Mesothelioma Trust Funds
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Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

Contact Information

  • 1100 Fairview Avenue North Seattle, WA 98109
  • (206) 667-5000

The Seattle Cancer Alliance has partnered with the doctors and researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington Medicine, and Seattle Children’s Hospital to become a superlative center for conducting research and clinical studies as well as providing treatment for cancer and related diseases. These facilities have combined their medical oncology clinical care programs into the jointly governed Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA).

The goal and purpose of the SCCA is to:

  • Provide cutting edge care for patients as well as their families;
  • Support and carry out clinical research and education for cancer;
  • Find access to the best cancer innovations in order to improve cancer care.

A main area of concentration for SCCA is to get new discoveries in diagnosing and treating cancer as quickly as they can from the research labs to the patients. Their approach to cancer research among the SCCA partners is carried out by encouraging the spread of information among the researchers, practitioners, and patients. One of the major ways they accomplish this is through the use of clinical trials.

Patients looking for a center to treat their cancer should know that a cancer center like SCCA could provide great care. These centers employ skilled and experienced physicians with specializations in different fields, and the doctors are always looking for the best possible treatment for each individual.

Patients at SCCA are treated by more than one doctor, each with a specialization either in a specific treatment or a specific disease. Teams like these are known as “multidisciplinary” teams. At a cancer center like SCCA, this multidisciplinary concept likely means a patient will see a medical oncologist, a surgical oncologist, and a radiation oncologist. When being treated at SCCA, the doctors can come from all of the partner facilities.

One of the areas of focus at SCCA is early detection of all cancers, but they are especially dedicated to ways of finding lung cancer in its early stages. Of all the cancers that cause death in the U.S., lung cancer leads the list. Almost 160,000 people every year die from lung cancer. About 60 percent of lung cancer occurs in people who have stopped smoking and 25 percent occurs in people who have never smoked.

To support early detection of lung cancer, the Seattle Cancer Treatment Center has a Lung Cancer Early Detection and Prevention Clinic. Patients who have been diagnosed with any kind of suspicious abnormality in their lungs can be referred to this clinic. The clinic will apply all of the latest technologies in order to come to a fast and safe diagnosis. A patient who is diagnosed with lung cancer will receive a procedure right away to quickly stage the cancer so that treatment can be determined.

Patients who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare type of cancer caused by asbestos that can affect the lining of the heart, abdomen, testes, and most often, the lungs, may benefit from the care at SCCA. Because of the outstanding doctors at Fred Hutchinson and SCCA and their expertise in the study and treatment of this form of cancer, SCCA is an ideal center for the treatment of mesothelioma. They offer the most current treatments as well as access to clinical trials that can provide these new treatments faster. Mesothelioma treatments are not easy and SCCA provides special help in the form of programs, classes, and services for mesothelioma patients and their families.