Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Cousins with melanoma caused by the same genetic mutation enroll in a randomized clinical trial of a promising experimental drug that targets the mutation. Randomly assigned to different groups, one young man gets the new drug, experiences dramatic shrinkage of his tumors and is alive nine months later, while his cousin receives current therapy — [...]

Patients with metastatic melanoma being treated with the new investigational cancer drug PLX4032 are showing strong responses, with an 80 percent anti-tumor response rate among patients whose tumors are positive for the B-RAF (V600E) gene mutation. However, in all too many cases, patients are developing resistance to the drug and their cancer is beginning to [...]

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s Oncology Clinic in Cool Springs makes patient care its priority, and provides a strong example of why the Medical Center is deserving of a second Magnet designation. Though the clinic is 16 miles from the main Vanderbilt University Medical Center campus, the culture of this suburban clinic embodies the VUMC Nursing philosophy [...]

A clinical trial of a new experimental therapy for metastatic melanoma being tested at Vanderbilt and several other medical centers has shown positive results, including tumor shrinkage in the majority of patients. The results support previously reported positive data for the drug, known as PLX4032 (RG7204), in a much larger patient population where all responses [...]

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has joined the International Blood-Brain Barrier Consortium, a group that is combining research and comprehensive patient care to develop protocols and guidelines for opening the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is a system of tight junctions in the circulatory system around the brain that protects the central nervous system from unsafe [...]

The National Cancer Institute has awarded two Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) grants to a group of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators to support early detection of lung and colon cancers. Pierre Massion, M.D., associate professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology, has been awarded $3 million over five years for the creation of the Vanderbilt Clinical [...]

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center has received a $7.6 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) stimulus grant to coordinate a study comparing the effectiveness of various treatments for prostate cancer. Funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the three-year grant is part of the CHOICE award program that uses federal ARRA stimulus [...]

A new drug used to treat advanced melanoma patients with a specific genetic mutation in their tumors demonstrated significant tumor shrinkage in the majority of patients during a clinical trials.

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) has launched its new Personalized Cancer Medicine Initiative, becoming the first cancer center in the Southeast and one of the first in the nation to offer adult cancer patients routine “genotyping” of their tumors at the DNA level. This information will then be used to personalize treatment by matching the appropriate [...]

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and affiliated VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System are the first in the nation to perform a specialized PET/CT scan to successfully locate the presence of tumors. The improved imaging allows surgeons to more easily locate and remove cancerous tumors, according to Ronald Walker, M.D., professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences. Walker [...]