At Cancer Care Northwest, our Medical Oncology & Hematology specialists provide advanced care for patients with cancer and blood disorders. We diagnose, treat, and manage a wide range of conditions, including solid tumors, leukemia, lymphoma, anemia, and clotting disorders. As your primary cancer doctor, your medical oncologist and hematologist is actively involved in all levels of your care. He or she:
Cancer Care Northwest offers complete medical oncology and hematology services, including:
Chemotherapy: Uses anticancer medicine to kill cancer.
Immunotherapy: Uses medicines to boost your immune system's ability to fight cancer.
Hormonal therapy: Reduces the level of hormones that some tumors need to grow.
Stem Cell Transplant: Replaces stem cells that were damaged during high-dose chemotherapy with your healthy stem cells.
Targeted therapy: Uses drugs to target and directly attack cancer cells.
Chemotherapy treatments are available at each of Cancer Care Northwest’s locations. Our medical oncology team includes 11 board-certified, fellowship-trained physicians, nine nurse practitioners, and oncology nurses certified in chemotherapy administration. Our medical oncologists have extensive training and experience in the use of medicines and related medical procedures to fight cancer. They collaborate closely with other members of your care team—including your surgical oncologist and radiation oncologist—to ensure optimal results.
What is Chemotherapy?
Chemotherapy is a form of cancer treatment that uses anticancer medicines to destroy cancer cells or to slow their growth.
How does it work?
There are many cancer-fighting drugs used in chemotherapy. Depending on your type of cancer, treatment plan and other health needs, your medical oncologists will determine which drug, or combination of drugs, is best for you.
Chemotherapy may be used alone or in combination with other therapies, such as radiation or surgery. You may have more than one doctor working with you to ensure that you receive the best care and treatment for your particular cancer.
Chemotherapy may be administered in one of several ways:
Chemotherapy at Cancer Care Northwest
Our medical oncologists are extensively trained and experienced in the use of chemotherapy to treat cancer. We also have a skilled team of oncology-trained advanced registered nurse practitioners as well as certified oncology nurses trained to administer chemotherapy. Our in-house pharmacists and technicians work with your nurses to ensure correct dosage and safe delivery of the medication.
Each of Cancer Care Northwest’s locations has several chemo chairs equipped to deliver IV chemotherapy in a comfortable setting.
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To better prepare yourself for chemotherapy, we invite you to attend our Chemo Classes where you will receive a comprehensive booklet explaining what to expect from treatment, side effects and helpful coping tips. Ask your Cancer Care Northwest physician or nurse today about signing up for Chemo Class.
What is Immunotherapy?
Your immune system is a powerful and complex network that helps protect your body from disease and infection. When cancer develops, however, the immune system may need additional support to recognize and fight cancer cells effectively.
Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment designed to harness the body’s own immune system to target cancer. It works by either:
Cancers That May Be Treated with Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is used to treat a variety of cancers, including:
While it’s not appropriate for every cancer type, ongoing research continues to expand how immunotherapy can benefit more patients.
What to Expect During Treatment
Immunotherapy may be used at different stages of cancer care, depending on the type and stage of cancer. If your care team recommends immunotherapy, it can be delivered in several ways:
Your oncologist will guide you on the approach that’s right for your treatment plan.
Benefits of Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy offers several potential advantages, including:
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Immunotherapy is an evolving and promising treatment option, but it’s not right for everyone. A personalized evaluation is key to determining the best approach for your care. A Cancer Care Northwest oncologist can determine if immunotherapy may be an option for you.
If you are a patient preparing for an immunotherpy treatment, we invite you to attend our Chemo Classes where you will receive a comprehensive booklet explaining what to expect from treatment, side effects and helpful coping tips. Talk to you Cancer Care Northwest physician or nurse today about signing up!
What is hormonal therapy?
Similar to chemotherapy, hormonal therapy is a type of treatment that uses medicines to fight cancer. These medicines are designed to keep certain types of cancerous cells from getting the natural hormones they need to grow.
How does it work?
There are several medicines that may be used in hormonal therapy, depending on your type of cancer. The medicines stop or slow the growth of the cancer by either preventing your body from producing natural hormones or by altering the function of these hormones in the body.
Hormonal therapy medication is sometimes used to treat early breast cancers or metastatic breast cancers. The medicine works by blocking the effects of the female hormone, estrogen, which some breast tumors need to grow.
Medicines used in hormonal therapy may be delivered to the bloodstream through a small pellet implanted under the skin, an injection (shot), or a pill taken orally.
Surgery to remove the organs that produce natural hormones is another form of hormonal therapy. The ovaries are the organs in women that produce female hormones estrogen and progesterone. Testicles are the male organs that produce the testosterone hormone.
Hormonal therapy is also often used in combination with other types of chemotherapy.
Who receives hormonal therapy?
Hormonal therapy is most often used in the treatment of breast cancer and prostate cancer.
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To better prepare yourself for hormonal therapy, we invite you to talk to your Cancer Care Northwest physician.
What is targeted therapy?
Targeted therapy is a relatively new type of cancer treatment. It is similar to chemotherapy in that it uses certain medicines to attack and stop the spread of cancer.
How does it work?
In targeted therapy, a medicine is designed to pinpoint and attach to small particles in the body that are known or suspected to play a role in cancer formation. These drugs block the process by which normal cells become cancerous cells, preventing the growth or spread of tumors.
Because anticancer drugs are “targeted” directly toward the cancerous cells, this type of therapy is considered to be less harmful to normal cells than some chemotherapy drugs that destroy healthy cells in addition to cancerous cells. Target therapy is often used in combination with other forms of chemotherapy.
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To better prepare yourself for targeted therapy, we invite you to talk with your Cancer Care Northwest physician.
Medical oncology and hematology are innovative methods of cancer treatment and is constantly changing. We invite you to learn more by visiting the following trusted sites:
