Nailing Cancer Through Precision Medicine 

Casa Grande resident Scott Luton, 63, loves to garden and cook for his wife, Robin. He’s pretty fond of hiking, fishing and camping, too—all things he was too sick to enjoy when prostate cancer hijacked his life three years ago.  

“It was already at stage 4 when it was diagnosed,” he says. “I knew it was pretty bad when my doctor asked,‘How are you even walking? It’s amazing you aren’t already gone, Scottie.’”

Scott visited several oncologists in the Valley, but all treatments failed. When he was given six months to live, he decided to get a second opinion—from Jue Wang, MD, head of genitourinary oncology at St. Joseph’s cancer center.

Dr. Wang discovered Scott hadanother tumor—this one on his pituitary gland. It was producing a hormone responsible for fueling growth of the prostate cancer in addition to making it resistant to every treatment Scott received.

Relying on advances in precision medicine, Dr. Wang devised a treatment plan based on molecular profiling of Scott’s prostate cancer.

“I’ve had dramatic results,” says Scott. “A huge mass on my neck has dissolved and the mass in my abdomen is much, much smaller. That’s unheard of with Stage 4 prostate cancer. Dr. Wang nailed it!”

Now, with the future wide-open, Scott is planning quality time with his wife and resuming his favorite hobbies. “I look forward to gardening and cooking, being able to hike again, living healthy, traveling and enjoying life!”

“This is a great example of how individualized care, precision medicine and multidisciplinary care can change a patient’s outcome,” says Dr. Wang.

Thanks to funds raised through the 2016 Arizona Diamondbacks Race Against Cancer, St. Joseph’s is now home to highly advanced magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging equipment, which can be used as a noninvasive alternative to prostate cancer biopsy.

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