Treatment
Our neuro-oncology program takes a team approach to your care for compassionate, coordinated treatment options and optimal results. The type of treatment you receive for your brain or spinal tumor depends on the type of tumor and its location, size, and
growth. Your treatment plan may include a combination of therapies and surgery.
Our multispecialty tumor board – which includes neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and pathologists – meets weekly to present patient medical cases for review. Individualized care plans are created
to treat the whole person: mind, body, and spirit.
Your care team will talk with you about each treatment option and how it will affect your life.
Surgery
If your brain or spinal tumor requires removal, our neuro-oncology specialists use advanced planning and minimally invasive techniques whenever possible. Some brain tumors may require opening the skull for direct access to the brain. Our neurosurgeons
are highly experienced, with fellowship training in skull base surgery and neuro-oncology techniques.
Brain Mapping Center
Our neurosurgeons and neuro-oncologists use the expertise of the Midwest’s first brain mapping center to
create a highly individualized plan for your surgery. Brain mapping involves a series of highly specialized procedures that show how specific parts and networks of the brain are functioning. This enables your neurosurgery/neuro-oncology team to provide
greater precision and a delicate surgical approach, ensuring that no vital areas of the brain are harmed. With brain mapping, your doctor can predict with extreme accuracy your long-term outcomes.
Surgical treatments may include:
- Awake craniotomy. If a brain tumor sits near an area that controls an essential function like language, this procedure may be performed to prevent damage.
- Minimally-invasive techniques or procedures. Techniques such as endoscopic surgery decrease incision size, increase precision, and may reduce recovery time.
- Visualase™ MRI-guided laser ablation. Visualase provides a newer, minimally invasive surgical technique, enabling surgeons to target and treat seizure-causing areas of the brain with precision.
- Neuro-navigation (GPS). A real-time, intra-operative guidance tool used during cranial and/or spinal surgery to enable accurate planning, targeting, and monitoring during neurosurgery.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy uses beams of intense energy to destroy cancer cells. The board-certified specialists at Premier Health use the TrueBeam® Radiotherapy System to
target tumors with a precise beam of radiation that does not damage nearby healthy cells. The TrueBeam system is an advanced medical linear accelerator that works with image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery. TrueBeam lets our doctors perform
non-invasive radiation treatments accurately, quickly, and effectively. Learn more about TrueBeam in this video.
Medical Management
- Chemotherapy and biological therapy. We provide different types of chemotherapy to attack brain cancer cells and biological therapies to work with your immune system to fight tumor growth.
- Optune™ treatment for glioblastoma. The Optune™ medical device treats newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma with painless electrical impulses that stop the division of cancer cells and slow tumor growth. Arrays are placed on the scalp in a formation that matches the size and location of your tumor. You can cover the arrays with a hat, scarf, or wig, but must wear them for at least 18 hours a day. Optune lets you receive cancer treatments during your normal activities. It also can be used with other cancer treatments.
- Clinical trials. You may be able to receive new or experimental treatments by joining a clinical trial. Your doctor will talk with you about whether a clinical trial is a treatment option for you. The Premier Health and Wright State University Neuroscience Institute participates in cancer clinical trials through the Dayton Clinical Oncology Program and the Clinical Trials Research Alliance. Our patients have access to more than 100 national clinical trials.
- Rehabilitation. Our oncology rehabilitation programs teaches you how to maintain your strength, tackle fatigue and reduce pain.
- Palliative care. Our specialists provide comfort care with treatments to reduce symptoms and pain so you can live more fully.
Contact Us
Call the Premier Health cancer hotline at (844) 316-HOPE(844) 316-4673 (4673), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., to connect with a Premier Health cancer navigator.