Tulsa Cancer Patients Now Have Access To National Cancer Institute Care Locally

Cancer patients in Tulsa now have access to National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated care without having to travel out of the city. Previously, the only NCI-designated center in Oklahoma was in Oklahoma City, requiring patients to make long trips for treatment.

One of those patients is Liz Busten, who first beat breast cancer 20 years ago. However, in 2016, she was diagnosed with a rare cancer caused by radiation treatments.

Since then, Liz has been in and out of treatment, frequently making the drive from Tulsa to Oklahoma City.

"My life was upended. There were week-long hospital stays in Oklahoma City prepping my body for the bone marrow transplant," said Liz Busten.

Her oncologist, Dr. Kyle Brett, works with the OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center program at Hillcrest in Tulsa through a new partnership between OU Health and Hillcrest.

The partnership is called OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences at Hillcrest.

"That means we're bringing advanced, cutting-edge clinical trials, research, multi-disciplinary care, and patient-centered support services to Tulsa in a way that Tulsans have never seen before," said Dr. Brett. "We know that NCI-caliber cancer care helps improve survival, and patients who have access to an NCI program tend to have prolonged survival."

For Liz, the ability to receive this kind of treatment close to home is a major relief.

"It’s so impactful to have your people around you—taking you to appointments, sitting with you, holding your hand. Any little comfort measure is huge," Busten said.

While the program is still in its early stages, they are in the process of building staff and expanding treatment options. The center aims to offer procedures such as bone marrow transplants and CAR T-cell therapy in the coming years, with clinical trials expected to begin in January.