A physician specializing in cancer care, Natasha Tiffany, MD, provides a high standard of cancer treatment to patents at Salem Hospital and at her private practice, Oregon Oncology Specialists. Before establishing herself in cancer treatment, she completed a fellowship in medical oncology and hematology at Oregon Health & Science University, where she served as chief fellow. Natasha Tiffany, MD, and her peers at Oregon Oncology Specialists offer such leading-edge cancer treatments as targeted therapy.
Traditional chemotherapy, though effective in destroying cancer cells, often results in collateral damage to healthy cells. Targeted therapy seeks to do away with this collateral damage by using treatments that attack and destroy cancer cells with minimal harm to healthy “innocent bystander” cells. Targeted therapies available today are often precision crafted to address specific cancer types by honing in on molecular characteristics particular to a certain cancer. For instance, some cancers cells need a specific hormone to keep dividing, and by depriving the cancer of that hormone, either by interrupting the hormone’s function or by blocking its production in the body, doctors can curb the cancer’s growth. Such hormone-related targeted therapies are already in place for the treatment of prostate and breast cancers. Newer targeted cancer therapies have been developed to prevent tumors from generating blood vessels to feed themselves and to encourage the immune system to recognize the cancer as an invading disease. Targeted therapies have revolutionized lung cancer care, as researchers have identified molecular mutations that drive different types of lung cancer, allowing oncologists to shut down the pathways that drive an individual's cancer. These targeted therapies are often highly effective and well tolerated. Targeted therapies are being used more and more in all fields of oncology with tremendous benefit for patients.
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AuthorNatasha Tiffany, MD, is a physician, educator, and research scientist currently working in Oregon. A Partner and Physician in a private practice located in the state’s capital city of Salem, Dr. Tiffany teaches at her alma mater, Oregon Health & Science University, where she is an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Hematology and Medical Oncology Division. Archives
October 2019
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