University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI)


Overview

The UPCI Brain Tumor Program (BTP) is a multi-disciplinary program, which encompasses basic, clinical, and translational research, and clinical care. The majority of program members are experts in neurooncology and central nervous system (CNS) disease and cancer. UPCI is the regional referral center for patients with primary CNS tumors, and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh is a major referral center for pediatric neurooncology. The close collaborations between the Departments of Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology, Radiation Oncology, and the Division of Hematology/Oncology of the Department of Medicine have resulted in BTP becoming one of the most active in North America for conventional microsurgical, as well as radiosurgical and minimally invasive neurooncological procedures.

The University of Pittsburgh is one of the few institutions with membership in both the Pediatric and Adult Brain Tumor Consortia, which are limited-institution National Cancer Institute-funded groups that conduct early phase cutting-edge clinical trials for brain tumor patients. In addition, BTP members participate in the Children's Oncology Group and the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. The overall goals of the Program are to obtain insights into the biology of the development and progression of brain tumors and to identify and translate novel strategies to improve prevention, detection, treatment and prognosis of patients with central nervous system tumors.