Brain Cancer and Brain Tumor Treatment at Wake Forest

Being diagnosed with brain cancer is extremely traumatic for the patient and the family. Immediately after the diagnosis, it’s important to understand how treatment will take place and begin to construct a positive support platform.

Brain tumors are diverse and they can affect adults and children. They can originate in the brain or metastasize from other cancers in the lung, skin, and breast.

Wake Forest Baptist Health is home to an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. The neuro-oncology at Wake Forest Baptist Health is one of the leading treatment centers in the country; the program provides patients with access to many of the nation’s leading physicians in addition to state-of-the-art technology. Patients benefit from the treatment provided by one of the few multidisciplinary clinics for brain cancer and brain tumor treatment.

This means that patients have access to a team comprising a neurosurgeon, a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist—plus additional specialists including an otolaryngologists who specializes in the treatment of skull base tumors. This team completes a full diagnosis,then recommends treatment.

The treatment team fully understands that dealing with cancer, especially brain cancer, can be stressful. To help patients, Wake Forest Baptist Health buttresses medical care with family support and patient services. Support programs include:

• Cancer Patient Support Program (CPSP)
• Psychosocial Oncology Program (POP)
• Survivorship Program
• Pastoral Care
• Palliative Care
• Nutrition
• Financial Services

The goal of these complementary services is to help patients and their families navigate cancer and its treatment. The CPSP team includes psychologists, counselors, and nurses.

After diagnosis, physicians and support staff will create a specific treatment plan. This may include the following:

• Image-guided surgery
• Cortical mapping
• Awake craniotomy
• Leksell Gamma Knife® stereotactic radiosurgery
• Gliadel® wafer chemotherapy
• Convection-enhanced drug delivery
• Brachytherapy

Wake Forest Baptist Health is home to one of the leading Gamma Knife programs in the United States with an experienced radiosurgical teamthat’s treated more than 3,000 patients with Gamma Knife surgery since 1999.

Additionally, the Brain Tumor Center of Excellence (BTCOE) at Wake Forest Baptist Health is finding new ways to treat brain cancer. The hospital also conducts clinical trials.

While brain cancer presents emotional, psychological, and medical challenges, patients can feel confident they are receiving the highest level of brain cancer and brain tumor treatment and care at Wake Forest Baptist Health.

Contact Wake Forest Baptist Health for additional information about treatment of brain cancer or to set up an appointment.