Cutaneous Cancer

Clinical Program Overview

The Cutaneous   Oncology Group (COG) is the largest skin/soft tissue cancer Program in the Northeastern United States. Patients are routinely referred into COG for diagnosis and management of skin tumors that have failed conventional care in the local community as well as respected Medical Centers in New England, New York, Chicago and beyond. The success of the Program is due to the close interdigitation of clinical services, investigator-initiated clinical trials and a robust translational sciences program. All aspects of the Group are intently focused on the mission of delivering patient-centered and compassionate state-of-the-art care.

COG physicians and nurses see patients from the cosmetically elegant resection of low-grade basal cell carcinomas to highly complex rare tumors that may benefit from a multidisciplinary approach to delivering care, or a clinical trial that may not be available elsewhere.

The multidisciplinary group includes dermatologists, plastic surgeons, medical and surgical oncologists, radiation therapists, otolaryngologists, head and neck surgery, pediatricians geneticists and pathologists.  

The team provides an environment for highly-specialized clinicians to collaborate in tailoring therapies, often across medical and surgical disciplines, to achieve optimal outcomes. Patients are referred into the Program by physicians across the United States for treatment protocols and clinical trials that are not available elsewhere or because they have failed conventional therapies.   The group meets bi-weekly to discuss patient management issues, to review and establish new research and treatment protocols. The collaborative patient-focused approach allows for a comprehensive and integrative approach to cancer care.

The Tufts Medical Center Program is one of four Cancer Centers in the United States, and the only one in the Northeast that offers Mohs Micrographic surgery for malignant melanomas arising on cosmetically and functionally critical anatomic sites. The technique affords maximal tissue sparing without sacrificing cure rates and may be coordinated with sentinel node biopsy, performed by highly-practiced experts, at the same surgical visit. Technologically advanced radiation and bio-chemotherapy adjuvant protocols are available for patients where the tumor may have spread beyond the skin. Tufts Medical Center is the only Program in the United States that offers an IRB-approved clinical trial, funded by the Cancer Foundation, of Chronic Low-Dose Photodynamic Therapy for tumors that have failed radiation and surgery.

We specialize in the evaluation and treatment Services range from routine dermatologic/oncologic/plastic surgical excision of skin and soft tissue tumors with cosmetic reconstruction to Mohs Micrographic Surgery, a minimally invasive technique for skin cancer removal. Surgical oncologists, plastic, oculoplastic and head and neck surgeons, dermatologists, medical oncologists, pathologists and radiation therapists come together in a multi-disciplinary Tumor Board to discuss management of complex or difficult cases referred into the Program. A unique feature of the Melanoma Program is the Mohs Micrographic surgery (MOHS) for melanoma protocol.   This affords patients a tissue conserving approach to melanoma resection when the tumor is located on a critical anatomical site such as the face or hands.

Our specialists appreciate the importance of maintaining close relationships with referring healthcare providers and, therefore, keep them apprised during the treatment of their patients.

Our patients have access to novel therapies through participation in both Tufts Medical Center clinical trials and national clinical trials. COG also has several investigator-initiated clinical trials that are only available at Tufts Medical Center.

The clinical trials currently open include: adjuvant therapies for intermediate-risk melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer prevention trial using photodynamic therapy, novel low-morbidity therapy for tumors failing radiation, surgery and chemotherapy, among other industry sponsored, NIH and Foundation-sponsored clinical trials.

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Our Experts

Dermatology		Gary Rogers, MD Director, Cutaneous Oncology Group Dennis Lee, MD Mohs, Skin Oncology Gary Chuang, MD Mohs, Dermatologic Surgery & Oncology Emily Tierney, MD Mohs, Dermatologic Surgery & Oncology
Facial Plastic Surgery, ENT		Arnold Lee, MD
Head & Neck Surgery, ENT		Miriam O'Leary, MD Richard Wein, MD
Oculo-Plastic Surgery		Katrinka Heher, MD Mitesh Kapadia, MD
Plastic Surgery		Christopher Davidson, MD
Surgical Oncology		Roger Graham, MD Janice Rothschild, MD
Radiation Oncology		John Mignano, MD David Wazer, MD
Dermatopathology, Pathology		Miguel Stadecker, MD
Medical Oncology		Gary Strauss, MD
Experimental Therapeutics		Robert Martell, MD

American College of Mohs Surgery