National Comprehensive Cancer Network

NCCN Research & Business Resources

City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
Duarte, CA (Los Angeles)
800.826.4673
www.cityofhope.org

Adult Oncology Services

Introduction

City of Hope's groundbreaking discoveries, innovative treatments and compassionate patient care makes us a leader in the fight to help patients here and around the world conquer cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases.

For us, scientific excellence matters because people matter. Every clinical trial we conduct, promising treatment we pursue, and resource, service and comfort we provide stems from our primary mission to heal the whole person. That means caring for the emotional, spiritual, as well as physical, well-being of our patients and their families.

As a Comprehensive Cancer Center – the highest designation given by the National Cancer Institute – we are widely regarded as a leader in cancer prevention, treatment and education.

A national leader in cancer treatment and prevention, City of Hope is steadfast in its drive to offer more positive outcomes to patients everywhere. Our research innovations become advances in patient care rapidly, because people fighting cancer need better options now.

General Information

Treatment

Brain Tumors
The close collaboration of a multidisciplinary team of specialists ensures that patients receive the most effective treatments known, including possible access to promising investigative therapies.

Breast Cancer
Our breast cancer program offers women the most advanced and compassionate care possible, including access to state-of-the-art technologies and therapies, some of which are not yet available at other medical centers.

Gastrointestinal Cancers
Highly experienced in diagnosing and treating patients with gastrointestinal cancers, our multidisciplinary team of specialists is persistent in pursuing new research and therapies to improve outcomes for abnormalities of the digestive system, specifically the colon, rectum, esophagus, stomach, carcinoid, biliary tract, pancreas, small intestines and gallbladder.

Gynecological Cancers
From genetic diagnosis to the development of novel therapies for patients with advanced disease such as ovarian, endometrial and cervical cancer, our gynecologic oncology treatments feature a multidisciplinary approach to care.

Head and Neck Cancers
Our renowned head and neck surgeons specialize in the complex procedures often necessary to eradicate these tumors while preserving vital structures and function. We offer transoral robotic surgery, ultra-sophisticated radiotherapy techniques, such as helical TomoTherapy, employ the latest chemotherapy protocols and devise promising experimental therapies through our drug development research programs. These combined attributes allow us to provide powerful therapeutic options to patients fighting salivary gland cancers.

Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
City of Hope leads the field of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) as one of the world's largest and most successful transplant centers with more than 9,000 transplants performed to date.

Leukemia
Pioneers in advancing care for all forms of leukemia, City of Hope is a leader in setting standards for treatment worldwide and in improving long-term outcomes for both children and adults.

Liver Cancer
Customized treatment programs using the latest technologies, including minimally invasive surgery and innovative chemotherapy delivery systems, are a hallmark of our multidisciplinary approach to liver cancer.

Lung Cancer
The most advanced diagnostic and radiation technologies available, access to our clinical trials program and the coordinated care of specialists combine to provide the best possible outcomes for lung cancer patients.

Lymphoma
Recognized internationally for our contributions to the understanding of lymphoma, we treat patients with the newest treatments available, including therapies available only here.

Multiple Myeloma
From the use of novel therapies to the vigorous pursuit of stem cell transplantation, our treatments offer patients battling multiple myeloma greater hope than ever.

Musculoskeletal Cancers
A coordinated team of experts delivers comprehensive treatments that integrate new and powerful anticancer drugs with strategies to spare patients' limbs.

Pediatric Cancers
Within a compassionate, family-centered environment, our pediatric specialists are at the forefront of cancer care, developing treatment programs that strive to minimize hospitalization and design treatments for the best possible long-term survivorship.

Pituitary Tumors
We have an aggressive approach to treating pituitary tumors and helping patients achieve the most positive outcomes possible.

Prostate Cancer
We have performed more advanced robotic procedures for prostate cancer than any other facility on the West Coast. Our innovative treatment options and technologies can help patients recover faster, with fewer side effects.

Skin Cancer
We employ the latest research and investigative developments to improve treatment outcomes for melanoma and all skin cancer patients, from the use of advanced diagnostic imaging technology to our expertise in molecular medicine.

Spine Tumors
City of Hope combines breakthrough investigative therapies, superior surgical techniques and the most advanced treatments to give patients with spine tumors some of the latest treatments available anywhere.

Urology and Urologic Cancers
Our researchers and clinicians are leading the way in developing innovative methods for preventing, detecting and treating genitourinary cancers such as prostate, kidney, bladder and testicular.

Center for Cancer Survivorship

City of Hope's individualized survivorship care plans empower survivors with knowledge about their cancer diagnosis and treatment, address the chronic effects of cancer and its therapy (e.g., pain, fatigue, premature menopause, depression/anxiety), provide monitoring recommendations to allow for early identification of treatment-related issues (e.g., osteoporosis, heart disease, second malignancies) and promote health-protective behaviors.

The overall goal of the Center for Cancer Survivorship is to provide specialized long-term follow-up care for cancer survivors and, in the process, develop a critical resource of research in cancer survivorship. The Center for Cancer Survivorship provides unique, comprehensive follow-up care for cancer survivors in a clinical research setting.

The center supports the following activities:

• Clinical Care: Comprehensive long-term follow-up services for childhood cancer survivors, survivors of prostate cancer and other adult malignancies, and hematopoietic cell transplant survivors. Care is provided as a consultative service in collaboration with the patient's primary care provider and oncologist in order to ensure that the unique medical needs of cancer survivors are addressed. All patients are offered the opportunity to participate in ongoing research studies through the center.
• Health care Professional Training: The center is also in the process of developing a structured training program in cancer survivorship for clinicians (physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants) and researchers (physicians, nurses, epidemiologists and others) planning careers in the cancer survivorship field.
• Patient/Family/Community Education: Health education personalized for each survivor based on his/her diagnosis, treatment and current medical condition is provided during follow-up visits at the center. In addition, the center hosts periodic educational seminars for survivors and their families, as well as educational outreach programs for the community.
• Research: The Center for Cancer Survivorship provides unique opportunities for collaborative clinical research across populations of survivors. Although research in childhood cancer survivors provides much insight into the health-related outcomes after cancer, very little information is available regarding the health and well-being of survivors of adult cancer. Multidisciplinary clinics for all cancer survivors, using a standardized follow-up protocol, establishes an invaluable resource (by creating an extensive database) that will further the knowledge in cancer survivorship.

The primary objective of the Center for Cancer Survivorship is providing care to cancer survivors across the entire age spectrum and treated with all modalities (conventional chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery and hematopoietic cell transplantation) to facilitate evaluation of health outcomes in this previously understudied patient population. This enhances our understanding of the chronic health conditions faced by this population and provides assistance in tailoring the follow-up needs of those at risk of these complications. The ultimate goal of the center is to improve the overall quality of life for the survivors.

Cancer Prevention and Screening

To help you understand your cancer risk, City of Hope offers comprehensive assessments that focus on family history and genetics, along with environmental and lifestyle factors. These City of Hope cancer screening and prevention programs can be accessed online at www.infosci.coh.org/ccgp/cspp.aspx.

Community Outreach

We believe that education is critical to improving the health and well-being of our patients and the public at large. Through seminars, literature and more, our community outreach helps people make better decisions about their health. City of Hope's free Ask the Experts series features our leading scientists and physicians as they discuss a different health topic during presentations scheduled throughout the year. Go to www.cityofhope.org/asktheexperts, for a listing of upcoming events. Please call 800.535.1390, ext. 65669, for reservations or additional information.

Supportive Care

The Sheri & Les Biller Patient and Family Resource Center

With support and compassion, everyone can achieve a feeling of wholeness, even while confronting a life-threatening illness. That belief underlies and motivates every element of the Sheri & Les Biller Patient and Family Resource Center. The following services are available to patients and their families.

• Patient Navigators
  Patient navigators are City of Hope staff members who provide personalized guidance, support and assistance to patients and their families. These trained professionals help patients and their families negotiate complex health care systems and make use of the services that are needed to receive the best possible care.
• Patient and Family Education
  Educational classes and workshops are offered to help patients and their families learn about a variety of topics in order to better equip them during their treatment – topics such as eating well during cancer treatment, preparing for chemotherapy and managing pain and other symptoms. Additionally, patients and families will find a comprehensive library in the Biller Patient and Family Resource Center, of books, booklets and brochures related to all aspects of cancer, treatment, coping and care giving.
• Support and Counseling
  The Biller Patient and Family Resource Center professionals take great care to ensure that patients and their family members get the psychological, social and emotional support they need. Currently, health professionals screen all inpatients to help patients and their families who may benefit from additional emotional and social support. Screening also will expand to outpatients.
• Educational, Problem-solving and Support Groups
  City of Hope offers patient groups and caregiver support groups as well as a number of diagnosis-specific groups including breast, lung, kidney, prostate and brain. The Biller Patient and Family Resource Center will add new support groups for other cancer types, as well as for people with other specific needs such as young adults with cancer. Support group meeting dates and times are available on the Patient and Family Support Services calendar; for more information about these groups or to R.S.V.P., please call 626.256.HOPE (4673), ext. 3CARE (32273). The center may also refer patients and families to community-based support groups.
• Patient Peer Pals
  Newly diagnosed patients may choose to be matched with City of Hope patient peer pals, other patients who have already gone through the cancer experience. These volunteers can provide one-on-one support, answer questions and give reassurance.
• Supportive Care Medicine
  The mission of the Department of Supportive Care Medicine is to improve the quality of life of cancer patients and their families by providing a comprehensive, holistic, innovative and interdisciplinary approach to the treatment of suffering and symptoms associated with cancer and its treatment. If you or your loved one is experiencing pain or other distressing symptoms, please talk to your physician or health care provider for a referral.
• Spiritual Care
  Many patients and their families rely on deeply held spiritual beliefs to help them through the difficulties of cancer treatment. To meet their unique spiritual needs, the Biller Patient and Family Resource Center will connect patients and their families with City of Hope's spiritual care staff. These professionals are trained to provide supportive care that meets the needs of patients and families of all beliefs.
• End-of-life and Bereavement Support
  Despite modern medicine's advances, some patients inevitably lose their battle with cancer. City of Hope believes in helping patients reach the end of their lives with dignity and as comfortably as possible, while helping families and friends cope with grief and loss.
• Nutrition
  Nutrition services staff provide dietary care, education and counseling and help patients and their families make sense of the latest research so they can make informed food choices. Dietitians can assist with correcting nutritional deficiencies, minimizing treatment side effects, creating nutrition plans after treatment and more. Patients may speak to their physician for a referral.
• Child Life Program
  Experts in child development offer special services to children and teens undergoing cancer treatment. Whether they are inpatients or outpatients, boys and girls with cancer may be vulnerable to the stresses involved in therapy, illness and disruptions in family life. While in treatment, children may feel and look different from their peers and miss school and playtime with friends. Child life specialists restore a sense of normality to children's lives and provide developmentally appropriate education and support while valuing the needs of parents and other family members.
• Healing Arts Programs
  City of Hope understands that arts can lift the human spirit. Currently, Writing for Wellness workshops are offered throughout the year, giving participants the chance to express themselves through the written word. In addition, singers and musicians perform regularly through on-campus venues such as the Hands on Harps concerts. Performances and writing workshops are listed in the City of Hope calendar.
• Positive Image CenterSM
  Oftentimes, a few tips and some understanding guidance are all cancer patients need to feel more confident about their self-image during treatment. The Positive Image CenterSM offers advice, makeup and skin care products, children's items, and a line of hats, scarves and alternatives for hair loss such as wigs.
• Patient Web sites
  With a few clicks of the mouse and strokes of a computer keyboard, City of Hope patients and their families can keep friends up to date with their progress. Patients can create their own CarePages free of charge. Patients and members of their support network can use CarePages to upload photos, write blogs and communicate on message boards.

Clinical and Research Efforts

Our reputation for scientific excellence – for fundamentally advancing the world's understanding of cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases – stems from our determination to aggressively pursue lines of inquiry outside traditional paradigms.

As an independent biomedical, treatment and education center, we have the infrastructure and collaborative energy to move from bold, innovative concept to powerful new treatment swiftly. We conduct more clinical trials than most cancer centers and are a national leader in translational research, where ideas continuously flow between investigators and clinicians.

Many of our breakthroughs have transformed the landscape of modern medicine. We helped launch the biotech industry with the development of technologies that led to the first synthetic human insulin and human growth hormone. Our research also made possible the widely used cancer fighting drugs, Herceptin, Rituxan and Avastin.

Discoveries happen at City of Hope because we foster an environment that supports intellectual creativity and freedom – the kind of thinking that enables us to redefine the future of medicine.

With an urgency driven as much by compassion as intellectual curiosity, City of Hope has pioneered some of the most important scientific advances of the past century.

• City of Hope speeds the path from laboratory discoveries to treatment. This has led to breakthrough cancer drugs such as Herceptin, Rituxan, Avastin and Erbitux, which are saving lives worldwide.
• Millions of people with diabetes worldwide benefit from synthetic human insulin developed through research conducted at City of Hope.
• City of Hope is a recognized leader in the field of laparoscopic and robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostate surgeries. Since 2000, City of Hope physicians have performed more radical prostatectomies than any other center in the U.S.
• A pioneer in bone marrow transplantation, City of Hope has performed more than 9,000 bone marrow transplants, and today operates one of the largest, most successful programs of its kind in the world.
• City of Hope is the first – and currently only – institution in the world to perform a clinical study using genetically engineered T cells to recognize and attack glioma, a highly lethal form of brain cancer.

For more information on research programs at City of Hope, please visit www.cityofhope.org/research.

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Adult Oncology Program

Cooperative Group Membership

• Profile Overview
• Adult Oncology
• Genetic Testing
• Pediatric Oncology
• Find Clinical Trials