The Cancer Care Center of Southern West Virginia is a treatment and research center, focusing on cancers often diagnosed in our state and region. About 1,500 new patients seek treatment at the center each year, placing it among the top 100 cancer centers in the country. In 1996, for example, 229 new patients with breast cancer received treatment in the Cancer Care Center, along with 222 new patients with lung cancer, 163 new patients with colorectal cancer and 146 new patients with prostate cancer.

The center provides comprehensive care attuned to the patient's medical, practical and emotional needs. Our multidisciplinary team includes radiation oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, pediatric oncologists, medical oncologists, general surgeons, oncology pharmacists, a clinical psychologist dedicated to the care of cancer patients and their families, oncology case coordinators, oncology social workers and skilled oncology RNs. CAMC dedicates 34 beds to our inpatient oncology unit.

Our services include a cancer patient support program for families. Kanawha Hospice Care, Inc. offers hospice care to 100 patients daily in our community. An active oncology outreach program staffed by a registered nurse helps community groups throughout our region support cancer education, prevention and early detection, especially in rural areas. We also serve rural areas with regular broadcasts over an interactive video network of our tumor board and neuro-oncology tumor board, and we offer telemedicine and teleradiology consult capability.

Nearly 70 cancer protocols accept patients through our Center for Cancer Research. We are affiliated with three national study groups of the National Cancer Institute: the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), and the Pediatric Oncology Group (POG). Also, we participate in the Community Group Outreach Program (CGOP), supporting community physicians involved in national clinical trials.

The Center for Cancer Research played a significant role in the national Breast Cancer Prevention Trial, which recently reported a 45 percent reduction in breast cancer incidence among high-risk participants who took tamoxifen. Ongoing prevention studies include a Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial through NCI. The Lung Cancer Prevention Trial aims to prevent second primary cancers. The Colon Cancer Prevention Trial examines the role of aspirin in colon cancer prevention. Other clinical treatment trials include new studies for highly malignant brain tumors, malignant carcinoid tumors, skin cancer and advanced small-cell lung cancer.

The center also operates a tumor registry, which follows patients diagnosed here for life in order to monitor the outcomes of cancer care delivered by our clinicians, and reports information to the West Virginia Cancer Registry, which tracks information on cancer cases throughout the state.

CAMC is affiliated with the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia University/Charleston Division, and has a long history of meeting standards of excellence. We have achieved American College of Surgeons Committee on Cancer approval for cancer treatment clinics since 1933, and approval as a Community Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Program since 1957. We are accredited by JCAHO and the American College of Surgeons, and hold membership in the Association of Community Cancer Centers, which published our critical pathways for colon resection in its Oncology Critical Pathways magazine.

The Cancer Care Center of Southern West Virginia is located at CAMC's Memorial Hospital.

 

By making a tax-deductible gift to the CAMC Foundation you help provide quality care to each patient at Charleston Area Medical Center. You also help make education and research discoveries possible that benefit people throughout southern West Virginia and beyond. Please join the patients and families who are supporting our work.