News & Events

TrailBlazer Now Covering CyberKnife Treatment for Prostate Cancer

TrailBlazer Health Enterprises, one of fifteen independent regional contractors for Medicare, has announced that it will begin covering CyberKnife treatment of prostate cancer as of today, Jan. 30, 2012, provided that patients are enrolled in a clinical study. This policy revision expands Oklahomans’ access to a treatment that was approved by the Food & Drug Administration more than a decade ago and has been covered by the other 46 states that are not part of the TrailBlazer region, which includes Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico.

Lung Cancer Awareness Month A Time to Take Action

As a disease that annually takes the lives of more people than breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers combined, lung cancer will kill more than 156,000 people in the United States this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Additionally, about a quarter of a million people will face a lung cancer diagnosis.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month — a time to take action, quit smoking, educate loved ones and raise awareness for the leading cause of cancer deaths in men and women.

Oklahoma CyberKnife Returns as Sponsor of 2011 Cattle Baron’s Ball

Oklahoma CyberKnife doctors and staff enjoyed a night of fun at the 2011 Cattle Baron’s Ball in Tulsa. Our center was a sponsor of this year’s event, which featured a barbeque dinner, live music, dancing and a silent auction. Cattle Baron’s Ball is an American Cancer Society event and is the nation’s single largest fundraiser for cancer research. We are proud to have supported an event that is responsible for funding some of the ACS’s most significant successes in cancer research.

Pictured in the photo below are Dr. Laurie Flynn and Dr. Melisa Boersma with their husbands.

Cattle Baron's Ball

Prostate Cancer: Awareness Month a Time to Learn Risk Factors

One in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime while one in 36 men will die of the disease, which the American Cancer Society names as the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men. This year alone nearly 250,000 men will face a prostate cancer diagnosis.

In Tulsa County, about 178 of every 100,000 men are affected, compared to 152 of every 100,000 statewide, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Robotic Cancer Treatment at Hillcrest Medical Center Marks Three Years

Oklahoma CyberKnife celebrates its three-year anniversary this month with the announcement of several milestones, including the treatment of more than 600 patients.

Highlights for the CyberKnife program:

More than 600 patients have been treated.
Approximately 44 percent of patients have come from outside Hillcrest Medical Center’s service area. The center has attracted patients for CyberKnife treatment from around the state, as well as Arkansas and Missouri.
Diseases most often treated include: brain tumors, lung tumors and trigeminal neuralgia. Lung tumors represent the largest number of caseloads, with about 35 percent of treatments falling into this category.
Equipment upgrades have been made which feature increased dose rate capabilities, enabling enhanced calculations of radiation doses for customized treatment plans, and increased control of the radiation beam size, further reducing treatment times and protecting more healthy tissue
In addition to cancer treatment, the center has treated an increasing number of patients with trigeminal neuralgia, a rare and little known nerve disorder that causes excruciating, electroshock-like pain throughout the face. CyberKnife has been effective at treating these patients and accomplishes this in one visit, with no cutting, no anesthesia, no recovery time and without the use of a head frame typical of other devices.
The center’s team of physicians has conducted extensive research on CyberKnife’s ability to alleviate trigeminal neuralgia patients’ pain. Medical Director Dr. Diane Heaton has presented the team’s research findings from a study examining pain relief in 19 trigeminal neuralgia patients following CyberKnife treatment. Research showed 13 of the 19 patients experienced complete pain relief, and all but two of the remaining six experienced at least some relief.

Brain Tumor Awareness Month a time to learn about symptoms, treatments

More than 575 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with a primary or metastatic brain tumor each day. May is National Brain Tumor Awareness Month and was first established by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. It is a time when many individuals and organizations focus on raising awareness of brain tumors, increasing funding for research and educating the public on symptoms and treatment options.

Nearly 600 diagnoses each day mean more than 210,000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumor each year, according to the National Brain Tumor Society. MORE →

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