The Tucker Gosnell Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers at Massachusetts General Hospital is one of the largest and most experienced centers in New England for the care of patients diagnosed with, or at high risk for cancer of: anus, colon and rectal esophageal gallbladder, liver/bile duct, pancreas, stomach, and small intestine.
	Dr. Kenneth Tanabe, Program Director, and Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology

Services

• New patients are usually seen within two weeks, or immediately if medically necessary. Patients meet with a multidisciplinary team of the appropriate specialists in a extended single visit. At the end of the visit, the patient will have a definitive treatment recommendations in place.
• Second opinions
• This team also collaborates closely with the genetic counselors in the Center for Cancer Genetcis Risk Assessment to assess hereditary risk in young patients and patients with strong family histories of gastric cancers.
• The latest screening and diagnostic tests
• One of the nation’s leading abdominal transplantation programs
• Long-term, follow-up care, including collaboration with community physicians and hospitals
• For patients with Liver and bile duct cancer, we offer a separate Hepatobiliary Cancer Clinic. Read More

Advanced Treatments

Diagnostics: Sophisticated Imaging and Computer Technologies

• High-speed two- and three-dimensional CT studies
• Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography
  (PET/CT)
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
• CT colonography (virtual colonoscopy)
• Laparoscopic Ultrasound
• Radiofrequency Ablation
• Lymphotrophic Nanoparticle Enhanced MRI
  (Molecular Imaging)

Experienced Surgeons and Teams Produce the Best Outcomes
Surgeons in the Tucker Gosnell Center perform more pancreatic surgeries and liver resections than any other hospital in New England.

Listed below are the type of surgical procedures available.

• Hyperthermic Isolated Liver Perfusion
  The cancer center is one of only four centers in the United States to perform hyperthermic isolated liver perfusion for advanced liver cancer, a procedure that involves isolating the liver from the body’s circulation and perfusing it with extraordinarily high chemotherapy doses. Read More
• Radiofrequency Ablation
  The cancer center surgeons performed the first radiofrequency ablation of a liver tumor in the United States, a procedure that uses radio waves to heat and destroy unresectable liver tumors. These surgeons and scientists continue to lead advances in this procedure. Read More
• Abdominal Transplantation
  The transplant surgeons developed a living-related liver transplant program that avoids relatively long wait times associated with cadaveric organs. Surgeons perform living-donor split-liver transplants for patients with hepatacellular carcinoma.
• Pancreatic Resections
  The surgeons in the Tucker Gosnell Center perform over 200 pancreatic resections each year making it one of the largest most experienced team in the US. The majority of these cases are considered whipple procedures, also called a pancreaticoduodenectomy, which is the removal of the gallbladder, common bile duct, part of the duodenum, and the head of the pancreas. This procedure is indicated for tumors of the pancreas, ampulla of Vater, duodenum, and distal bile duct.
• Percutaneous Portal Vein Embolization
  Preoperative portal vein embolization increases the capacity of the healthy liver lobe or remnant by inducing atrophy of the lobe to be resected. Interventional radiologists perform this procedure when resection involves seventy percent or more of the liver.
• Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy
  Liver metastases from colorectal cancer that are unresectable are treated with more effective chemotherapy regimens. Responses to chemotherapy are sufficient to allow subsequent resection of the metastasis by the cancer surgeons in select patients.
• Ex-Vivo Procedure
  This complex operation involves removal of the liver from the body, followed by careful dissection of the liver on a sterile back bench to remove the tumor. This operation is performed for tumors in difficult locations that would otherwise be considered unresectable.

Radiation Oncology
Radiation oncologists sub-specialize by disease area, giving them an experience in disease- and structure-specific treatments.

The cancer center is home to the only proton radiation facility in the Northeast, the Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center, and one of only three in the United States. Irregularly shaped lesions with awkward configurations near critical structures, including certain liver tumors, are well suited for proton beam therapy.

Types or Radiation Oncology Procedures:

• Four-dimensional (4D) proton beam radiotherapy is currently being used at the cancer center to improve treatment delivery for upper GI tumors. This technology allows the proton treatment to be “gated” so that proton delivery occurs only in a particular phase of breathing, thereby improving accuracy and preventing radiation of normal tissue.
• Proton radiation is currently being used to treat liver tumors in a phase I trial. Current investigations regarding the potential ability of 4D proton beam radiation may allow for treatment schedules that shorten a five-and-a-half week course of radiation to a single week for pancreatic cancer.
• Photon Beam Radiation Therapy
  Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT)
  The cancer center is one of only a few hospitals in the world — and the only in the Northeast — to offer this therapy. During surgery, radiation is delivered to locally advanced unresectable tumors in a dedicated operating room designed specifically for this purpose. Results show that this modality can offer long-term survival (6% at five years) in patients who otherwise would have no hope. Read More
• Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)
  The radiation oncologists have extensive experience with IMRT, which delivers varying dosages of radiation at the same time to different parts of the treatment area. Read More

Support & Coping
The treatment of gastrointestinal cancers has an impact on all aspects of the patient’s life, as well as the entire family. To find information on the upcoming Gastrointestinal Cancer support group, other education workshops, and wellness services offered this month. View the HOPES calendar.