WVU Medicine and Dr. Bhatnagar Bring Cancer Care Closer to Home

By Andrew Wilson

For patients with cancer, an earlier diagnosis greatly increases the chances for successful treatment and improves the long-term survival rate. It stands to reason that getting quality care closer to home can benefit local residents.

“WVU Medicine has placed a major emphasis on offering state-of-the-art cancer care closer to home,” said Tina Bhatnagar, D.O., director of Hematology and Medical Oncology at WVU Medicine. “Nobody wants to have cancer, and we can’t stop it, although we’re doing our best. What we can do is change the experience of having cancer.”

Part of changing that experience is understanding that cancer is a disease that can affect a patient’s body, mind, and spirit. There are stressors beyond the physical manifestation of the disease. Things like how far a patient may need to travel, where they will need to park, and how to navigate a hospital system creates extra anxiety.

“A diagnosis of cancer is stressful enough, but the physical diagnosis is only the first part,” Dr. Bhatnagar said. “The second part is: Where are you going to go to get your care? WVU Medicine’s regional affiliates have been offering more services for cancer care so patients can obtain care in an area where they are more familiar.”

One of the initiatives WVU Medicine is implementing is LUCAS, a mobile unit that travels the region providing a variety of cancer services and screenings, including a mobile CT scan.

“WVU Medicine has made a lot of strides in improving cancer detection,” said Dr. Bhatnagar. “Some people have difficulty getting to a screening, so LUCAS comes to them.”

Initiatives such as LUCAS are important in the tri-state area, and particularly in West Virginia.

“Cancer is disproportionately common in West Virginia,” she said. “In fact, West Virginia has the second highest rate of lung cancer in the whole country.”

There are a number of factors that go into comprising that ignominious statistic. The region’s high number of coal miners may play a part, as well as cigarette smoking, but occupational and lifestyle factors are not the only possible causes. Dr. Bhatnagar notes that some people have developed cancer who are both non-smokers and non-coal miners.

“Genetics also plays an important role in the development of lung cancer,” she said.

When she came to WVU Medicine, Dr. Bhatnagar learned that patients from West Virginia were underrepresented in clinical trials, and wanted to change that result so patients would have the opportunity to participate in clinical trials of new medications. One of the reasons they were underrepresented, she discovered, is that no one had been discussing clinical trials with them.

“Clinical trials provide the necessary data to inform physicians’ decisions on cancer care,” she said. “Clinical trials help us improve on current therapies and have the potential to create new therapies; treatments that have helped change the way we treat cancer. Participating in clinical trials gives patients earlier access to drugs that may help them.”

Of course, the bottom line is patient care, which is something that Dr. Bhatnagar puts at the forefront of her practice.

“Holistic care means caring for the whole person instead of focusing on a single aspect of their condition,” she explained. “As director of hematology and medical oncology, I look beyond focusing on the patient’s malignancy, and focus on the patient as a whole. It’s also critical to understand and help support the patient’s support system as well.”

Dr. Bhavana “Tina” Bhatnagar is the director of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the WVU Cancer Institute at Wheeling Hospital. She is a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed her internship and residency at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at the University of Maryland’s Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, and is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine, hematology, and medical oncology. Dr. Bhatnagar sees patients at 1 Medical Park Road, Suite 300, Wheeling, WV 26003. She can be reached at (304) 598-6000.