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New Technology Provides Most Advanced Cancer Treatments Available
CCCNF’s physicians come from major cancer centers worldwide, encompassing nearly 75 years of combined experience. With a focus on cancer and blood disorders, their physicians bring a wide array of expertise and notable achievements. This year, Dr. Paul Schilling was awarded a Gold Medal by the American College of Radiation Oncology for contributions to the field of oncology, and he received the American Cancer Society’s “Hope Award” for his personal and professional longterm service and contributions to patient care, cancer screening, and community cancer awareness. In addition to its expert staff, CCCNF offers advanced hemotherapy, immunotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, laboratory services, radiation treatment, and photon and electron therapy. Both their Gainesville and Lake City cancer centers offer comfortable chemotherapy and immunotherapy suites, MammoSite™ therapy, dedicated laboratories, as well as complimentary services such as patient resource coordination and education, transportation assistance, and caregiver support. This makes treatment regimens (such as concurrent radiation and chemotherapy) and support possible in one location without undue delays, travel, or hardship. Prior to this, patients had to travel to multiple locations for laboratory, imaging, and treatments. Established in 2002, CCCNF was the first private practice in the area to introduce PET/CT imaging, MammoSite™ therapy, Dynamic Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), and B-Mode acquisition with targeting ultrasound for prostate cancer. Expanding its Gainesville cancer center in 2008, it is again one of the first in the area to offer one of the most advanced treatment-delivery systems available in the industry, the new Trilogy™ System.
for cancer care
Imaging
Before any cancer treatment, physicians must first be able to “see” and “map” the cancer. This is why precise imaging is so crucial. CCCNF was the first in North Florida to incorporate PET/CT combined technology with a General Electric Discovery scanner — a powerful device that helps to most precisely view and analyze the cancer so that an individualized treatment plan can be implemented.
The PET/CT scan creates a cancer “road map” by highlighting injected (but harmless) radioactive fluorine which
concentrates in cancer cells. A CT scan is done concurrently to bring the cancer’s location into perspective with surrounding organs and other anatomic details. Discovery PET/CT produces one of the most precise and accurate images possible, while combining the two technologies of PET and CT, into one procedure.
Treatments
For treatment delivery, the Trilogy™ System is the most advanced linear accelerator in the world and delivers the most advanced cancer treatments available. It combines specialized imaging with precise and powerful treatment delivery that can shorten treatment times, reduce side effects, and offer new hope for patients previously connsidered untreatable. The system targets the cancer (within millimeters) and compensates for respiratory
or gastrointestinal motion. Along with a concurrent CT, a precise four-dimensional treatment can be accomplished with accurate anatomic matching. This year CCCNF expanded clinic space by onethird and added Trilogy™ as a second radiation treatment machine.
Many cancer centers now use stereotactic radiosurgery for certain cancers. (Prior to this, patients would undergo
open surgery to remove certain brain or spinal cord cancers.) However, some stereotactic technology requires bolting a frame onto the skull (GammaKnife®) or surgical placement of metal markers into the tumor yberKnife®). Trilogy™ takes a CT scan with each radiation treatment to assure precise targeting and avoids these additional surgical procedures. Its two robotic arms can provide precise stereotactic radiosurgery treatment in 15-20 minutes or less.
Not too long ago, brachytherapy radiation treatment was only performed in a hospital and required days to deliver.
During this time patients were immobilized and confined to their rooms. CCCNF’s high-dose-rate brachytherapy
uses a high-intensity radioactive “seed” to more accurately deliver a radiation dose in minutes rather than days. Patients go home the same day after treatment. Since a special room or “vault” is used for this treatment, CCNF is equipped with the region’s only dedicated high-doserate brachytherapy vault so treatments can be scheduled more conveniently.
CCCNF was the first in the region to provide MammoSite™, a highly successful breast cancer treatment. Radiation is delivered inside the breast, surrounding the area where the cancer was removed and is most likely to recur. Treatment can be completed in five days, on an out-patient basis, instead of seven weeks of external beam radiation treatment, making it faster and more convenient for patients. After surgical removal of the cancerous breast mass (lumpectomy), a surgeon implants a small flexible catheter in the breast. Then, a small “balloon” is
inserted, inflated, and a radioactive seed is placed in the balloon twice a day for five days total. Many local surgeons cooperate with CCCNF’s MammoSite™ treatment team. (You may call or stop by for a list.)
When it comes to skin cancers, CCCNF can treat skin cancers of the face or other areas without scarring
normally caused by surgery. Electron Beam Treatment uses charged particles to treat the skin surface while sparing underlying tissue. The cosmetic results of electron beam therapy are usually excellent and do not require surgery.
Community Involvement
CCCNF’s combined professional expertise and passion extends well beyond the cancer center’s walls. CCCNF
is proactive in providing for the needs of cancer patients now and into the future. CCCNF offers scholarships, for the best and brightest local students, in oncology nursing, radiation therapy technologists, nuclear medicine technologists, and medical dosimetrists. Their Lake City center offers an on-site American Cancer Society resource room staffed by trained volunteers. Dr. Schilling also serves as a medical expert for the Florida Department of Health and Human Services, and Drs. Warwicke and Chung volunteer their time and expertise on the board of the American Cancer Society.
At CCCNF, no physician referral is needed for care or for a second opinion consult. If you or a loved one is facing
cancer, the CCCNF staff will welcome you with friendly, open arms and expert caring hands. For more information visit their website at www.cccnf.com, ask your physician, call or stop by 7000 N.W. 11th Place,
Gainesville, (352-331-0900) or 4520 W. US Hwy. 90, Lake City, (386-755-0601).
Dr. Paul Schilling the American College of Radiation Oncology and received the American Cancer Society’s “Hope Award” in 2008. Graduating from Baylor College of Medicine, he studied internal medicine at the University of Texas and medical oncology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. At Hahnemann University Hospital, he studied
radiation oncology with Dr. Luther Brady, author of the definitive textbook “Principles and Practice of
Radiation Oncology.” Schilling serves as President of the American Cancer Society’s High Five Unit, on the
American College of Radiation Oncology Board of Chancellors, and the American Society of Therapeutic
Radiology and Oncology’s Joint Economics Committee. Serving as a Hospital Trustee for seven years, he is also an American Medical Association delegate. Schilling has published numerous book chapters and articles for the New England Journal of Medicine, Cancer, the American Journal of Clinical Oncology, and other peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Uma G. Iyer completed her internal medicine residency at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, East Carolina School of Medicine. She completed her hematology and medical oncology fellowship at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology. She served in the World Health Organization (WHO) Universal Immunization Program and as co-editor of “The Guide to Chemotherapy and Staging of Cancers.”
Dr. Laurel A. Warwicke gradutaed from Eastern Virginia Medical School, trained for two years of general surgery during residency at New York’s St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital and in radiation oncology residency at Medical College of Virginia. Warwicke is a member of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology and the American College of Radiology. She is board certified in radiation oncology and is an American Cancer Society Alachua Unit board member. She has a particular interest and published expertise in breast cancer treatment and brachytherapy.
Dr. Eric E. Chung attended Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University and received his Medical Degree from the
University of Southern California where he was an Alpha Omega Honor Society member. He completed his internal medicine internship at Loma Linda University and oncology residency at the University of Southern
California Medical Center. Chung has published several cancer management articles for the American
Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology.
Dr. Samuel E. Myrick received his medical degree from the University of Florida and completed his internal
medicine residency and medical oncology fellowship at Shands Jacksonville. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese,
he has published several articles on prostate cancer and kidney function, and is recognized for his achievements
by the Omicron Delta Honorary Society.
Dr. Dean L. McCarley (not pictured) graduated from Duke University Medical School and studied internal
medicine, hematology, and medical oncology at the University of Florida. He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Society, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, he served on the National Bone Marrow Transplant Review Board. His particular interest is in solid tumors, including lung cancer and head and neck cancer.