If you have recently received a brain tumor diagnosis, are concerned about symptoms, or want a second opinion, you need a team that has experience treating many kinds of brain cancer, even the rare and most complex. The Brain Tumor Center at Siteman Cancer Center is that team.
Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine is redefining what we know about brain tumors, unlocking new treatments, and protecting eloquent language and movement areas of our patients’ minds. We can help you, too.
Whether you are referring a patient, or are referring yourself, our care coordinators, oncology nurses who support with scheduling, will guide you through your first call and along your journey.
Why Choose Siteman Cancer Center?
At Siteman Cancer Center, we know brain tumors well, and we treat them effectively.
National excellence, global reputation for brain tumor treatment
Siteman is recognized nationwide as a leader in brain tumor care. We are the region’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The Brain Tumor Center at Siteman Cancer Center is the largest multidisciplinary center in the Midwest for benign and malignant tumors. That means we care for more patients with brain cancer and more patients choose us when they need the most complex care. We are experts in every area of the brain, including the skull base, and pituitary region.
WashU Medicine physicians at Siteman who treat brain tumors are national leaders in research and treatment. They have set new standards in neuro-oncology, publishing guidelines that other physicians around the country follow.
Treatments that are becoming standard practice elsewhere often started here first. We will explore every option for your care, so you have the best possible outcome.
A Siteman care coordinator is the fastest path to referral, consult, or second opinion. Our care coordinators – oncology nurses who help with scheduling and navigation – will guide you from your first call.
WashU Medicine neurosurgeons and experts for brain tumor
WashU Medicine physicians at Siteman are subspecialized. That means they are focused on your specific type of brain tumor. Many of our physicians are also researchers, studying new ways to address the disease.
They aren’t just experts in gliomas, meningiomas, and other rare primary tumors. They are also research experts in genetic markers. Our research of IDH mutations, MGMT methylation, 1p/19q co-deletion and more is uncovering new opportunities to overcome these devastating diagnoses.
WashU Medicine physicians and researchers at Siteman lead the most current research and the most advanced treatments to build a care plan that is right for you, your diagnosis, and your life.
Simple self-referral for a second opinion
At Siteman, you don’t need a referral to seek a second opinion. You can choose to come to us. Our accurate opinion could change your care plan and your outcome.
Because WashU Medicine physicians at Siteman are dedicate their careers to brain tumors, they see patterns, options, and solutions that others may miss. When you come to Siteman, experts will lead your care. Their experience is proven. They have treated hundreds of patients with a diagnosis like yours.
Your Second Opinion at Siteman
Siteman wants to be your first choice for cancer care, but that might not always be possible. If you have received a cancer diagnosis, started care somewhere else, or are a physician seeking specialized care for your patient, ask us about a second opinion. You can start the process. To make it easy, our care coordinators guide scheduling for yourself or your patient.
Team-Based Specialist Care for Complex Diagnoses
Our unique team approach brings together physician-researchers at WashU Medicine and the expertise of BJC HealthCare, including Barnes-Jewish Hospital to create holistic, multidisciplinary care.
You will have many physicians all working together on your care. That makes your care at Siteman fundamentally different.
Our weekly neuro-oncology tumor board reviews every new Siteman patient who has a brain tumor. It’s a dedicated, collaborative meeting where neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, radiation oncologists, neuropathologists, neuropsychologists, and radiologists review your specific case.
Research shows that tumor boards make a significant difference in patient outcomes. In more than half of all patients these boards review, the recommended treatment plan changes to better address the disease, symptoms, and quality of life. That means, the experts establishing your care actively plan together, discussing, considering, agreeing, and putting it into motion.
At Siteman it means you get the best thinking of every specialist. If you need a change in care, your team will suggest it.
Dr. Albert H. Kim, Director, Brain Tumor Center, August A. Busch Jr. Professor of Neurological Surgery, WashU Medicine, is the director of The Brain Tumor Center at Siteman. He is nationally recognized as one of the leading brain tumor physician-scientists in the U.S.
His NIH-funded research program focuses on glioblastoma and complex brain tumors, including benign tumors. This work has been continuously funded since 2012. In 2022, Kim first became a Castle Connolly Top Doctor, a prestigious, peer-nominated honor. The award places him in the top 7% of all physicians in the U.S. for excellence in clinical care, interpersonal skills, and professional reputation.
Kim performs Gamma Knife, laser ablation, awake craniotomy, and complex skull base surgery.
View Provider PageState-of-the-Art Surgeries and Treatments
At Siteman, our brain tumor specialists have access to treatments and technologies that do not exist anywhere else in our region. This is important for patients with tumors in difficult locations of the body like the brain and near the spine.
We can successfully treat tumors other surgeons consider inoperable. Our approaches allow safe intervention inside the language or movement centers of the brain and deep inside the skull.
The technological depth and refined techniques we offer give patients more options and more hope.
Treatments for brain tumors may include:
- Gamma Knife: Siteman was the first in Missouri to offer Gamma Knife radiosurgery. It is a non-invasive technology that destroys brain tumors with precisely targeted radiation.
- Proton Therapy: We were the first proton therapy center in the world to feature a compact proton bean accelerator. Plus, our surgeons have performed more than 1,000 operations using intraoperative MRI. This places us among the highest-volume programs in the nation.
- Laser Ablation (LITT): For tumors that cannot be reached by conventional surgery, our team offers laser ablation (LITT). LITT is a minimally invasive technique that uses intense heat to destroy cancer deep inside the brain.
- Awake Craniotomy: For tumors near critical, eloquent areas of the brain, we offer awake craniotomy with real-time brain mapping. This lets surgeons remove as much tumor as possible while protecting your ability to speak, move, and think.
Surgery is often the most important first step in treating a brain tumor, so surgical experience is essential. Our neurosurgeons focus exclusively on brain and spinal tumors and are leaders in advanced techniques that most regional centers do not offer like Transorbital Neuroendoscopic Surgery (TONES).
Open Clinical Trials at Siteman
Clinical trials at Siteman open up new and unique treatment options for our patients. We give patients a level of access and options they can’t find everywhere. That means patients at Siteman have a distinct advantage over their disease.
Siteman has one of the best reputations in the research world, so we hold and lead many clinical trials each year.
Siteman offers more active brain tumor clinical trials than any other cancer center in the St. Louis region. We have over 600 open clinical trials each year, and many study brain tumors specifically.
When you come to Siteman, your care team will review your diagnosis and identify every trial that may be right for you.
Clinical trials at Siteman offer access to treatments not yet widely available, including:
- Personalized tumor vaccines that train your immune system to attack cancer cells specifically
- Immunotherapy combinations for recurrent or high-grade tumors including glioblastoma
- Targeted drugs designed to block the specific mutations driving your tumor
- Laser ablation combined with drug delivery — a discovery made at Siteman — that reaches tumors other treatments cannot
- Precision-based therapy tailored to your tumor’s molecular profile, identified through advanced genetic sequencing
Clinical trials for brain tumors at Siteman open up new and unique treatment options for our patients. We give patients a level of access and options they can’t find everywhere. That means patients at Siteman have a distinct advantage over their disease.
Specialized Research Only at Siteman
Benign and cancerous brain tumors are among the most difficult conditions to treat. Siteman is changing that.
Our researchers have made discoveries that are now being studied and replicated at institutions nationwide. We’ve led:
- Using the Zika virus to target the most treatment-resistant brain tumor cells
- Discovering that laser surgery opens the blood-brain barrier to improve drug delivery
- Developing personalized cancer vaccines that have helped some glioblastoma patients survive years longer than standard care predicts.
Pioneering research is one of the ways Siteman has consistently earned top honors from the NCI. Our “Exceptional” rating shows we offer the highest possible level of research. Our discoveries benefit not just patients at Siteman but patients around the world.
Only at Siteman can you harness your body’s biological clock for better outcomes. We are the only institution in the country currently offering circadian rhythm-based brain cancer treatment. We are using every advantage to make therapy more effective and increase positive outcomes for you.
When you come here, your team will review whether any of our active research programs could open new options for your care.