Thoracic Cancer Center of Excellence

Lung Health

Loma Linda University Cancer Center's approach to lung cancer treatment and research is comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and patient focused. This means that the health-care professionals function as a cohesive team, working to develop the best treatment options for our patients. Our health-care delivery team strives to stay on the forefront of the scientific changes that are constantly taking place in cancer care.

Patients who have lung cancer are often anxious about their situation and want immediate evaluation and treatment. The advantage of a single-center approach is that:

• It provides state-of-the-art diagnostic information and uses it in a timely and efficient manner

• It allows the patient to see a team of physicians in one location

• The patient receives both an evaluation of the condition and answers to all questions about available    treatment options

At LLUCC's Thoracic Cancer Center of Excellence, our mission is to work with patients, support and advocacy groups, health-care professionals, and cancer organizations to improve thoracic cancer outcomes. The goal is to ensure that:

• Patients are diagnosed as early as possible

• Patients with lung and other thoracic cancers receive state-of-the-art treatment

• Patients with lung and other thoracic cancers and their families, receive adequate psychosocial, physical, and practical support

• Community networks and infrastructure that will increase lung cancer control are developed, including the availability of stop-smoking and occupational health hazard programs for the high-risk population
  

How the Cancer Center Helps Patients

The Thoracic Cancer Center of Excellence provides:

• Accurate and up-to-date information about all aspects of lungt health, through free or low-cost information services.

• Appropriate referral for screening, diagnosis, and/or treatment.

• Resources and programs to patients diagnosed with lung cancer make informed treatment choices.

• Access to appropriate support.

• Access to relevant health professionals in a single location.

• A multidisciplinary team approach, including input from the patient, surgical oncologist, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, diagnostic radiologist, pathologist, RN Navigators, oncology nurses, a registered dietician, a social worker, and an oncology chaplain who provides counseling, psychosocial, and spiritual support. .

Lung Cancer Research

LLUCC's strong commitment to research in lung and other thoracic cancers assures you of access to the latest advances in prevention, detection, and treatment.

• Utilization of new diagnostic procedures, such as mediastinoscopic biopsy, which accurately obtains a sample of abnormal tissue detected on PET/CT.

• Clinical studies using chemotherapy and other cancer treatment medication, radiation therapy, or a combination of all of these methods to treat cancer.

• Access to clinical research through the use of National Cancer Institute and LLUCC clinical research trials.

• Access to National Cancer Institute-sponsored clinical research trials and cooperative groups that perform cancer research in prevention, detection, and treatment. Some of these groups include:

            National Surgical Adjuvant Breast & Bowel Project (NSABP)
            Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG)
            Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG)            

• Ongoing basic science/molecular biology research studies designed to investigate:

            The detection of cancer using tumor markers
            The growth and development of lung cancer
            Cellular events involved in the formation of cancer

For more information about the Thoracic Cancer Center of Excellence, please contact us.