Surrounded by a team of cancer care experts
We’ve assembled a highly skilled team of doctors, physician assistants, nurses and radiation therapists to take care of you. Because we want to minimize your worries, we also provide you with access to a financial counselor, a genetic counselor, massage and acupuncture therapists, volunteers and support staff – all of whom, live in your community. We are grateful that you trust us to take care of you. We promise to treat you like we would want one of our beloved family members – our patients describe our cancer center as “like being home”.
Your Rocky Mountain cancer care team is here to answer your questions, help ease your concerns and partner with you during every step of your treatment. And knowing that your specialized care team is close to home is as important to us as it is to you.
Depending on the type and stage (severity) of the stomach cancer, the following treatments may be necessary. At RMOC, we use an individualized plan of care that may include multiple types of treatments.
Treatment Options:
Surgery:
- Endoscopic resection and endoscopic dissection (removal of some or most of the stomach tumor and some surrounding tissue.
- Subtotal (partial) gastrectomy (removal of part of the stomach)
- Total gastrectomy (removal of all the stomach and nearby lymph nodes)
Radiation: Any remaining cancer cells left after surgery are destroyed with high-energy radiation beams. For some stomach cancer, treating with chemotherapy at the same time can make radiation therapy work better. It is possible to receive radiation therapy before, during or after surgical intervention. Also, when surgery is not possible, radiation can be used to help slow the growth of the tumor. We work closely with Cancer Care of North Florida Radiation Oncology located on campus.
Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy (chemo) are anti-cancer drugs that may be given intravenously (injected into your vein) or by mouth. The drugs travel through the bloodstream to reach cancer cells in most parts of the body. Chemotherapy can sometimes be given before, during or after surgery. At Cancer Care of North Florida, our team provide extensive education and supportive care through the therapy.
Targeted Treatments: Targeted drugs work differently from chemotherapy drugs. They sometimes work when chemo drugs don’t, and they often have different side effects. They can be used either along with chemotherapy or by themselves if chemotherapy is no longer working. Targeted treatment options are determined by further genetic testing of the tumor cells. This type of testing is usually done on biopsied tissue of the tumor cells.
Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy is the use of medicines to help a person’s own immune system better recognize and destroy cancer cells. Immunotherapy can be used to treat some people with advanced stomach cancer.
