Brain Tumor Center of the Kimmel Cancer Center

About the Brain Tumor Center of the Kimmel Cancer Center

The Jefferson Brain Tumor Center of the Kimmel Cancer Center provides a multidisciplinary approach to treating brain tumors, giving patients access to care all in one place and during one visit. Combining expertise in Radiation Oncology, Neurosurgery and Medical Oncology, our Center physicians provide exceptional care and access to the latest protocols for patients coping with this life-threatening diagnosis.

Our Center distinguishes itself in many ways:

• The volume of patients we have treated (more than 3,000)
• Our annual tumor volume exceeds 600 cases, making Jefferson one of the busiest brain tumor practices in the tri-state area.
• Our surgical approaches and radiosurgery techniques yield an overall volume that is unrivaled in the tri-state area.

The Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated clinical cancer center, treats more patients with malignant and benign brain tumors than all other area university-based hospital programs combined. Our specialists create a seamless and carefully coordinated treatment plan for a patient in just a few minutes. This is important because a delay in treatment diminishes success for patients.

Access to protocols is also essential to many brain tumor patients. A variety of innovative clinical trials are available at the Brain Tumor Center for most patients with brain tumors.

Multidisciplinary Brain Tumor Board

This multispecialty group has been continuously convening every week since 1994 to discuss the management and treatment of challenging brain tumor cases. Attended by neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists, neuro-oncologists, neuroradiologists, residents, fellows, nurse practitioners and nurses, this group has overseen the successful and innovative treatment of more than 3,000 brain tumor patients in the course of its operation.

Ongoing Research

There are approximately 17,000 primary brain tumors diagnosed in the United States each year, 60 percent of which are gliomas. Minimizing neurological side effects in patients with high-grade gliomas from chemoradiation may result in improved patient survival, a new study from our radiation oncologists suggests.

It is generally considered that the only way to improve survival in malignant brain tumors is to more effectively attack the tumor. However, our research suggests that damage to surrounding normal tissue may also play a role in determining a patient's long-term outcome.

Other researchers from Jefferson have found that patients who received hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for their recurrent brain cancers lived longer lives.

Not only does hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy provide longer survival, patients do not experience side effects commonly seen with use of chemotherapies and targeted therapies. These findings set a new bar for the treatment of recurrent gliomas.