand the medical community’s knowledge, Dr. Gomez-Lobo’s program also participates in the Disorders of Sex Development Translational Research Network (DSD-TRN), which is led by Dr. Vilain. Supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the DSD-TRN provides physicians across the country with the ability to perform research to advance knowledge regarding these conditions, as well as learn how to improve the care of these individuals and families. The DSD-TRN also provides a forum to seek advice about complex cases and to communicate how to transition patients from pediatric to adult medicine.

The relationship with the DSD-TRN helps the PROUD Clinic team further their goal of creating care for their patients that is current, individualized and compassionate.