Abramson Cancer Center

Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors Program

The Penn Difference

Innovative Research... Advanced Medicine... Service Excellence

• Nationally recognized experts
• Advanced diagnostic testing, treatments and technologies
• Coordinated care
• Support services
• A reputation for sensitivity and responsiveness
• Personalized attention
• Innovative clinical trials
• The backing of a major research program with immediate translation to patient care

What sets Penn's Brain and Spinal Cord Tumor Program apart?

Our goal is to provide the best chance for cure while preserving quality of life for each patient. The program's patient-centered approach means your team of physicians, therapists and nurses provide the care and support you and your family need during this time.

Making History

• Penn set a new standard of care in this region when it established the interdisciplinary Neuro-Oncology Program in 1993. This center offers patients with CNS tumors of all kinds of comprehensive diagnostic evaluation and treatment options by a team of experts in this field.
• Physicians and researchers at Penn are recognized nationally and internationally for their cutting edge research on the cause and treatment of brain and spinal cord tumors. This research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Health, the American Cancer Society, The Brain Tumor Society and other organizations.

Shaping the Future

Penn's program is distinguished in a number of ways including:

• Timely diagnosis
• Oncologists, neuro-oncologists and neurosurgeons who are full-time faculty of the University of Pennsylvania.
• Dedicated neuro radiologists and pathologists who work with the team to achieve a precise diagnosis.
• Rehabilitation specialists to help with cancer-related side effects.
• U.S.News & World Report ranked the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania the highest in the region for Neurosurgery.
• Penn specialists use new procedures that allow the surgeon to combine the use of the operating microscope, surgical laser, and computer-guided tumor detection techniques that use CT scan and MRI scan images of the brain and central nervous system. These advances allow our neurosurgeons to remove tumors in cases which were previously considered to be "inoperable."
• Penn neurosurgeons, were able to accurately predict the specific genetic mutation that caused brain cancer in a group of patients studied using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Historically tumor mutations have been identified by taking the tissue out and examining it using one of two laboratory tests to see if the mutation is present. In this study the identification was noninvasive. This is the first demonstration that an MRI, or any imaging technique, can accurately predict the type of mutation of a human tumor.
• Our clinical trials program, which evaluates the effectiveness of new therapies, gives our patients access to the latest treatment advances, including gene therapy. In fact, many of the newest and most innovative approaches available at Penn are not offered elsewhere in the region.
• Behind the scenes, our acclaimed laboratory research program is addressing some of the most fundamental CNS tumor problems, such as: what controls CNS tumor growth, what makes CNS tumors difficult to treat and which of the new strategies developed in the laboratory will have the greatest likelihood of becoming a major advance in CNS cancer treatment
• Penn is the only institution in the Delaware Valley region that is a member of the New Approaches to Brain Tumor Therapy: A CNS Consortium (NABTT). The NABTT consortium is one of only two national consortia funded by the National Cancer Institute to investigate and test novel therapies for the treatment of brain tumors.