Family Health Magazine - Spring/Summer 2005 - Saint Barnabas Medical Center

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Family Health Magazine - Spring/Summer 2005

Multidisciplinary Gastrointestinal Cancer Center of Excellence at Saint Barnabas Medical Center

Over 255,640 newly diagnosed cases of cancer of the digestive system, and 134,840 deaths, were reported in the United States in the year 2004, according to American Cancer Society estimates. Cancer of the upper gastrointestinal area (stomach, bile duct, gall bladder, duodenum, liver, esophagus, duodenum and pancreas) often requires complex surgical treatment and a multidisciplinary approach that can include radiation oncology and chemotherapy. The location of these cancers makes them especially challenging to treat and the cancer is often early to spread.

Saint Barnabas Medical Center has created a Gastrointestinal Cancer Center of Excellence to meet the complex needs of these patients. The center was developed by Ronald Chamberlain, M.D., MPA, FACS, the Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief at Saint Barnabas Medical Center.

Saint Barnabas is uniquely positioned in all of New Jersey to offer A to Z care for patients with gastrointestinal cancer, says Dr. Chamberlain. We perform the most detailed and complex surgeries, can provide the most sophisticated radiation oncology techniques and medical oncology protocols and offer extensive support programs.

The center combines all of the following:

Expert surgeons who are highly trained in upper gastrointestinal surgery, sarcoma surgery and advanced laparoscopic surgery. The latest techniques are available, such as radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors performed via a laparoscopic surgical technique, duodenal stenting, and hepatic arterial pumps.
The Cancer Centers of Saint Barnabas Medical Center has board-certified oncologists and sub-specialists with extensive training and credentials from prestigious facilities across the country, bringing to Saint Barnabas the best clinical research, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
The Department of Radiation Oncology provides the most advanced technologies to treat these cancers, including use of biliary catheters to deliver high dose radiation, and outstanding, board-certified radiation oncologists.
Cutting-edge diagnostic equipment, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) scanners and ERCP (Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography), which enables the physician to diagnose problems in the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, and pancreas.

For more information about the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center of Excellence at Saint Barnabas, please call (973) 332-5200.

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