Diagnostic and Treatment Options for Colorectal Cancer
Treatment options include, but are not limited to:
- One-time consultation, evaluation and second opinions
- Medical oncology
- Technical/surgical services
- Tumor ablation, including image-guided thermal ablation, microwave ablation, cryoablation and combination therapies
- Sophisticated radiation oncology services, including CyberKnife, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) and brachytherapy
- Nurse practitioner and nurse navigator to assist with all aspects of treatment and care
- Liver-directed therapies, such as embolization, TACE or Y-90
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Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is an innovative surgical technique used to treat some primary and metastatic cancers in and around the abdominal area.
Support and Rehabilitation
We are dedicated to helping people live their lives to the fullest, both during and after cancer diagnosis and treatment. Lifespan has developed a wide array of services for our cancer patients.
Trimodality treatment
Treatment can take a trimodality treatment approach, incorporating chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy when appropriate. This approach can provide:
- Comprehensive, interdisciplinary treatment
- Better long-term results
- Improved survival rates
Our tumor board
At weekly tumor board conferences, an interdisciplinary team consisting of medical oncologists, surgeons, gastroenterologists, radiation oncologists, genetic counselors and radiologists review patient cases and discuss diagnostic and treatment recommendations. This tumor board brings advantages for patients including:
- The expertise of a multidisciplinary team of physicians
- No need to schedule and receive individual consultation
- The care team can determine the best treatment plan
- Ensures comprehensive, individualized and coordinated care
- Individually tailored treatment plans increase survival rates and improve quality of life
Research
The Lifespan Cancer Institute at Rhode Island, The Miriam and Newport hospitals is an active clinical trials site that provides patients access to pioneering cancer treatments. We are at the forefront of clinical and translational research and our teams routinely screen qualified candidates for participation in investigations.
Through continued research, Lifespan has developed a customized test to screen colon cancers for mutations that may impact the treatment of individual patients with colorectal cancer. In addition, we are working to develop more sensitive tests to identify additional therapeutic and prognostic markers. Our specialists also perform immunohistochemical testing of all colorectal tumor specimens to screen for patients with heritable cancer syndromes.
Colorectal Cancer Research and Clinical Trials
The Lifespan Cancer Institute is at the forefront of clinical and translational research and is an active clinical trials site that provides patients access to pioneering cancer treatments.