George Van Buren, II, M.D. is an associate professor of surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology of the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Van Buren is a board-certified surgeon specializing surgical oncology and pancreatic disorders.

                                       

Dr. Van Buren earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin and his medical degree at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He completed his general surgery residency at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. During that time period, he spent two years at MD Anderson Cancer Center as an NIH T32 research fellow studying pancreatic cancer and neuroendocrine tumors. He completed his surgical oncology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in the Translational Pancreas Research Track.

 

During Dr. Van Buren’s research and clinical fellowships, he was able to expand upon his interest in gastrointestinal surgical oncology. Specifically, his training had a heavy emphasis on upper gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary malignancies with exposure to wide breadth of cases, including specialized procedures such as robotic pancreatic surgery and minimally invasive lower gastrointestinal surgery.

  

Dr. Van Buren is active in both patient care and research. He is involved in both basic science and clinical research and believes heavily in the surgeon’s role as a leader of the translational research team. His goals are to provide high quality clinical care while offering his patients access to innovative clinical and therapeutic trials. He is a member of the Elkins Pancreas Center and Dan L. Duncan NCI Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine.

 

Common Procedures Performed and Diagnosis

Pancreatic surgery

Whipple procedure

Pancreaticoduodenectomy

Distal pancreatectomy

Minimally invasive pancreatic surgery

Robotic distal pancreatectomy

Laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy

Robotic pancreatic surgery

Laparoscopic pancreatic surgery,

Robotic pancreatic surgery,

DiVinci Robot assisted laparoscopic pancreatic surgery,

pylorus-preserving Whipple procedure,

pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy,

Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy) with portal vein or superior mesenteric vein resection, total pancreatectomy,

distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy,

distal pancreatectomy without splenectomy, spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy,

subtotal pancreatectomy,

central pancreatectomy,

enucleation of pancreatic mass,

Puestow procedure,

longitudinal pancreaticojejunostomy,

Frey procedure,

pseudocyst gastrostomy,

pancreatic biopsy,

staging laparoscopy,

diagnostic laparoscopy,

diagnostic and staging laparoscopy with intraoperative ultrasound and biopsy,

biliary-enteric bypass,

bile duct resection,

roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy,

resection of choledochocele,

resection of duodenal mass,

transduodenal resection,

biliary sphincteroplasty

Pancreas debridementpancreas necrosectomy

Laparoscopic Colectomy

Open Colectomy

Laparoscopic gastrectomy

Open gastrectomy

Laparoscopic adrenalectomy

Laparoscopic splenectomy

Liver Resection

Radiofrequency Ablation of liver lesions

Microwave ablation of liver lesions

Extrahepatic bile duct resection with Roux Y reconstruction

Gallbladder cancer liver resection and porta hepatis lymphadenectomy

Laparoscopic and open small intestine resection

Wide local excision incision for melanoma and other skin and soft tissue cancers

Inguinal and axillary lymphadenectomy

Small bowel resection

Colon or colorectal resection

Gastric resection

Laparoscopic or open microwave or radiofrequency liver tumor ablation

Wide local excision

Sentinel Lymph node biopsy

Axillary and groin dissections

 

Diseases Treated

 

Pancreatic cancer

pancreatic adenocarcinoma

pancreas cancer

locally advanced pancreatic cancer

cancer of the ampulla of Vater

ampullary cancer

ampullary adenoma 

ampullary stricture

peripancreatic cancer

bile duct cancer,

cholangiocarcinoma,

choledochocele,

duodenal cancer,

duodenal tumors,

duodenal polyps,

pancreatic cyst,

IPMN (intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm),

MCN (mucinous cystic neoplasm),

cystadenoma,

pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor,

pancreatic endocrine tumor,

carcinoid tumors,

islet-cell tumors of the pancreas,

gastrinoma,

Zollinger-Ellison syndrome,

insulinoma,

glucagonoma,

somatostatinoma,

pancreatic polypeptidoma,

papillary-cystic neoplasm of the pancreas,

tumors metastatic to the pancreas,

pancreatitis,

pancreatic pseudocyst,

pancreatic duct stricture,

pancreas divisum,

congenital anomalies of the pancreas,

gallstone pancreatitis,

alcohol induced pancreatitis,

drug induced pancreatitis,

autoimmune pancreatitis,

hereditary pancreatitis,

screening for pancreatic cancer

Gallbladder cancer

Bile duct cancer

Colon CANCER

Colon adenocarcinoma

Appendix cancer

Carcinoid tumor of small bowel

Gastric CANCER

Gastric adenocarcinoma

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST)

Small intestinal adenocarcinoma (ampullary, Ampulla of Vater, duodenal, jejunal, ileal)

metastatic colon cancer to the liver

metastatic neuroendocrine tumors to the liver

adrenal tumors

sarcomas

retroperitoneal tumors

splenic tumors

melanoma (except head and neck)

Pancreatic diseases

Biliary disease

ampullary adenoma 

ampullary stricture

choledochocele, 

pancreatic cyst,

IPMN (intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm),

MCN (mucinous cystic neoplasm),

cystadenoma,

gastrinoma,

Zollinger-Ellison syndrome,

insulinoma,

glucagonoma,

somatostatinoma,

pancreatic polypeptidoma,

papillary-cystic neoplasm of the pancreas,

tumors metastatic to the pancreas,

pancreatitis,

pancreatic pseudocyst,

pancreatic duct stricture,

pancreas divisum,

congenital anomalies of the pancreas,

gallstone pancreatitis,

alcohol induced pancreatitis,

drug induced pancreatitis,

autoimmune pancreatitis,

hereditary pancreatitis,

screening for pancreatic cancer