After starting his own practice in medical oncology/hematology in 1975, Dr. Richard McGee founded Puget Sound Cancer Center in Edmonds with partner Dr. Marc Rosenshein in 1992. Within the same time frame, Drs. Robert Lane and Charles Bagley started their own oncology practices and later formed Northwest Cancer Center in North Seattle. Both practices continued to grow and shared the same overriding objective - create treatment centers which put patient needs first, that are highly personalized, attentive and academically superior.

In 1997, Puget Sound Cancer Center merged with Northwest Cancer Center to bring this patient centered philosophy of cancer care to two community locations as one unified medical oncology practice - Puget Sound Cancer Centers. Today, PSCC is one of the single largest medical oncology practices in the State of Washington. In 1997, Puget Sound Cancer Centers became an affiliate of US Oncology, the country's largest network of community cancer treatment and research centers. Puget Sound Cancer Centers is independently owned and managed by its member doctors.

Medical Oncology
Medical Oncology is a service provided by a team that consists of Medical Oncologists and Oncology Nurses. This team plays an important role in the care of cancer patients by providing education to the patients and their families about various forms of cancer and the temporary side effects of cancer treatment.

Chemotherapy is a systematic treatment for cancer. The side effects can vary depending on the chemotherapy regimen received. Throughout treatment, cancer survivors are closely monitored by the healthcare team. We have an excellent nursing team that is a great resource for cancer care information.

Hematology
Hematology is the study of blood and blood-forming tissues and the study of the nature, function, and diseases of the blood and of blood-forming organs. Hematologists often deal with diseases such as Leukemia, coagulative disorders like Hemophilia, Hodgkin’s Disease, Multiple Myeloma, Lymphoma, etc.

PET Scanning
PET stands for Positron Emission Tomography. It is a procedure that produces powerful images of the human body's biological functions. PET scans are safe and can be performed in a few hours as an outpatient procedure. Unlike conventional imaging systems such as X-Rays, CTs, Ultrasounds, and MRIs, PET does not show body structure (anatomy). Instead, PET shows the chemical function (metabolism) of an organ or tissue. PET is used to help diagnose and treat a number of different diseases, including Cancer, Coronary Heart Disease, and Seizure Disorders. In Cancer applications, PET provides Tumor Imaging and has proven to be very accurate in identifying the extent of malignant disease.

To receive a PET scan, a patient is injected with a small amount of radioactive glucose. This glucose is called a "tracer" and is distributed throughout the body. There is no danger from this injection. After the injection, the patient relaxes for about an hour. Then, he or she lies on a scanning bed. The bed moves slowly through the scanner while it detects the injected tracer. When the imaging procedure is complete, the scanner sends the resulting information to a computer. The computer generates numerous images that will be reviewed by a specially-trained physician.

Clinical Laboratory Services
Clinical laboratory testing plays a crucial role in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of many diseases including Cancer. Laboratory tests are provided to patients in connection with their chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments. Clinical Laboratory Technologists and technicians, also known as Medical Technologists and technicians, perform most of these tests. They examine and analyze blood and other body fluids utilizing State of the art equipment to provide a vast volume of information to enable your physicians to prescribe the appropriate treatments and/or preventive measures to ensure the best therapy for you.

Advances in Laboratory Testing are continually occurring to enhance the early detection of many types of cancer. Along with detecting cancer, these tests will monitor the response of the therapy given and determine effective treatment options for you.

Doctors use Internet to access world of cancer information

By: Dr. Jeff Ward

I'm sitting at my desk in Edmonds as I attend a meeting in Chicago. My Edmonds partners are all there-four oncologists in a sea of over 20,000. They have mapped out their day, trying to reach all the lectures and presentations that interest them. Sometimes conflicts in the schedule-not to mention the logistics of four floors that stretch out over several football fields-will make it impossible to get to every presentation. To get to the meeting, I simply turn on my computer. If I am at home I can do it in my bathrobe. My partners had to hustle for hotel rooms, fly to Chicago and then stand in lines for shuttle buses each morning to get there. In my virtual world, I see the same speakers, the same slides and the same information that they do. Sure I miss the buzz and excitement, but I don't miss the hassle.

The virtual world, made possible by the Internet, is changing medicine on a daily basis. The future may include Internet-directed robotic surgeries, and the present already includes teleradiology, where a radiologist reads midnight films from the emergency rooms of multiple hospitals in multiple cities that used to all wait until morning to be interpreted.

But the real power of the Internet will always be in the knowledge that it can disseminate; knowledge that it can convey to anyone, anywhere and anytime.

Not only can I attend national meetings on the Internet, through it I access a virtual library that is bigger and more up to date than any physical library. When I was in my medical training, one of the allures of an academic career was the ability to rub shoulders with researchers on the cutting edge of medicine and to attend grand rounds lectures on a regular basis. Now I can stay sharp by rubbing virtual shoulders and attending grand rounds, not just on one campus, but on any number of campuses each week. I have access to tumor boards online of over a 1,000 like-minded oncologists, allowing us to share challenges and solutions.

The Internet is a tremendous equalizer. Not so long ago, cutting edge medicine meant university medical centers or downtown hospital medicine. The vast majority of research and innovation required access to the machinations of academia and laboratory-based scientists. Collaboration meant walking down the hallway. The result was an old boys club in which medical advancement and career advancement went hand in hand. Community physicians were cut out of the game as were their patients. In fact, one of the concerns of the academic-based clinical trial was that the patients were a self-selected group that might not represent the average patient, making the conclusions of dubious applicability.

Today, the largest research platform for cancer care research in the world is US Oncology, where over 1,000 practicing oncologists take the advancements of science and industry directly to community cancer centers across the country. Informational technologies disseminate scientific findings in a much wider sphere than ever before, and global collaboration is achievable, allowing the US Oncology network to answer clinical questions with a high-quality product faster than ever before.

At Puget Sound Cancer Centers, we are proud to be participants in the US Oncology research network. It is exhilarating to know that I can bring to my patients research breakthroughs, an excellence of care and opportunities that are second to none.

And so I sit at my desk. In moments, with a few keystrokes, I have the very latest from a meeting halfway across the continent. Tomorrow I will have expert commentary. Within a week or two the new findings announced at this meeting will be incorporated into consensus guidelines that help to direct cancer care across the country to academicians, downtown docs and community-based oncologists, all working hand in hand to bring the best medical care available to their patients. By virtue of the Internet, this kind of information sharing is available to you and your physicians, wherever you may be.



Dr. Jeffery Ward is a medical oncologist at Puget Sound Cancer Centers. He currently serves as Cancer Committee chair at Stevens Hospital and has been medical director of Hospice of Snohomish County since 1994. For more information, call (425) 775-1677 (Edmonds), 206-365-8252 (North Seattle) or go to www.pscc.cc on the Web.


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