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This past year has been an exciting
time in the treatment of cancer at Lexington Medical Center. During
the past year, with the help of a tremendous number of dedicated
people, Lexington Medical Center was awarded accreditation by the
American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer which is made up of
governmental, national, international and various research and
treatment protocol leaders in the “war on cancer”. Lexington Medical
Center has long had an oncology program but we have received the
recognition of an approved oncology program and with commendation,
which is an extremely gratifying and exciting reward for our medical
center.
Our number of cancer cases continued
to increase annually. In 2005 we saw 1748 cases of cancer with 1151
being diagnosed at Lexington Medical Center. This represents about a
10 % increase in cases on an annual basis. Our cancer registry helps
in documenting the types of cancer and treatment so that we can
benchmark with other programs across the country. The bottom line for
all of this is that we fight to help our patients in this war against
this dreaded disease.
We continue to have our weekly
breast conference and now have weekly “tumor board” to discuss
treatments of various types of cancers, not just breast cancer.
Multiple medical disciplines continue to be present at these
conferences and to offer support, advice and opinions in the treatment
of our patients with cancer.
This year we became officially
affiliated with MUSC, which allows us to participate in clinical
trials and research. We are also able to offer Continuing Medical
Education hours for those who participate in our Oncology Conferences.
Lexington Medical Center continues
to grow, not just in the number of patients we treat or in staff but
our entire campus. We are extremely proud of the advances that we have
made in the treatment of cancer but there still remains a great deal
of work to be done. We want to continue to be a “high tech and high
touch” cancer program as we grow in a logical and forward thinking
matter. Our patients and the entire staff at Lexington Medical Center
appreciate the efforts of our entire community in helping us treat
cancer and its related diseases.
G. Tripp Jones, MD
Chair, Cancer Committee
Lexington Medical Center
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