Focused on the patient - Baylor Health Care System

<strong>Focused</strong> on Specialized Care 11Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center treats alltypes of cancer, both common and rare, utilizing theadvanced expertise of its medical staff. This annualreport highlights elements of treatment for breastcancer, blood and marrow transplant, prostate cancer,and T-cell lymphoma; it also features palliative care.Blood and Marrow Transplantby Edward Agura, M.D.2007 marked the 25th anniversary of the Blood and Marrow Transplant program and thecelebration of its 3,500th transplant. As a result of ongoing growth, Baylor has become theeleventh largest transplant center in the United States.Through research, we are discovering better ways to reduce transplant-related complicationsand match patients with their donors. Our unrelated donor center has surpassed itsminority recruitment targets consistently, year after year. Patients who come to Baylor havemore than an 80% chance of finding suitable donors.Dr. Edward AguraResearch remains a prominent focus of the program. Our program has more than 20 InstitutionalReview Board-approved research protocols for patients with leukemia, lymphoma,myelodysplastic syndrome, multiple myeloma, and aplastic anemia. We are participatingin the National Institutes of Health Clinical Trials Network, a national consortium of majortransplant centers tackling, for the first time, difficult questions in a collaborative manner.Furthermore, we have active studies in such areas as non-myeloablative (reduced-intensity)transplants, cancer vaccines, radiopharmaceuticals, treatment of graft-versus-host disease,induction of immune intolerance, supportive care, and novel anti-infectives.Finally, the program has developed an expertise in the treatment of older individuals. Ourprotocols are designed specifically for patients through age 75, and candidates formerlydeemed too frail for conventional transplants may now be considered for non-ablativetransplant protocols in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, acute myelogenous leukemia, myelodysplasticsyndrome, and multiple myeloma.National Marrow Donor ProgramApproximately 70% of patients searching for a marrow or blood stem cell transplant willnot find a suitable match within their family and must look to an unrelated donor to providethe life-saving cells they require. Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center at Dallas, incooperation with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), offers all four of the componentsof the donation process: a transplant center, a donor center, a bone marrow collec-Facing page: Thanks to thecompassionate donation ofblood stem cells from anunrelated and unknown donor,Leigh Taylor is glowing withthe prospects of a new life.