The Tri-Cities Cancer Center is proud to announce that it has a new treatment option available for glioblastoma (GBM) patients. The treatment is delivered via a device called Optune by NovocureTM. Optune is FDA approved and has shown to increase survival rates with no serious side effects for GBM patients. The Tri-Cities Cancer Center is the first cancer treatment facility on the east side of Washington State to offer this groundbreaking treatment option.

GBM is the most common and aggressive form of primary brain cancer in the United States. With only modest improvements made in treatment options over the past 25 years, it is an area of high unmet medical need. GBM affects an estimated 12,500 Americans each year. This disease is one of the deadliest forms of cancer. The overall survival for GBM patients is measured in months, not years.

Optune uses technology called Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields). TTFields are frequencyspecific, low-intensity alternating electric fields that interrupt cancer cell structures during division and may cause cancer cells to die. Optune is a portable, noninvasive medical device designed for use by patients at home. Treatment with Optune generally spares and does not harm healthy, normal nondividing brain cells.

Both Dr. Guy Jones and Dr. Juno Choe, radiation oncologists with the Tri-Cities Cancer Center, are licensed to prescribe this treatment.

The Tri-Cities Cancer Center, a partnership of Kadlec Regional Medical Center, Lourdes Health Network, Trios Health and the Tri-Cities Community, opened its doors in 1994 as a freestanding non-profit cancer treatment facility.