NYU Langone’s Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center in Sunset Park, which opened on June 10, offers medical and radiation oncology treatment and infusion treatments for adult patients with all cancer types and blood disorders. The first floor has five exam rooms and is equipped with the latest oncological technology, including a new state-of-the-art linear accelerator and a CT simulator to allow for 3D treatment planning. These devices offer precise targeting of tumors and minimize adverse effects to surrounding tissue and organs. The accelerator can treat about 30 patients and is believed to be the only one in the area, according to Dr. Alec Kimmelman, professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology.
The second floor has four exam rooms and 21 chairs for infusions and blood transfusions. Support services, including social work, nutrition and genetic counseling, are also available.
“Our idea is to bring in further specialty care directly to the patients,” Oncologist Abraham Chachoua said. “We’ll be starting off with lung, breast and gastrointestinal malignancies – and then building as we go along.”
The three most prevalent cancer cases in Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace, on average from 2012 to 2016, were breast, lung and bronchus and thyroid respectively. The top three cancer cases in Park Slope, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook were breast, prostate and lung and bronchus.
NYU Langone Health staff also said that complete blood counts are done on the premises, prior to patients receiving chemotherapy. Anything that can’t be done there or isn’t needed immediately that day will be sent back to NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn (Lutheran), located two blocks away. The center also has an on-site pharmacy.
IMPORTANCE OF SCREENINGS
The center has also set up Stamp Out Cancer Brooklyn, a new initiative in education and prevention that aims to reduce the disproportionate burden of cancer on a variety of communities in the borough.
“We already do pretty well with breast cancer… but the other diseases, we need to focus on. I’m involved with setting up a lung-screening program. We have a program in the city and we’re going to basically translate that to the cancer center here,” Chachoua explained. “Lung cancer screenings save lives; no question about it.”
New York State Assemblymember Felix Ortiz, who attended a media tour prior to the center’s opening, also spoke to tell his family’s connection to cancer and to emphasize the importance of promoting cancer screenings.
Perlmutter Cancer Center is one of only 50 cancer hospitals across the country to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute – the highest ranking a cancer program can achieve. They’re also among the top four percent of cancer centers in the country and provide access to the most current treatments and clinical trials.
Both Brooklyn and Manhattan-based physicians are seeing patients in Sunset Park. Visit nyulangone.org/perlmuttercancercenter or call 718-907-4880 for more information.
Top photo of NYS Assemblymember Felix Ortiz taken by DeGregorio
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