Learning you have cancer at the core of your central nervous system can be devastating news, but don’t lose hope. At Sutter Cancer Centers, we provide children and adults with comprehensive care for brain and spine tumors through a multidisciplinary team of medical experts including neurosurgeons and medical oncologists.
Cancer care specialists work closely to determine the best treatment options for you, supported by a full complement of nurses, technicians, clinical social workers and others committed to complete patient care. You benefit from specialized programs, such as our Brain Tumor Team, which also encompasses spinal cord cancers. Every other week, our multidisciplinary team of adult and pediatric neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists, neuro-oncologists, neuroradiologists, pathologists, neuropsychologists and nurses meets to review, discuss and plan patient care.
Our Cancer Nurse Navigators work with you and your family to coordinate your care, as well as provide access to education and support services. In addition, we offer dozens of integrative health modalities, such as massage, music therapy, and art therapy to help you cope with your condition.
With our extensive range of programs for children, young patients and their families have access to highly trained specialists and support teams who work exclusively with pediatric patients. Sutter Children’s Services and the Sutter Neuroscience Institute in Sacramento combine resources to treat brain and spinal cord anomalies. We regularly receive referral patients from the National Brain Tumor Foundation and Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation.
Children and adults from throughout Northern California and Nevada come to Sutter Cancer Centers for diagnostic options including genetic testing and scanning, lumbar puncture, electroencephalogram, PET scan and cerebral angiography.
Sutter Cancer Centers offers advanced treatment options including the Gamma Knife, a proven, innovative tool for reducing or eliminating brain and spine tumors without surgery. We offer additional treatments including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, target therapy, radiation therapy, NICO Myriad® device, laser ablation surgery and thermal ablation therapy.
The Sutter Medical Center gives you access to:
- More than 120 neurology specialists and neuro-oncologists.
- The NICO Myriad tool® that helps neurosurgeons remove hard-to-reach tumors through smaller incisions.
- Brain mapping, which uses a variety of imaging technologies to learn as much as possible about a tumor before and during surgery to minimize damage to surrounding tissues.
- GammaTile® technology, a form of brachytherapy that reduces radiation exposure in unaffected parts of the brain while targeting where the tumor is most likely to recur.
