Bon Secours St. Francis Health System

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The Batson Cancer Care Center offers up-to-date treatment options for most types of adult cancer. Cancers of the blood (leukemia), breast, lung, prostate, pancreas and liver and gastrointestinal (colorectal) tract are among the most-often seen.

 

Treatment options depend on the type and amount of cancer, the location of the cancer and how aggressive the cancer is. The Batson Cancer Care Center gives oncologists and their patients a range of treatment strategies, including bone marrow transplantation, surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

 

 

 

Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) is the preferred treatment for some cancers, including acute and chronic leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

 

There are three primary types of BMT: 

St. Francis' autologous stem cell transplant program is the only South Carolina transplant program accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT).

 

Autologous transplants and allogeneic-related transplants are available at St. Francis under the direction of Dr. Gary Spitzer, Medical Director for the Bone Marrow Transplantation program. Spitzer is internationally recognized as an early investigator and developer of one of the first autologous transplant programs. He is the former director of Adult Bone Marrow Transplant at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Locally, he is affiliated with the CancerCenters of the Carolinas, St. Francis' partner in bringing allogeneic-related BMT to the Upstate.

 

With BMT, a physician withdraws stem cells from either the patient or donor, administers chemotherapy and sometimes radiation to the patient, and then injects the previously collected stem cells into the patient. The stem cells make their way through the bloodstream and into the center of the bones, where they begin to grow. This process, called engrafting, can take from two to four weeks.

 

Depending on the type of transplant, patients may be hospitalized for a few days or up to several months. Those undergoing transplants are hospitalized in one of four special BMT rooms in the Batson Cancer Care Center. These rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art air filtration systems and other safeguards to help protect transplant recipients' weakened immune systems. Through the support of the St. Francis Foundation, the rooms are furnished with home-like touches -- such as a laptop computer and comfortable furnishings -- to help ease the strain of an extended hospital stay.

 

 

 

Two out of three people with cancer will have some type of surgery. Cancer surgery may be curative, meaning it is likely that all the cancerous tissue can be removed, or it may be palliative. Palliative surgery is intended to relieve discomfort or disability associated with a cancer-related condition.

 

Physicians also use surgery to determine if a patient has cancer. Diagnostic surgery is used to remove a sample of tissue for testing; staging surgery helps determine the extent and severity of the cancer.

 

Sometimes, preventive, or prophylactic, surgery is recommended for people at high risk for certain cancers. Most cancer surgery is done on an inpatient basis, although some surgeries may be performed on an outpatient basis.

 

 

 

More than 50 percent of all cancer patients will receive some kind of radiation therapy. Radiation therapy uses high doses of radiation to destroy or damage cancer cells. It is the primary treatment for many types of cancer. Radiation is concentrated on the tumor and surrounding area, so radiation exposure to normal, healthy cells surrounding the area is minimal.

 

Radiation therapy may be given externally or internally. With internal radiation therapy (brachytherapy), a radioactive source, usually a seed (or pellet), is implanted into the body near the tumor. Another type of radiation therapy, radioisotopes, therapy may be taken by mouth or by injection.

 

Most patients are able to receive radiation therapy as outpatients, meaning they can stay at home between treatments. Radiation oncology is provided primarily at two offices of the CancerCenters of the Carolinas, located near each hospital. Internal radiation in the form of implants may require the patient to be hospitalized for treatment, although some are able to go home immediately after the implant is put into place.

 

 

 

With chemotherapy, medicines are used to reach cancer cells that may have spread throughout the body. Unlike radiation therapy, which is focused on a particular part of the body, chemotherapy enters the bloodstream and circulates throughout.

 

Chemotherapy can be used for different purposes: 

Oncologists at the Batson Cancer Care Center often use a combination of drugs to reach as many cancer cells as possible at one time without overtaxing the patient's tolerance of a particular drug. This tag-team approach is called combination chemotherapy.

 

Typically, patients who receive chemotherapy intravenously will do so at the hospital, either while an inpatient, or on return visits as an outpatient. Some types of chemotherapy drugs may be taken at home.