Angela Gucwa Differentiates Between PET/CT Findings

Angela Gucwa is a vascular surgery fellow in the Greenville Health System in Greenville, South Carolina. Before her tenure at Greenville began, however, Angela Gucwa did significant research work involving PET/CT scanning. Angela Gucwa is also the co-author of several papers involving these studies and the papers have been published in such prestigious places as the American Journal of Surgery.

Several of Angela Gucwa’s articles mention PET and CT scans in parallel, but what is the difference between the two? PET and CT scans have two entirely different purposes. However, they are often used at the same time to produce a broader range of diagnostic information.

PET stands for positron emission tomography. This kind of testing takes several hours, according to Angela Gucwa, and involves using a radioactive tracer to measure different metabolic processes within the body. PET scans involve exposure to a large amount of radiation.

 

CT stands for computed topography and is used to establish anatomical landmarks. It is more similar to an MRI in function, says Angela Gucwa. CT scans take only a few minutes, and uses radiation to map bone and other structural components of the body. Together, explains Angela Gucwa, doctors can get a complete sense of what is happening in the body at both the structural and molecular levels.

In her work, Angela Gucwa has used PET/CT scanning and interrogated the issue of what is known as incidental findings. These are findings on a scan that are unrelated to the reason the scan was performed and may or may not be harmful to the individual. Angela Gucwa’s work examines doctor’s discretion in deciding what to do when such findings occur.

Angela Gucwa on Common Pre-Med Requirements

When Angela Gucwa was an undergraduate at the University of Georgia, Athens, she was a biology major. But as someone who desired to be a surgeon some day, Angela Gucwa knew that being a bio major wasn’t going to be enough to prepare her for medical school. Instead, Angela Gucwa inquired with her school about pre-med requirements when she began her undergraduate coursework. By completing the most common pre-med requirements, Angela Gucwa smoothed her way towards medical school.

People typically associate biology with medicine, but there are other educational arenas that are equally important. Along with her biology coursework, Angela Gucwa took two semesters of lab chemistry, as well as two semesters of organic chemistry, a particularly challenging subject, but one of the most important topics for a future medical students, says Angela Gucwa.

Physics and math are also expected parts of a thorough pre-med education. Two semesters of each of these subjects, including physics labs as well, says Angela Gucwa, are typically recommended both by undergraduate programs and medical schools.

Perhaps the most surprising requirement in a pre-med education, notes Angela Gucwa, is the English or composition requirement. Many future doctors don’t realize the importance of the humanities in teaching critical thinking and good communication. Taking an English class is one of the best ways of improving clarity and concision, two characteristics that will benefit you as a doctor talking to patients, says Angela Gucwa. Indeed, students who have majored in the humanities but also completed laboratory science requirements often bring diversity and new perspectives to medical school classrooms. However, as Angela Gucwa observed, not every medical student majored in the sciences.

Lab Science or Medicine? Considerations from Angela Gucwa

During her time as a surgical resident, Angela Gucwa also spent a year working as a research resident. For Angela Gucwa, part of this impulse was to experience the other side of the medical world, the side that she thought could also be the right fit for her. How do you choose between lab science and a clinical career? Some doctors balance this by doing clinical trials, but for many doctors there is a larger distinction at stake between doctors who work with patients and researchers who are confined to the lab. Angela Gucwa offers some considerations on deciding which field is right for you.

One primary consideration in choosing between lab science and clinical medicine is the question of bedside manner, says Angela Gucwa. For some people, the ability to be calm and direct yet have an empathetic presence at the bedside is extremely difficult. For others, giving bad news, such as the death of a family member, is simply out of the question. Consider these types of situations, says Angela Gucwa, and determine how you would handle these situations. Being overly brusque at the bedside or overly tearful with grieving families may make you a better candidate for the lab.

Another consideration when choosing between the lab and clinical medicine has to do with the kind of schedule and life you would like to have, says Angela Gucwa. People who are seeking a more regular, easy to schedule family life are better off in the lab because clinical medicine simply will not accommodate that lifestyle, explains Angela Gucwa.

Angela Gucwa on Support for Female Doctors

In undergraduate institutions, women are quickly outpacing men in admissions and graduations. However, being a female doctor can still be a significant challenge. Sexism can be pervasive in the medical profession, as Angela Gucwa found out as a young doctor. Many women doctors are tracked out of the most intensive and competitive fields, says Angela Gucwa, because they are assumed to want families, therefore making them unavailable for more round-the-clock roles. Female physicians call this being “mommy tracked,” according to Angela Gucwa. However, Angela Gucwa resisted this tracking and is preparing to complete her fellowship in a highly demanding field – vascular surgery.

Angela Gucwa encourages all young women doctors to reach out to their other female classmates for support and seek older women doctors as mentors. One formal way to do this is through the American Medical Women’s Association. Angela Gucwa was a member of the American Medical Women’s Association from 2002 to 2003 while she was acclimating to the intense competition of the medical school world. Working with this professional organization helped Angela Gucwa to gain confidence in herself as a female physician and empowered her to pursue surgery as a career.

There is surprisingly little formalized support for female doctors within other professional associations or at the regional level, says Angela Gucwa. Instead, she would like to see practicing female physicians encourage other young female doctors and helping them to pursue the fields that truly interest them, regardless of being tracked into motherhood or otherwise hindered by obligations.

The Most Common Surgical Procedures: Notes from Angela Gucwa

As a surgical resident, Angela Gucwa participated in a wide range of surgical procedures. Some of these procedures occurred over and over again, becoming the regular medical cast of characters that populated the operating room. For example, caesarean sections are one of the most common surgical procedures performed in any hospital, as are a variety of biopsies in which tissue samples are taken.

One common but complicated surgery that Angela Gucwa witnessed regularly as a surgical resident was coronary artery bypass surgery. In this type of surgery, explains Angela Gucwa, vein segments are transplanted to allow blood to flow around an artery that has become blocked due to built up plaques. These veins are typically taken out of the leg.

 

Another surgery that is unfortunately common according to Angela Gucwa is mastectomies, both partial and total. A mastectomy is the removal of breast tissue, typically performed to eradicate breast cancer. In some cases where there is significant family history, says Angela Gucwa, a prophylactic mastectomy may be performed in which breast tissue is removed to prevent the occurrence of cancer. Along with mastectomies also come reconstruction surgeries, notes Angela Gucwa. Reconstruction surgeries help women regain a sense of normalcy after what is often life-changing surgery.

Finally, among the list of common surgeries are the ones everyone knows as a kid: appendectomies and tonsillectomies. Angela Gucwa notes that appendectomies have decreased in frequencies with improved imaging techniques and testing, but tonsillectomies continue to be a common childhood surgery, says Angela Gucwa, often to prevent re-occurring strep infections.