Team Approach to Gastrointestinal Cancer in Lexington
Baptist Health Lexington: Team Approach to Gastrointestinal Cancer
Because gastrointestinal cancers are often aggressive, Baptist Health uses a multidisciplinary approach to treating them. A full team of doctors provides our patients with advanced treatment for GI cancers such as stomach and pancreatic cancers. Learn more about our individualized care for gastrointestinal cancers.
Team Approach to Gastrointestinal Cancer HealthTalks Transcript
Shaun McKenzie, MD
Gastrointestinal cancers oftentimes are some of the more aggressive cancers that we treat, and so over time, our approach has become more aggressive. The treatment has become a bit more complicated. It’s a team approach now. Before, you had one physician, and you really felt that physician was making every decision. Now, we make these decisions as a group that includes cancer surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, even radiology, pathology. Every physician that may have a role in that patient’s care and decision tree meets ahead of time to discuss the patient. Then, we come up with a treatment approach, and that’s presented to the patient. The patient ultimately meets all of those physicians who will take part in the approach.
I think the benefit of Baptist Health Lexington is you truly have all of the components in place in one location to provide your cancer care. I mean, beyond just the physicians, we have geneticists; we have nutritionists. We even have massage therapists, if we feel that that’s appropriate. Because of the Baptist approach to healthcare, the care is still individualized. Yes, there is a standard way we treat these patients, but ultimately, each treatment course is going to be chosen based on the patient’s individual needs. I think that’s critical.
