A cancer diagnosis can leave you feeling uncertain as to what comes next. Patient journeys are all different and at Avera, there are some oncologists and hematologists that specialize in treating specific cancer types. Ryan Vaca, MD, an Avera medical oncologist, explains how your cancer care team will help you each step of your cancer journey.
What are the steps for developing a care plan?
The most important thing is meeting with all the teams that are involved in treating their cancer and so getting all the important information as far as staging and reviewing the results of the biopsy with the entire team at one of our tumor boards. We involve our surgeons, radiation oncologists, pathologists, radiologists and medical oncologists, as well as genetics and our research teams.
What are cancer types that oncologists at Avera specialize in?
Avera oncologists treat all cancer types, but some choose to focus their expertise on specific types of the disease, including breast, gynecologic, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, blood, head and neck, lung and skin cancers. Within each specialty of care we have an entire team of supportive team members, whether it be research, radiologists or pathologists, that focus on that specific subset of cancer to really provide the best care possible and options for treatment.
Why would an oncologist focus on a specific type of cancer?
We are able to focus a little bit more of our time on bringing all of the latest data and advancements, not only from a treatment standpoint but also bringing the best clinical trials local, so that we can bring those clinical trials and options of additional treatments to the people that we take care of here in South Dakota and the surrounding states.
How is this beneficial to the patient?
Knowing that Avera has teams that are focused on specifically on their types of cancer and bringing all of the latest research and data to provide them with all of the best options. But it really comes down to the personal connection that they have with their team to know what priorities they have and what priorities are important to reach their goals.
Learn about specialty cancer care at Avera
