Advanced Technologies and Cancer Innovations

We offer CAR T-cell therapy, an FDA-approved treatment for certain types of blood cancer. This advanced immune therapy uses your body's own white blood cells (T cells) to fight cancer.

Doctors draw some of your blood, separate the T cells, and send them to a lab. Experts add a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to the T cells, which helps them bind to cancer cells and kill them.

We then give you an infusion of cells to help your body fight your cancer. UPMC Hillman has treated over 100 patients with this therapy, more than any other center in our region.

SRS targets high-energy beams to precise areas in the head, neck, and spine. With SRS, doctors treat brain and spine cancers without harming nearby healthy tissue.

With SBRT, doctors can treat tumors throughout the body.

Both SRS and SBRT are radiation treatments and don't require any incisions. We use these treatments to provide high doses of radiation with fewer side effects.

Sometimes, cancer spreads throughout the abdomen and to the lining of the abdomen, called the peritoneum. At UPMC Hillman, we treat these challenging cancers with HIPEC.

Doctors direct a high dose of heated chemotherapy drugs directly into the abdominal cavity.

We also use HIPEC to destroy tiny cancer cells that may remain after cancer surgery.

With HIPEC, you may have fewer side effects than you would with standard chemo.

Immunotherapy is a type of treatment that uses your own immune system to fight cancer. UPMC experts use it to treat many types of cancer.

Immunotherapies include:

• Immune checkpoint inhibitors: Checkpoints are like stop signs that tell your immune system to leave certain cells alone. Checkpoint inhibitors turn off these stop signs so immune cells can kill cancer.
• Monoclonal antibodies: Experts create proteins that bind to receptors on cancer cells. These proteins, or monoclonal antibodies, help the immune system find cancer cells.
• Immune system modulators: These drugs help improve how your immune system fights cancer cells.

At the UPMC Medical Genetics and Genomics Labs, we use advanced technologies to diagnose cancers and create customized treatment plans.

We screen for cancers that run in families and offer precise diagnoses of tumor types. We also screen for certain genetic conditions during pregnancy.