Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Clinic open at the Georgia Cancer Center
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – A clinic at the Georgia Cancer Center that focuses on a rare condition is getting a special designation in the state.
According to the TCA Alliance website, Tuberous Sclerosis Complex affects approximately 50,000 people in the U.S. Previously, only one clinic was certified in Georgia, and that was in Atlanta, but this clinic at the Georgia Cancer Center now joins that list.
“The most important thing is expertise and the fact that we have availability of many different kinds of experts,” said John Henson, MD, Director of TSC Clinic. “My role in all of that is to sort of orchestrate the group of specialists. So, all of the patients see me in the tuberous sclerosis clinic and thing I go and choose the appropriate specialists as needed.”
TSC is a tumor-causing genetic disorder that affects many organs, including the brain, eyes, heart, kidneys, skin, and lungs. There is currently no cure for the condition, and because of this, they have to be managed and have appropriate treatment.
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“Being affiliated with the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, we identify the patients when they are very young, sometimes at birth, and we keep them, their entire lives, in the system,” said Gerald Wallace, MD, Assistant Professor of Neuro-oncology. “So, it’s great to have the resources available through the genetics program and the tuberous sclerosis clinic here that John Henson is running. It’s a lifelong disease. It doesn’t have to shorten their lives, but they bear the burden of a genetic diagnosis.”
This clinic allows the patient to have all its care under one group of specialists. The condition is hereditary but can also result from a new genetic mutation near the time of conception.
“Approximately half of the people in a family will have the disorder because it is hereditary, and so we have currently probably a population of about 50 to 75 patients under active management with the disorder, and with the new Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance clinic designation that number is going up rapidly,” said Henson.
Henson has 12 team members apart of his TSC clinic from the Georgia Cancer Center and WellStar Health. The clinic is now open and seeing patients.
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