Dominican Hospital - Mary & Richard Solari Cancer Center

Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing.

Nuclear medicine procedures are used in diagnosing and treating certain illnesses. These procedures use radioactive materials.

Radiation therapy, also known as radiotherapy, is the use of high doses of radiation to kill off cancer cells and cause tumors to shrink. In most cases, the radiation used is X-rays, although other types of radiation can be used. Radiation therapy is most often delivered externally, but can also be used internally.

Breast cancer is when breast cells become abnormal. These abnormal cells grow, divide, and create new cells that do not function normally.

Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in the cells of the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina. Various strains of the human papillomavirus play a role in causing most cervical cancer.

Colon cancer often starts in a polyp, an overgrowth of cells from the epithelium (the top layer of cells) of the colon wall. Although all polyps grow from the inner layer (mucosa) of the colon, not all polyps are the same. Adenomas are the most common type of polyp and while most don’t become cancer, the majority of polyps with cancer start as adenomas. The possibility of a polyp becoming cancerous increases with age. Almost all polyps can be easily removed during a routine colonoscopy, which is why a colonoscopy is so important for people 50 and over - it can definitively prevent cancer.

Lung cancer may originate in the lungs (primary cancer), or it may start elsewhere in the body and spread to the lungs (secondary cancer). There are two main types of lung cancer. Small cell lung cancer is a fast-growing cancer. It may be limited in nature, meaning it affects only one lung or its surrounding tissue, or it may be extensive, meaning that it has metastasized (spread) to other parts of the body. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is more common, making up about 85% of all lung cancers. When discovered in its earliest stages, NSCLC is one of the most treatable cancers.

Ovarian cancer is a type of cancer that develops when cells in the ovaries mutate and multiply rapidly, crowding out and destroying health cells. This cancer can then spread to other areas of the body.

Pancreatic cancer typically doesn’t secrete hormones and doesn’t cause obvious signs or symptoms. This makes it hard to diagnose early. For the majority of patients with the most common kind of pancreatic cancer - called exocrine pancreatic cancer - current treatments do not cure the cancer. As many as 49,000 Americans are diagnosed every year with pancreatic cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Prostate cancer is a type of cancer in which the DNA within some cells in the prostate mutate. These cells then grow rapidly, crowding out and destroying healthy cells. The cancer can then spread to other parts of the body.

Skin cancer is a form of cancer that occurs when basal cells of the skin mutate. These mutated cells grow and multiple rapidly, crowding out and destroying healthy cells and forming a tumor. This cancer can affect the top layers of skin or can go into the deeper layers of the skin and it can spread to other parts of the body.