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For nearly 40 years, Monmouth Medical Center has built a distinguished
record of achievements in the field of cancer and other oncology-focused
services. Here’s a timeline of the accomplishments that have
marked the ongoing development of the Leon Hess Cancer Center.
– Monmouth Medical Center acquires
a high-energy, 6 million volt linear accelerator for the treatment
of cancer. It is only the 30th machine of its kind in the world
and the first in New Jersey representing its first step in establishing
what would become the renowned Institute
for Advanced Radiation Oncology.
– The
Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons grants
Monmouth approval for its “teaching hospital cancer program” a
prestigious distinction that Monmouth has since retained for nearly
25 years and is earned by only one-fifth of hospitals in the country
offering cancer care.
– A 27-bed oncology unit is opened and a major expansion
culminates with the introduction of a new 6 million volt linear
accelerator, a new 15 million volt linear accelerator and a new
treatment planning computer.
– Plastic surgeons perform Monmouth Medical Center’s
first transverse abdominal flap (TRAM) breast reconstruction a
procedure still considered the state-of-the-art in recreating a
breast lost to mastectomy through the use of muscle, skin and fat
tissue from the abdomen.
– The
Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center opens to
become the first facility in Monmouth and Ocean counties dedicated
to breast care under one roof. Today, it provides the widest array
of preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative services
for breast health found anywhere in New Jersey.
– A year after its debut, the Jacqueline M. Wilentz
Comprehensive Breast Center emerges from its first Food and Drug
Administration inspection for being in total compliance with stringent
requirements under the federal Mammography Quality Standards Act
(MQSA).
– Monmouth Medical Center is first facility in the
state — and the fifth in the nation to earn American
College of Radiology accreditation for stereotactic breast
biopsy. Since then, ACR accreditation also has been awarded for
mammography, full-field digital mammography, breast ultrasound
and ultrasound-guided breast biopsy performance.
– Monmouth Medical Center becomes a trial site to investigate
a new chemotherapy chip for recurring malignant brain tumors a
major step in developing an effective therapy for brain cancer
and improving the quality of life for patients.
– Through the Jacqueline
M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center, Monmouth assembles
the region’s first specialized team of general and plastic
and reconstructive surgeons dedicated to performing the most-advanced
breast procedures.
– The Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center
is named as one of the 10 top breast cancer centers in the country
by Self, a national women’s magazine.
– Monmouth becomes the first hospital in the region
to offer two advanced radiation implant therapies for the treatment
of prostate cancer. High-dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy, which treats
intermediate and high-risk prostate cancer, involves implanting
radioactive sources into the targeted area and immediately removing
them after each treatment session. In contrast, permanent seed
brachytherapy (PSB) for men with early-stage prostate cancer involves
the placement of low-energy radiation seeds that remain in the
prostate for several months to deliver treatment.
– Monmouth’s pioneering role in the delivery of
HDR brachytherapy earns it the first of two annual Gallo Awards
for Outstanding Cancer Research from The
Cancer Institute of New Jersey .
– Monmouth-becomes the first hospital
in the region to offer protocol-tested sentinel lymph node biopsy
to determine whether breast cancer has spread from the tumor site.
– The American
College of Radiology accredits Monmouth Medical Center for
ultrasound guided breast biopsy, an advanced procedure that is
used in place of surgery to determine if a tumor is cancerous.
It is the first hospital in New Jersey and one of first 12 facilities
in the nation to earn the distinction.
– Monmouth becomes the only hospital in Monmouth County
selected as a designated site for the STAR Trial, one of the largest-ever
breast cancer prevention studies. Monmouth is among 400 sites in
the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada chosen to participate
in the study of the drugs tamoxifen and raloxifene in the high-risk
breast cancer population.
– The Institute for Advanced Radiation Oncology is
officially established to mark its latest advancement: the delivery
of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), a revolutionary
advance in 3-D conformal radiation therapy that dramatically improves
cancer treatment. Monmouth joins a handful of hospitals in New
Jersey offering this state-of-the-art technology, which precisely
targets tumors with pinpoint radiation beams and spares surrounding
normal tissue.
– Later in the year, the Institute for Advanced Radiation
Oncology debuts its annual IMRT professional symposium a major
two-day conference that is one of the first programs of its kind
in the United States, attracting hundreds of radiation oncologists,
other physicians, physicists and health care specialists from across
the world.
– Monmouth Medical Center neurosurgeons introduce stereotactic
radiosurgery, the highly precise, incisionless alternative to traditional
brain surgery that is enhanced by image-guided technology to accurately
perform delicate procedures in the cranium as well as the spine.
– Monmouth introduces hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy
for the small-incision removal of cancerous kidneys, becoming the
first hospital in Central Jersey to offer this state-of-the-art
approach.
– The Cancer Center at Monmouth is named in honor of
the late Leon Hess, a longtime and general
supporter of the hospital. . In 1998, he pledged $1 million to
expand the Jacqueline
M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center, and after his death
in 1999, the New York City-based Hess Foundation made another extraordinary
gift of $3 million to support the ongoing development of the cancer
center.
– A year after becoming the first facility in the state
to offer full-field digital mammography, Monmouth is one of two
hospitals in the state and among 35 institutions nationwide chosen
as a site for the American
College of Radiology Imaging Network-sponsored (ACRIN) clinical
trial. The Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center enrolls
more 700 women in the study, which compares the accuracy of digital
mammography vs. the standard film-screen method.
– Full-body radiosurgery is the latest breakthrough
in high-precision radiation therapy for cancer treatment to be
unveiled at Monmouth Medical Center, making it the first New Jersey
hospital to offer patients this new alternative in treating certain
cancers.
– Monmouth Medical Center becomes the first hospital
in central New Jersey to perform offer real-time, dynamic computer-assisted
planning for men undergoing brachytherapy, elevating this advanced
treatment for prostate cancer to new levels of precision and sophistication.
– Comforting
patients and fighting disease gives cancer treatment a new dimension
at the new Goldsmith Wellness Center, which provides such complementary services
as which include yoga, massage and guided imagery — all offered
in conjunction with conventional medical treatments.
– Monmouth Medical Center introduces its Head
and Neck Cancer Program the only offering of its kind in southern
and central New Jersey that takes a multidisciplinary team approach
to complex cancers of the endocrine and respiratory systems, and
oral cavity.
– The Institute for Advanced Radiation Oncology achieves
accreditation by the American
College of Radiation Oncology — becoming Monmouth County’s
first facility to receive this national recognition for the quality,
safety and appropriateness of its radiation therapy.
– By becoming the first hospital in New Jersey to introduce
an Oncor linear accelerator, the Institute for Advanced Radiation
further bolsters its capabilities to deliver the most technologically
accurate, image-guided radiation therapy. It also becomes the platform
that launches image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) the following
year (see below).
–Monmouth Medical Center is among five Saint Barnabas
Health Care System hospitals to be the first in New Jersey offering
MammoSite technology, a new partial breast irradiation method aimed
at shortening radiation therapy time for some women with breast
cancer. A nearly 10-year study by Monmouth Medical Center confirms
two national landmark studies that found breast conservation surgery
is an effective treatment alternative to full mastectomy
for early cancers.
– In the surgical arena, Monmouth Medical Center is
the first hospital in the Monmouth County region to introduce laparoscopic
partial nephrectomy, a cutting-edge small-incision procedure that
is proving effective in treating kidney cancer
without having to remove the entire organ.
– Monmouth Medical Center joined a select group of major
academic institutions throughout the United States in a clinical
trial that delves into reducing two serious complications experienced
by head and neck cancer patients during radiation
treatment.
– Through the Jacqueline
M Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center, Monmouth Medical Center
is one of the first facilities in the nation to gain American
College of Radiology accreditation in safety and performance
for full-field digital mammography. It also emerges as the only
facility in Monmouth and Ocean counties to earn total ACR accreditation
for breast ultrasound and ultrasound-guided breast biopsy procedures.
– Monmouth Medical Center interventional radiologists
introduce radiofrequency ablation as viable treatment option for
certain liver and lung cancers, with further applications being
pioneered for bone and breast cancer.
– Monmouth becomes the first hospital in New Jersey
to introduce the most-advanced system to deliver “cone-beam” image-guided
radiation therapy (IGRT) a breakthrough technology that uses images
obtained from various scanning systems to precisely target the
treatment site.
– The
Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center extends its
unblemished record for meeting the nation’s top standards
for mammography quality and performance. Shortly after passing
the annual FDA inspection for being in total compliance with mammography
requirements for 10 consecutive years, the center gains another
three-year accreditation from the American
College of Radiology for all four of its state-of-the-art mammography
units.
The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons upholds
Monmouth Medical Center’s longstanding prominence as a leading
academic cancer center in the nation for another three years a
prestigious distinction that Monmouth has retained for nearly 25
consecutive years.
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Leon Hess Cancer Center
Monmouth Medical Center
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