Your treatment plan will depend on the location of your tumor, the stage of the cancer, your age, and your general health. Whatever treatment plan your physician specifies, you will have the resources of Brown Cancer Center’s state-of-the-art technology and most advanced methods of treatment. Treatment options may include one or a combination of the following:

Surgery

Surgery to remove your tumor and some of the tissue around it can sometimes be performed. This procedure reduces the chance that the cancer will remain in your body. The type of surgery performed depends on the size and location of the tumor.

Some tumors cannot be removed surgically because of their size or location, and some patients cannot have surgery for other medical reasons. For gastrointestinal tumors, one of the following surgical procedures may be performed:

• Fulguration – use of an electric current to burn away the tumor.
• Cryosurgery – a treatment that uses an instrument to freeze and destroy abnormal tissue.
• Resection – surgery to remove part or all of an organ that contains cancer.
• Radio Frequency Ablation – the use of a special probe with tiny electrodes that release high-energy radio waves (similar to microwaves) that kill cancer cells.

In some cases, the tumor may be removed or treated using the da Vinci Si Surgical System. This allows University of Louisville surgeons to provide minimally invasive surgical treatments for some patients with colorectal cancers or benign tumors.

For most patients, da Vinci Si offers numerous benefits over open surgery including:

• Better clinical outcomes for cancer control in many cases
• Quicker return to bowel function
• Quicker return to a normal diet
• Significantly less pain
• Less blood loss
• Less risk of wound infection
• Shorter hospital stay
• Shorter recovery time

To learn more about the da Vinci Si Surgical system at University of Louisville Hospital, click here.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy, which is also called radiotherapy, uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Before you undergo radiation, a radiation oncologist and physicist plan the precise delivery of the radiation to minimize radiation to your vital organs and maximize the radiation to the affected area.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. The drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body. Chemotherapy may be recommended to kill any remaining cancer cells following surgery, or to control cancer growth and relieve symptoms. Most chemotherapy drugs are given intravenously or by catheter.

Target Therapy

Target therapy is a process of stopping the development of a new blood vessel from forming in the cancer cells. It also blocks substances needed to slow down the growth of the tumor. This therapy is used primarily for the treatment of colon and rectal cancers – although it is also used to treat some pancreatic and liver cancers.

Clinical Trials and Research

In addition to using the most advanced methods of diagnosis and treatment, the Brown Cancer Center is constantly examining new approaches to cancer treatment. Brown Cancer Center physicians participate in and initiate a wide range of ongoing clinical trials and research, giving you access to new therapies that may not yet be available in other parts of the world.

Contact

If you have general questions about your condition, the Brown Cancer Center, or free services available to you and your loved ones, please contact the M. Krista Loyd Resource Center at 502-562-4158 or 866-530-5516.