New radiation oncology clinic opens in March

Published Feb. 3, 2010
By Steve Pivnick
81st Medical Group Public Affiars

KEESLER AFB, Ms. -- The staff of Keesler Medical Center's new radiation oncology clinic is gearing up to begin treating patients in March, said Maj. (Dr.) Clayton Chen, 81st Medical Operations Squadron chief of radiation oncology. Plans are already underway for a formal ribbon-cutting for the new facility in the near future.

The heart of the clinic, the linear accelerator (linac), was moved into the structure last year from its previous location on the ground floor of the main medical center building. The new clinic building is elevated 24 feet above sea level to avoid flooding from any future Katrina-like storm. Currently, there are minor construction items being completed and the linear accelerator is undergoing final commissioning.

The clinic staff includes two active-duty radiation oncologists and two government civilian administrative assistants provided by the Biloxi Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The team also includes eight contract members: two physicists, a dosimetrist, three radiation therapists, a chief radiation therapist and a nurse.

The majority of the services provided -- approximately 95 percent, according to Major Chen -- involves treating cancer patients. The remaining 5 percent of patients have benign conditions, such as keloids or heterotopic bone formation. The clinic will be able to treat up to 30 patients daily, with 80 percent of them referred by the VA medical center.

Treatments will range from a "single shot" given over one day or as many as 40 "fractionated" treatments given over eight weeks. Ultimately, the types of radiation the clinic will offer include 3-D conformal radiation, intensity modulated radiation therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, respiratory gated therapy and brachytherapy. IMRT and 3-D conformal radiation make up the majority of the treatments given to patients. Stereotactic radiotherapy is used for cancers requiring a lot of pinpointing, mainly brain lesions and small lung cancers. Gated radiotherapy is useful in treating lung cancer and will allow the radiation treatments to follow lung tumors with a patient's breathing motion. Brachytherapy uses radioactive implants to treat prostate, gynecologic and breast cancers.

Major Chen said not all the therapies will be available when the clinic reopens, though they expect them to be within the next few months.

"It has been a long road, but I am very proud of the new department," he said. "We will offer many new technologies and treatment modalities that were not available pre-Katrina. When it's all said and done, it's about providing the best possible care to active duty, veterans and their families."