A biopsy is a surgical procedure in which a doctor removes a small amount of tissue to examine under a microscope. It may be minimally invasive and take place in your doctor's office. But sometimes surgery or another procedure may be needed to obtain a tissue sample. There are many types of biopsies, including skin biopsy, needle biopsy, endoscopic biopsy, bone marrow biopsy and more. The type of biopsy your doctor performs depends on where the possible tumor is located.

Our experienced oncologists at Providence use brachytherapy as a treatment for breast, head and neck, and gynecologic cancers, and more. During treatment, seeds, ribbons or capsules containing radiation are implanted in or near a tumor in your body, effectively destroying cancer cells and shrinking tumors. It can be applied on a temporary or permanent basis.

Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy works by stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells, which grow and divide quickly. The drugs can be administered orally, through intravenous lines, or in other ways. Chemotherapy can be used alone as a cancer treatment, or along with other treatments like radiation therapy and surgery. Each drug in a chemotherapy regimen is carefully selected to target the specific type and stage of the cancer being treated.

External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT) is one of Providence's most common and effective cancer treatments. It helps reduce the size of tumors through precise doses of X-ray beams. The radiation from the X-ray eliminates cancer cells and shrinks tumors. Different types of EBRT, like 3D conformal radiation therapy or image-guided radiation therapy, are used to lower the risk of radiation leaking to other organs near the cancer area. These therapy sessions are pain free and require only a few visits.

Specialists at Providence use your genetic and genomic information to offer insight into a variety of inherited conditions including different types of cancers, heart, and neurologic diseases and more. Our genetic and genomic services include risk-assessment, genetic counseling, detailed genetic consultations and genetic testing. By combining leading-edge research with our clinical expertise, we’re able to bring you the best personalized care to support your specific health needs.

Hormone therapy involves using substances that fight reproductive cancers in men and women. Men's hormones, including testosterone, can feed cancers in the prostate and elsewhere in the reproductive system. Targeted hormone therapy like androgen deprivation therapy can inhibit the growth of these cancer-feeding hormones. In women, endocrine therapy can target and treat cancers in the breast, also by limiting or eliminating the hormones, including estrogen, that feed the tumors.

At Providence, our top-ranked specialists use immunotherapy to treat various cancers. Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses substances made from living organisms to help your immune system fight cancer. As part of its normal function, the immune system detects and destroys abnormal cells to prevent the growth of more cancers. There are several types of immunotherapy treatments, including T-cell transfer therapy, monoclonal antibodies, treatment vaccines, and more.

Our highly experienced cancer specialists use integrative medicine as an effective cancer treatment option. It’s a type of medical care that combines standard medical treatment with complementary and alternative therapies that have been shown to be safe and to work.

Interventional radiology is a non-surgical treatment option for a variety of conditions. It often results in less pain, risk, and recovery time than typical surgery. Our world-class specialists and clinicians usually use images as road maps to guide needles or a catheter through the body to the disease site. Common interventional radiology procedures include needle biopsies, chemotherapy, spinal nerve injections, tumor therapy for liver or kidney cancer, and many more.

Receiving a serious or chronic illness diagnosis can change your life dramatically and you may need additional support. Palliative care focuses on relieving pain and symptoms and prioritizing comfort and quality of life in any stage of your illness. Providence palliative care programs assist families with the comprehensive management of the patient’s physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs. Our palliative care team is available for long-term needs as well as for help in managing short-term side effects from treatment like chemotherapy. We provide counseling, planning assistance and help navigating the medical system.

At Providence, our top-ranked cancer care specialists use stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to treat pancreatic, lung, prostate, and many other cancers. This treatment uses 3D imaging to beam precise, high doses of radiation to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. SBRT can be performed within one to five sessions. SBRT also lowers the risk of exposing your body to radiation or harming any of your vital organs and minimizes any side effects to healthy surrounding tissue.

Surgery is an important treatment method for many types of cancers. It involves removing cancerous cells and tumors from the affected area. Some surgeries are minimally invasive, like removing cancerous cells from the surface of the skin. Others may involve an operation to remove cancer cells from organs or elsewhere inside the body. Modern surgical methods can involve minimal incisions and less recovery time than previous methods. Surgery can be part of your overall treatment plan for many kinds of cancers.

Targeted therapy is a type of cancer treatment that targets proteins that control how cancer cells grow, divide, and spread. Targeted therapy generally is administered through one of two methods:

• Small-molecule drugs, which are small enough to enter cells easily, can be used for targets that are inside cells.
• Monoclonal antibodies, which are proteins produced in the lab. These proteins are designed to attach to specific targets found on cancer cells. Some monoclonal antibodies mark cancer cells so that they will be better seen and destroyed by the immune system.

These types of therapies help to find, slow and destroy cancer cells in very targeted ways.