Hospitals focus on cancer: clinical trials, cancer centers help patients receive state-of-the-art care in Alaska.

• Author: West, Gail
• Position: HEALTH & MEDICINE

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Diagnosis: CANCER.

Today, however, that diagnosis is becoming less a death sentence than the diagnosis of a chronic illness--one with which patients need to learn how to live.

This change is due, in large part, to the result of clinical trials that tell researchers what works and what doesn't and with which particular cancer a treatment works. That history is still being made as continuing research reveals new, and potentially more effective, treatments.

Contrary to the long-held thought among Alaskans that "to get good cancer care, you have to go Outside," state-of-the-art care is available right here in Alaska, including clinical trials.

"Providence Alaska Medical Center currently has about 50 trials open for patient enrollment, and close to 50 studies that are closed to enrollment, but in which we are following patients," said Krista Rangitsch, a registered nurse and team lead for Providence Cancer Center's Oncology Research Department. Cancer patients may have another misperception, said Rangitsch.

When people participate in a clinical trial, they are already getting the standard of care for that particular type of cancer, but they also get an additional drug or treatment that is simply added on to what they would normally receive. The trials are comparing the standard-of-care treatment to the standard of care plus one addition.

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Other Alaska hospitals also participate in clinical trials--Alaska Regional and Fairbanks Memorial among them. Although Fairbanks Memorial Hospital is owned by the Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation, it's operated by Banner Health.

TEAMING UP

"Fairbanks Memorial Hospital has a great interest in encouraging research, especially cancer research," said Hannah Brice Smith, a cancer research nurse with Fairbanks Memorial. "Our oncologists are as involved in research as possible, and we have a lot of support from Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle.

"We're an affiliate member of the Cooperative Community Oncology Project (CCOP) at Virginia Mason," Smith said. "Big facilities, such as Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, have accessed big grants to support rural areas, so they are basically parenting us. They have the review board, do the primary paperwork and all the oversight and federal regulatory stuff. They guide us through coordination with patients in the study."

What that means for Fairbanks patients is that they can stay in Fairbanks but still participate in clinical trials conducted in Seattle. Smith also said a grant to Virginia Mason from the Rasmuson Foundation helps with...