Today, about 40 percent of U.S. men and women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes.

Advances in cancer treatments and a surge in clinical trials worldwide provide key research and tactics for treating cancer. Survival rates continue to improve as a result. In fact, in the last three decades, cancer deaths have declined 27 percent in the United States, due to a reduction in smoking, as well as improvements in early detection and treatments.

Clinical trials at Riverside

Riverside is committed to helping more and more patients survive cancer through its dedication to clinical trial research. Ongoing research and access to clinical trials are important components of our cancer program.

During clinical trials patients volunteer to help doctors and researchers discover better ways to prevent, treat or diagnose diseases. At Riverside, cancer trials are coordinated through our cancer institute, a comprehensive cancer treatment network with multiple locations across southeastern Virginia.

Riverside currently offers clinical trials for the following cancer diagnoses:

• Breast
• Colon
• Gallbladder, bile duct
• Lung
• Prostate
• Stomach

Immunotherapy study
One clinical trial at Riverside focuses on immunotherapy treatments, which use the patient’s own immune system to fight cancer. Riverside is one of only five institutions with access to this study where we’re looking at removing mature bone marrow cells that protect cancer from immune system attacks.

Cholangiocarcinoma study
Riverside physicians and researchers are also participating in a groundbreaking study for cholangiocarcinoma, cancer that forms in bile ducts. We’re the only center in the mid-Atlantic region with access to this study and have seen several cholangiocarcinoma patients respond well to the treatment.

Our clinical research team guides our decisions about clinical trials. Here’s an up-to-date list of the clinical trials at Riverside.

Case Conferences / Tumor Board

A case conference or tumor board is an opportunity to have an interdisciplinary team of physicians and other health care specialists come together to discuss your case and treatment plan. As an accredited Comprehensive Community Cancer Program by the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer, Riverside’s cancer program reviews a minimum of 18 percent of all cancer cases in a case conference or tumor board setting.

Pathologists, radiologists, surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, patient navigators, nurses and other specialists discuss the specifics of the case, and often review the latest research that may apply. The benefit to the patient is the opportunity to have more physicians reviewing the case.