BY RUTHANN RICHTER

On Tuesday, Stanford University Medical Center celebrated the groundbreaking on a new home for its world-renowned cancer treatment center. The building, located next to Stanford Hospital and Clinics, also will house one of the largest ambulatory surgery centers in Northern California, with 16 state-of-the-art operating rooms for minimally invasive procedures.

The new Center for Cancer Treatment and Prevention/Ambulatory Care Pavilion will bring together all of Stanford’s 80 cancer specialists, who have been scattered in various locations throughout the medical center. They will work side by side in physical surroundings designed to promote healing in patients.

The 218,000-sq.-ft. building on Blake Wilbur Drive is the culmination of a decade of planning that has involved physicians, staff, patients and the community. The total cost of the project is $162 million, a major portion of which will come from private philanthropy. The building is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2003.

"The building is a reflection of our multidisciplinary approach to cancer. It will integrate research into the clinic more effectively to quicken our pace

with new therapeutic approaches," said Charlotte Jacobs, MD, professor of medicine (oncology) and director of Stanford’s Clinical Cancer Center. "And it’s a reflection of our care and concern for patients, allowing them to get most of their care under one roof in a supportive environment."

Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine and a pediatric cancer specialist, noted that in the past 10 to 15 years the treatment of adults and children with cancer has become increasingly accomplished in an outpatient setting.

"Delivering modern cancer therapy requires the coordination of many physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists and other professionals," Pizzo said. "It also requires a setting where this type of multidisciplinary team can be assembled and where the physical and emotional well-being of the patient is both provided for and valued. The Center for Cancer Treatment and Prevention/Ambulatory Care Pavilion will permit patients coming to Stanford not only to receive state-of-the-art care, but to do so in a setting which will comfort their body and soul. That will surely make treatments more tolerable and, we hope, more successful."

Some 40 years ago, Stanford specialists pioneered the practice of a multidisciplinary approach to cancer care, in which a team of experts -- surgeons, radiation oncologists, pathologists and others -- work together to diagnose, treat and support individual patients. The new building embodies that approach and will enable cancer experts to work side by side, continuously sharing their knowledge and expertise. Having all physicians and services in one location also will spare patients the inconvenience of traveling from one spot to another for tests and clinic visits.

The four-story building will also reflect dramatic advances in cancer treatment, Jacobs said. For instance, the center will house sophisticated new equipment -- such as linear accelerators that deliver intensity-modulated radiation -- which require significantly more space. The center also will accommodate the shift in care from an inpatient to an outpatient setting with services, such as the 24-hour drug infusion center, that will be available to patients on evenings and weekends.

With the explosion of knowledge in cancer treatment has come a wide range of clinical trials for new technologies and drug therapies. The center will house a central repository of information on clinical trials in cancer, including the roughly 100 trials under way at Stanford. Patients then will have access to the latest therapies and clinical research, Jacobs noted.

To help promote community education and prevention, the building will include a resource center and a conference center that will be available for community meetings on cancer-related topics, Jacobs said. "We view the community as a partner in tackling cancer," she said.

While roughly 60 percent of the building will be dedicated to cancer programs, the remaining 40 percent will be used for surgical outpatient services.

The project will include a suite of operating rooms specially equipped for such procedures as eye surgeries, repair of sports injuries and other orthopedic problems, gynecologic surgeries and endoscopic procedures.

The project will be accompanied by a new underground garage to meet patient and staff parking needs. The garage, which is already under construction, is being built beneath the grassy median on Pasteur Drive at the entrance to Stanford Hospital. The new garage, with more than 1,000 spaces, will be designated for employee parking while the existing garage on Blake Wilbur Drive will be set aside for patients and visitors. The ground above the garage will be landscaped to create a parklike setting for visitors and employees.