COVER FEATURE
Chul Ha, M.D., Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, and radiation physicist Niko Papanikolaou, Ph.D., at the CTRC
Thoracic Oncology Clinic at the CTRC:
A Personal Approach to Cancer Care
6 | San Antonio MD NEWS ■ MDNEWS.COM H
ISTORICALLY, CANCER TREATMENT has been governed by dedicated disease-treatment protocols involving surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. While the big three of
cancer care remain the mainstays of treatment, their application and sequencing at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at the University of Texas Health Science Center are more heavily influenced today by individual patients' DNA and cancer profiles than board guidelines. The Thoracic Clinic — staffed by one of CTRC's
17 separate expert teams dedicated to specific disease processes — focuses on cancers of the chest wall, esophagus, lungs and mediastinum, as well as metastatic disease. Utilizing patients' DNA profiles and an understanding of their cancer's molecular composition, the team of cardiothoracic surgeons, medical oncologists, pathologists, pulmonologists, radiation oncologists and radiologists employs a multi- disciplinary approach facilitated by a weekly tumor board to apply the advancing science of cancer genomics to the tailored delivery of oncological care.
