Source: www.mdnews.com
Author: staff

With the recent move to a newly renovated office and infusion center at the corner of Tank Farm Road and Broad Street in San Luis Obispo, Tom Spillane, M.D.; Jim Malone, M.D.; and Deborah Villa, M.D., have renamed the practice Coastal Integrative Cancer Care (CICC), in order to reflect their commitment to a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to the treatment of cancer.

The group, along with Tim Souchek, PA-C, and a dedicated professional oncology-nursing staff, has been the provider of state-of-the-art medical oncology and hematology care in San Luis Obispo County for more than 10 years. However, the new CICC is now able to maximize patients’ treatment outcomes by integrating the latest scientific and technologic information with complementary therapies.

Integrative medicine refers to the fusion of complementary therapies (for which there is evidence of safety and effectiveness) with standard Western medical treatments. The term “integrative oncology” has been developed to describe the integration of mainstream cancer care with nonpharmacologic, evidence-based complementary therapies, examples of which include: dietary changes, exercise, physical therapy, naturopathic medicine, chiropractic medicine, acupuncture, massage therapy, aromatherapy, Reiki, Yoga, meditation, guided imagery/hypnotherapy, expressive arts, Tai Chi, Qigong, resistance training, aerobic training programs and dietary interventions. CICC incorporates these interventions through a host of local providers and resource centers, including the Hearst Cancer Resource Center and The Wellness Community.

CICC makes every effort to tailor treatments to individual patients based on science and clinical research. The term “personalized medicine” has also been recently coined to describe the idea of using therapies only for those patients that are most likely to benefit. Most importantly, this avoids the toxicity of potentially harmful therapy to patients who will not benefit. In February of this year, the NIH and FDA announced a new collaboration to accelerate the translation of research into medical products. The organizations said, “We intend to help make personalized medicine a reality.” Dr. Villa states, “In the last few years, many advances have been made in understanding the genetics and molecular pathways of cancer. Genetic tumor profiles can now predict which patients require chemotherapy and which treatments are likely to provide the most benefit. Examples of targeted antibody therapies include trastuzumab for HER-2/neu-expressing breast cancers, cetuximab for K-ras wild-type colon cancer and erlotinib for the treatment of EGFR-mutant lung cancer.”

CICC has embraced informational technology, recognizing the growing role that computers and the Internet play in the enhancement of patient care. CICC has adopted a completely paperless electronic health record system. More importantly, all medications and chemotherapy treatments are processed electronically. “Not only does this allow us to more accurately track a patient’s treatment and side effects, but we can also electronically cross check medication dosing and medication interactions, improving overall patient safety,” says Dr. Malone. In addition, Internet access in all patient exam rooms allows physicians immediate access to all labs and radiographic images. “It is very gratifying to be able to show patients images demonstrating how their cancer has responded to treatment,” adds Dr. Malone.

Another recent CICC advancement utilizing Internet technology, in conjunction with Dr. Fred Vernacchia of San Luis Diagnostic Center, includes the development of a virtual tumor board. Patient cases, including pathology and radiographic images, can be reviewed by a group of physicians all sitting at their own desks in different remote locations. “Ideally, we like to present all patient cases at a tumor board for discussion with other cancer care physicians representing all the different specialties. For some cases, we now do this very easily and conveniently using Internet technology,” says Dr. Spillane. An example of the advantage of this approach was when we were able to review some of our more complicated head and neck cancer cases with a world-renowned specialist from MD Anderson in Houston, TX. He was able to view the pathology and radiographs of our patients over the Internet, while sitting at his desk in Texas. We then were able to discuss these cases with him in a live, group format.” An upcoming CICC Internet feature that will enhance patient-physician communication is “SeeMyChart,” a Web-based access portal for patients allowing them to actively participate in the maintenance and accuracy of their own medical information and treatment plan.

The hope is that both patients and physicians in the community will be able to take advantage of all these forms of therapy and treatment, without having to travel unnecessarily to the larger cities for these treatments. Integrating these services can improve outcomes, as well as quality of life for all those affected by cancer.