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A blog by Baptist Health

HealthTalks

Advanced Cancer Care Clinic in Paducah, KY

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- [Dr. Locken] Here at the Ray and Kay Eckstein
Cancer Center at Baptist Health Paducah,

we have a very comprehensive range of oncology
services, really, much more sophisticated than you

would expect for a community of our size.

The oncology world has national standards for each type
of malignancy, whether it's breast cancer,

prostate cancer, lung cancer.

And as an accredited center,
we follow those guidelines so people can feel that

they're getting the national standard of care but do it
in their community surrounded by their family

and loved ones.

- [Robert] At our center,
we offer very advanced techniques,

one of them is stereotactic radiotherapy.

We're able to target the tumor very accurately down to
about a centimeter in size which is quite small,

while at the same time we can miss, spare the
surrounding healthy tissue to a large degree.

So, this is a tremendously powerful treatment technique
that we're able to offer our patients.

- The whole process of going through the treatment for
malignancy is very devastating to a person,

emotionally, financially,
and not just the patient but the entire

family is affected.

So, if a person lives in Paducah or lives in one of the
nearby communities, they don't have to relocate and be

away from their friends and family and support group.

So, patients are able to stay at home,
stay in their daily routine as much as possible,

and to enjoy their life with as
much normalcy to it as possible.

We're very blessed to have the facilities that we have
here at Ray and Kay Eckstein Cancer Center.

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NanoKnife Surgery in Lexington

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Most cancers that come from solid
organs, so cancers that don't come

from blood cells, will require surgery at
some point during their treatment.

That would include cancers of the
GI tract, breast cancers,

cancers of muscle and bone,
and then cancers of the lung.

Those are some in particular.
The benefit of the NanoKnife treatment is,

in particular, in those tumors that are
either attached to or wrapped around blood

vessels that we can't remove.
It uses electrical pulses as opposed

to heat or cold to create cell death.
The benefit in that is when have tumors

that are wrapped around blood vessels,
the blood vessel wall is relatively

acellular, but the tumor obviously is
very cellular and so we can treat tumors

that are encasing or wrapped around blood
vessels right up to the blood vessel,

but preserve the integrity of the blood
vessel. I think it's important for the

patients of Kentucky to have multiple
access points for their cancer care.

And, traditionally for this approach,
many patients had to drive several hours

just to be evaluated. Now that
Baptist Health Lexington offers

this approach, patients can
have better access to it.

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Oncology & Cancer Treatment in New Albany, IN

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Oncology is the field of medicine that deals with
cancers, tumors, in general, diagnosis, treatment,

and management of different type of cancers.

Here at Baptist Health Floyd,
we have our dedicated oncology unit,

which is where we take care
of our oncology and hematology patients.

This is where we have specialized treatments for our
cancer patients, including chemotherapies,

immunotherapies, and targeted treatments.

It's important to have all that together as a team.

Most of these patients are sick,
they have some sort of side effects or some sort

of complications, or they're debilitated,
they need specialized care.

Our staff here in the oncology unit is specialized to
take care of these patients who have a lot more needs

than our non-cancer patients in the hospital.

So it's very advantageous for our hospital
to have this separate oncology unit.

Getting a cancer diagnosis is a tough news to hear.

It's hard to handle some of the side effects,
but when you have a caring staff that's looking

after your needs and monitoring what's needed to be
done, when you have dedicated staff,

with social services, physical therapy,
and occupational therapy,

that helps you at every step of the way.

When you're getting your cancer treatment at Baptist
Health Floyd, rest assured you're getting

the best treatment possible.

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Advancement in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis in Paducah

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Prostate cancer is typically diagnosed
through screening with a digital

rectal exam as well as a PSA.
Any abnormality in either of those has

tended to lead toward a biopsy. Currently,
biopsies are done using transrectal

ultrasound to image the gland,
and then we create a random template to do

biopsies from the gland without
identifying a certain lesion that could

be biopsied. MRI of the prostate gland has
improved dramatically through the years,

and with the latest, new 3 Tesla MRI,
we now see the internal architecture

of the prostate better than ever.
UroNav allows us to take the MRI image and

download it into a computer,
and then the software will superimpose the

MRI onto the live ultrasound which
we are doing at the time of the biopsy.

The radiologists premark the MRI with
lesions that are suspicious.

And so, we literally see a bullseye that
we're able to put a needle in to be sure

we're hitting the lesion that was abnormal
on the MRI. Before the 3 Tesla MRI and the

UroNav were available to our patients,
they were having to go to major cities

to have this diagnostic procedure done
to even find out if they had

prostate cancer. This is a great
advantage for us to be

able to have this technology locally.

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Prostate Cancer Screening & Treatment Options in Corbin

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Prostate cancer, currently the most
common cancer in men, is mainly a

genetic disease. We know a lot about the
genetics now and we know that,

as an example, you have a 14% chance
roughly to get it during your life.

But if your dad had it you're
at a 28% risk, so it doubles.

And every subsequent relative
such as an uncle increases that risk.

Indications for screening include men who
have a high risk, and I generally start

in their 30s to get a baseline blood test.
The blood test is known as the PSA or

prostate-specific antigen.
That's nothing more than a

prostate marker. Elevation of the PSA is
not indicative of cancer but it's a clue

for us to evaluate
and investigate further.

Fortunately, when we look at treatments
for prostate cancer we have radical

surgery done robotically now,
we have radiation treatments which have

dramatically progressed to being much
earlier and much more effective

than previously. We have some of the newer
treatments including freezing the prostate

cancer and we can even use high intensity
focused ultrasound in certain situations.

Fortunately today prostate cancer is one
of the most controlled diseases we have.

It's very easy to control
and the key is early diagnosis.

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Advances in Radiation Oncology

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Radiation is involved in almost every type of cancer.

We specialize in providing pinpoint care to the tumor,
and to potentially the high-risk regions

that are sort of in the microscopic
environment that, say, a surgeon's knife

couldn't go all the way to there.

There really isn't "This is how you treat this cancer."

And it's always so tough because our loved
ones and our acquaintances want to sort of say,

"Well, this is what I had
when I had my cancer treated."

The field is really adapted.

We're very lucky for robotics entering into the field
of healthcare, specifically into radiation oncology.

You know, if we want to treat a prostate that's
the size of a walnut, we don't treat a big box.

We actually treat the tumor plus any motion.

So we now lay on couches that can move in
6 degrees to match you to the perfect treatment.

The machine can rotate around you.

And it all makes for really the smallest footprint
of treatment that we can give so that we can get

that smallest footprint of side effects because from
the beginning, we're thinking about you as a survivor.

What I find so fascinating about
radiation is the amount of education

that we get to provide to our patients.

A consultation with the radiation oncologist should
not be something that you're planning on spending

5, 10 minutes in there.

You should be planning on an hour because
we're going tell you about your disease,

we're going to tell you the options that you have,
that you're going to leave with a better understanding

of your cancer and the roadmap to cure.

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Scalp Cooling Treatment to Prevent Hair Loss in Chemotherapy Patients

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- [Christine] I was diagnosed July 2018
with invasive lobular carcinoma

in my right breast.

My number one concern was losing my hair.
Was I going to lose my hair?

I mean, that's a lot of what women
worry about.

That's the main thing that's our identity.

- [Dr. Bhupalam] Systems were developed
where they found that keeping the scalp

cool will make the hair follicle
metabolize at a lower rate.

The drug delivery to the scalp is less.

So when there's decreased drug delivery
to the scalp, then the hair follicles

don't get damaged and there is less loss
of hair.

The Paxman Cooling System does work in
keeping the skull cool.

The system actually passes a coolant
through the scalp.

The coolant will keep the blood vessels
at a vasoconstricted state,

where the delivery is low,
so it's kind of a logical thinking that

you would not lose as much hair if you
kept the scalp cool.

It is started 30 minutes before
the chemotherapy, goes along

with the chemotherapy, and then
it ends about 90 minutes

after the chemotherapy.

- With the emotional stress that you're
already going through with your diagnosis,

and all the treatments and testing,
it's one thing that cancer

doesn't get to have.

It's one thing that we get to control.

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Screening for Breast Cancer

"I’m just so appreciative for the life that I have and realize how many blessings I have and to not take any of it for granted."

Maddie Campbell had a hole in her heart and didn’t know it

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