"We wanted to develop a lab where people could perfect their skills before they touched a patient. The most important thing was patient safety.”

Generally, only about 5 to 10% of cancer diagnoses are traced to an inherited factor or gene mutation, but in the young adult (ages 18-39) population, experts say it’s likely higher.

Given the risk of opioid addiction, doctors at Roswell Park decided to explore if restricting opioid prescriptions would affect patients’ recovery.

A team of Roswell Park physicians has published a study that shows the importance of financial counseling for cancer patients to help them avoid “financial toxicity,” or the worsening outcomes after treatment that one group of patients experienced.

“The immune system is a powerful tool, and only in the last decade have we really begun to tap into its potential as a cancer-fighting powerhouse,” Dr. Puzanov says.

Thanks to rapid advancements in technology, today we’re able to look deeper into the human body, detect cancer earlier, treat areas that once were inaccessible and perform surgery less invasively.

While one-third of the general population has insomnia symptoms, cancer patients and survivors are at increased risk for sleeping disorders due to symptoms and side effects of cancer and subsequent treatments.

“They’ll say, ‘When it gets bad, then you can see me.’ But when it gets bad, what decision will you make? What treatment will you get?”