Clinic to Offer State-of-the-Art Cancer Screening, Prevention Services and
Link to Research
SEATTLE, Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- On Friday, Sept. 22, a new clinic on
the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center campus will provide ongoing,
comprehensive cancer screening and preventive care to help Puget Sound-area
residents stay healthy and cancer-free.
The Cancer Prevention Clinic, to be located in the Seattle Cancer Care
Alliance outpatient clinic, will offer state-of-the-art cancer early
detection, risk assessment and counseling services for any western
Washington resident. The clinic will also provide interested individuals
with an opportunity to take part in Hutchinson Center research studies
aimed at warding off cancer or spotting it at its earliest stages, when
cure rates are highest.
"All individuals need information about their cancer risk," said Scott
Ramsey, M.D., Ph.D., clinic director and a member of the Center's Public
Health Sciences Division. "But cancer screening is generally applied very
haphazardly, and the typical annual physical is not always the ideal
setting for a full risk assessment. We think there is an unmet demand for
high- quality, comprehensive cancer screening and have designed a program
we believe will be unique among cancer centers."
Statistics show that about one in every two men and one in every three
women can expect to develop cancer during his or her lifetime. Yet experts
believe that more than two-thirds of all cancer cases could be prevented if
individuals would stop smoking, exercise regularly and make other healthy
lifestyle choices such as eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
Besides providing cancer-screening tests such as mammograms and
colonoscopies, the new clinic will include nutritional consultations and
refer smokers to an effective program for kicking the habit.
"Many individuals with a relative who has had cancer may be worried
about their risk of developing that same disease," Ramsey said. "A woman
whose father dies of pancreatic cancer may be very concerned about getting
the disease herself. Yet in all likelihood, she has a much higher risk of
developing breast cancer or if she's a smoker, a higher risk of lung
cancer. We'll provide a personalized risk assessment and screening
recommendations for each person."
As a physician, Ramsey knows that preventing cancer or diagnosing it
early spares patients and their loved ones from a great deal of pain and
suffering. As a health-care economist, he is also well aware that cancer
prevention and screening make good economic sense.
"Cancer screening and prevention are among the most cost-effective
things we can do in the health-care system, yet they are not applied
broadly and often not covered by insurance," he said. "We're happy to spend
$100,000 on a drug for treating advanced cancer that may not extend life
very much, but we are not willing to invest in cancer screening. I want to
bring that cost effectiveness to the community as broadly as I can."
The fact that not all insurers cover preventive care means that some
individuals seen at the clinic will have to pay out-of-pocket. Individuals
do not need a referral from their primary care physician to make an
appointment at the clinic.
"We will work very hard to keep barriers as low as they can be," said
Marian Johnson, clinic coordinator.
Ramsey's hope is that eventually the clinic may be able to attract
funding that would subsidize costs for those unable to afford screening
tests. "As a primary-care doctor, it's hard to do cancer prevention. We
have an acute-care system. I'm hoping the time is right for people to begin
thinking about cancer care in a preventive way."
As excited as he is about the opportunity to offer preventive care to
the community, Ramsey and colleague John Potter, Ph.D., director of the
Center's Public Health Sciences Division, are equally excited about the
unprecedented opportunity to directly link the Center's outstanding
research in cancer prevention and early detection with clinical care. All
patients seen at the clinic will be asked for their consent to be contacted
for their willingness to participate in future research studies and to
donate blood or other biological samples. They also will be invited to join
or be referred to appropriate current research studies that may help them
reduce their risk of disease.
The Cancer Prevention Clinic is distinct from the Prevention Center, a
research facility in the Center's Robert M. Arnold Building that was
established to help scientists investigate the causes, progression,
control, treatment and prevention of disease through studies that often
involve volunteer participants.
"Traditionally, doctors are trained to focus on diagnosis and
treatment," said Potter, one of the clinic's earliest proponents. "However,
we have worked over many decades to accumulate data and tools that allow us
to think about practical prevention and early detection. It is so
gratifying to see that we can integrate what we do in our public-health
research with the clinical programs right on our own campus."
Initially, the clinic will see patients for a half day each Friday but
is poised to expand its services as demand increases. In addition to
Ramsey, Matthew Hollon, M.D., and John Choe, M.D., faculty in the
University of Washington Department of Medicine, will provide care at the
clinic. The clinic also will provide education for general medical and
oncology fellows, who will rotate through the clinic.
The clinic will closely link with the other SCCA services that provide
risk assessment for individuals of higher-than-average risk for breast,
ovarian and gastrointestinal cancers. However, unlike the high-risk
clinics, which provide a one-time consultation and recommendations for
follow-up care, the Cancer Prevention Clinic will provide ongoing screening
-- including for those referred by the high-risk clinics.
Ramsey said that the new clinic puts the Hutchinson Center and the SCCA
at the forefront of preventive medicine.
"No cancer center comes close to the Hutchinson Center's leadership in
terms of prevention science," Ramsey said. "We are thrilled to now have a
means to translate all that research into clinical prevention."
To make an appointment, or for general information, contact the SCCA
Intake Office at (206) 288-1024 or (800) 804-8824 or visit
http://www.seattlecca.org.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, our interdisciplinary teams
of world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent,
diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our researchers,
including three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for
health, knowledge and hope to their work and to the world. For more
information, please visit fhcrc.org.
CONTACT
Kristen Woodward
(206) 667-5095
kwoodwar@fhcrc.org
SOURCE Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.fhcrc.org
CONTACT:
Kristen Woodward of Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center, +1-206-667-5095, or kwoodwar@fhcrc.org
|
