GRAPHS & TABLES
- Rural Texas Counties
- Federally Designated Medically Underserved Areas
- Federally Designated Primary Care Shortage Areas
- Texas Counties with No, One, or Two Primary Care Physicians in Direct Patient Care
This map has been updated. Click here to view update. - Texas Counties with Hospitals with Cancer Programs
This document has been updated. Click here to view update. - Texas Counties with Freestanding Cancer Treatment Centers
This map has been updated. Click here to view update. - Texas Counties with On-site Mammography Services Accredited by the American College of Radiology
This document has been updated. Click here to view update.
An Overview of Cancer Care Resources
As new medical advances are made, the body of knowledge and the already-broad range of diagnostic services, therapeutic agents, and sophisticated equipment for cancer treatment also are expanding. Thus the outlook for cancer patients in terms of long-term control and cure continues to improve. Surgery and radiation remain effective treatments for localized tumors and malignant cells in the surrounding area, while immunotherapy and chemotherapy offer systemic means of treating cancer that has spread beyond the local or regional area of the primary tumor.It is clear, however, that the conquest of cancer will require efforts on multiple fronts, in both the community and in comprehensive cancer treatment centers. In addition to therapy, we must focus on early detection and improved diagnosis, areas now being cited increasingly as among the best tools for fighting cancer and aggressively addressed through such programs as the mammography services available statewide.
The need to integrate expanding medical knowledge and advanced technology into our diverse health care system continues to impose complex demands on that system, while economic pressures continue to limit resources, as indicated by the record number of recent hospital closings in Texas. Progress in diagnosis and various therapies has increased medical complexity and specialization, as evidenced by the large increase in the number of oncology specialists. Improved survival and long-term cancer control are manifested in the expanding need for physical and psychological rehabilitation services.
The challenge remains, then, to provide each cancer patient with the most effective treatment available at the lowest possible cost and without social, economic, or geographic limitations. This can be accomplished through a state health care system that meets patients' needs through a network of services that provide treatments on a regional or statewide basis, along with risk assessment, detection, diagnosis, and long-term care at the community level.
The information in this section provides an overview of cancer resources: primary care physicians, hospital cancer care programs, freestanding cancer treatment centers, mammography services, and the services and programs of the Texas Cancer Council, the Texas Cancer Data Center, the Texas Department of Health, the American Cancer Society and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. More detailed and current information about cancer resources in Texas is available from the Texas Cancer Data Center.
